Summary
- Laura San Giacomo's career spans acclaimed films and TV shows since her breakout in Sex, Lies, and Videotape.
- Known for strong performances, Giacomo has worked with celebrated directors and award-winning actors for decades.
- From Once Around to Animal Kingdom, Honey Boy, NCIS, and more, Giacomo continues to deliver stellar performances.
Laura San Giacomo is an award-nominated actor who has performed in both acclaimed films and popular television shows. The Italian American actor got her start on the stage and quickly moved into television, starting in 1987 with a one-episode role in All My Children as a character named Luisa. A handful of smaller performances led to her breakout in Steven Soderbergh's feature film debut, Sex, Lies, and Videotape, launching Giacomo into the national spotlight that has extended through the decades since.
She has worked with numerous celebrated directors throughout her career, including Soderbergh, Garry Marshall, and Harold Ramis, and she's acted alongside several award-winning actors, including Julia Roberts, Holly Hunter, David Spade, Tom Selleck, Liam Neeson, and many more. Her early career saw Giacomo working frequently in movies, but in the 2000s, she turned to television and her star only grew from there. Giacomo is excellent in every production she's in, but some roles are a tad more memorable.
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10 Once Around (1991)
Laura San Giacomo Plays Jan Bella
In Once Around, Laura San Giacomo plays Jan Bella, the youngest of the three Bella sisters who is having her wedding at the start of the movie. Jan is sweet and a loving sibling but also knows how to get under her other sisters' skin, particularly Renata's (Holly Hunter), the oldest and the only unmarried Bella. After she breaks up with her longtime but noncommittal boyfriend, Renata meets an older man, Sam Sharpe (Richard Dreyfuss).
Sam immediately butts heads with the rest of the family, his Lithuanian American heritage clashing with the proud Italian American roots of the Bellas. It's a light, airy, romantic comedy, and Giacomo bounces off each of the other actors naturally. It's one of the few Hollywood films to depict Lithuanian American culture, as well, with wedding folk dances, folksongs, and a baptism of a newborn child to show a real effort on the filmmaker's part.
Once Around is not currently available to stream, rent, or buy digitally.
9 Animal Kingdom (2017-2018)
Laura San Giacomo Plays Morgan Wilson
Animal Kingdom
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Animal Kingdom is a crime drama series that originally aired on TNT in June 2016. Joshua Cody (Finn Cole) is the main character of the series, who, after his mother dies, moves in with relatives that run a criminal empire. Animal Kingdom was well received throughout its time on the air and lasted for six seasons.
- Cast
- Ellen Barkin , Nicki Micheaux , Ben Robson , Jake Weary , Molly Gordon , Shawn Hatosy , Daniella Alonso , Scott Speedman , Dorian Missick , Finn Cole
- Release Date
- June 14, 2016
- Seasons
- 6
- Showrunner
- Jonathan Lisco
Based on the 2010 Australian film of the same name, TNT's Animal Kingdom moves the setting to Oceanside, California but still follows the exploits of a crime family, in this series named the Codys. Ruled with an iron fist by matriarch Janine "Smurf" Cody (Ellen Barkin), the crime family commits heists, robberies, and plenty of murders to keep their business lucrative.
Laura San Giacomo plays Morgan Wilson, the lawyer for Smurf's legitimate businesses. However, as the series goes on, Morgan is brought unwillingly deeper and deeper into the Cody family's crimes and Giacomo sells the terror and anxiety of a woman in over her head who has no idea of how to escape.
Eventually, the Codys decide it's just best to kill her and, in one of the saddest deaths in Animal Kingdom, J (Finn Cole) makes his bones by brutally murdering Morgan out on the sea, and Giacomo's fright and confusion are unnerving to watch.
8 Honey Boy (2019)
Laura San Giacomo Plays Dr. Moreno
Honey Boy
Honey Boy is a 2019 Drama from Shia LaBeouf, who wrote the screenplay for the film as therapy during a stint in rehab. The film, directed by Alma Har'el, is loosely based on Shia's own struggles as a child actor and the relationship he had with his father during the time.
- Director
- Alma Har'el
- Release Date
- November 8, 2019
- Cast
- Natasha Lyonne , FKA Twigs , Martin Starr , Shia LaBeouf , Noah Jupe , Laura San Giacomo , Maika Monroe , Clifton Collins Jr. , Lucas Hedges , Byron Bowers
- Runtime
- 93 minutes
- Budget
- $3.5million
Honey Boy is written by Shia LaBeouf and loosely based on his early life. He co-stars in the film as James Lort in flashbacks, the alcoholic and abusive father of Otis (Lucas Hedges as an adult and Noah Jupe as a child). Otis is a movie star who finds himself falling into the same alcoholic trap as his father and goes to see a psychological counselor, Dr. Moreno (Laura San Giacomo), who helps him uncover his childhood traumas
It's a moving and probing film, not least because LaBeouf is so willing to expose himself and his past, and Giacomo's performance is critical to the success of the film. Despite Honey Boy taking significant creative liberties with LaBeouf's life, it's still a heartrending tale. As Dr. Moreno, Giacomo manages to paint James as pitiable while also refusing to neither absolve him nor Otis from going down the same path as his dad.
7 NCIS (2016–2022)
Laura San Giacomo Plays Dr. Grace Confalone
NCIS
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NCIS (Naval Criminal Investigative Service) focuses on the sometimes complex and always amusing dynamics of a team forced to work together in high-stress situations. Special Agent Alden Parker, a quirky former FBI agent who solves his cases with calm professionalism and sharp, sarcastic charm, leads the NCIS team, which includes NCIS Special Agent Timothy McGee, an MIT graduate with a knack for computers who has now graduated to senior field agent; the charismatic, unpredictable and resilient NCIS Special Agent Nicholas “Nick” Torres, who has spent most of his career on solo undercover assignments; and sharp, athletic and tough NCIS Special Agent Jessica Knight, a formidable REACT agent who specializes in hostage negotiations and high-risk operations. The naïve Jimmy Palmer is assisting the team, who graduated from assistant to fully licensed medical examiner and now runs the morgue; and forensic scientist Kasie Hines, Ducky’s former graduate assistant. Overseeing operations is NCIS Director Leon Vance, an intelligent, highly trained agent who can always be counted on to shake up the status quo. From murder and espionage to terrorism and stolen submarines, these special agents investigate all crimes with Navy or Marine Corps ties.
- Cast
- sean murray , Wilmer Valderrama , Katrina Law , Brian Dietzen , david mccallum , Mark Harmon , Rocky Carroll , Gary Cole , Joe Spano
- Release Date
- September 23, 2003
- Seasons
- 22
- Creator(s)
- Donald P. Bellisario , Don McGill
Laura San Giacomo first appeared on NCIS as Dr. Grace Confalone in season 13, episode 16, "Loose Cannons" and went on to appear for a few episodes every season after, until NCIS season 21. Dr. Confalone is a naval therapist who is first introduced to help Leroy Jethro Gibbs (Mark Harmon) after he suffers a gunshot wound.
His surgeon, Dr. Cyril Taft (Jon Cryer) recommends Confalone as her experience may even help him with the other mental struggles he's faced as a result of his career in the government and military. Dr. Confalone is a clever, wise, and understanding therapist and even manages to get the guarded and uncommunicative Gibbs to talk.
She later goes on to help Jacqueline Sloane (Maria Bello) as well. Giacomo is empathetic in her performance, and she never comes off as someone prying into the lives of her patients. Her unmoving but sympathetic face is enough to get people to trust her.