Lauren Lee Smith

Lauren Lee Smith plays the lead role in Frankie Drake Mysteries. She was first discovered in her native Vancouver when she was cast as a series regular on the hit Showtime series The L Word.

Lauren seamlessly transitioned to films by co-starring in Terry Zwigoff’s film Art School Confidential for Sony Classics, opposite Max Minghella. From there Lauren co-starred as Casey Affleck’s partner in The Last Kiss, directed by Tony Goldwyn. Most notably, Lauren went on to receive critical praise and attention from her lead performance as an outwardly sexually spirited woman in the independent film Lie with Me. Lauren next went on to star in three back to back studio films; the MGM feature Pathology, the Warner Brothers/Bryan Singer produced feature Trick R Treat opposite Anna Paquin, and Helen opposite Ashley Judd which premiered at Sundance in 2010. Lauren worked alongside Laurence Fishburne on the hugely successful CBS series CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and was the lead on the Canadian crime series The Listener for which she was nominated for Best Performance by a Lead Actress at the 2011 Gemini Awards for her brilliant work.

In 2009, Lauren signed on to the Terry Miles’s directed feature A Night For Dying Tigers alongside Jennifer Beals. In 2012 she teamed up with Terry Miles again, this time not only starring in but producing the feature Cinemanovels.

Lauren’s most recent credits include Jeremy Lalonde’s comedy How to Plan an Orgy in a Small Town. Her next feature is a co-starring role opposite Michael Shannon in Guillermo del Toro’s The Shape of Water.

In 2017, Lauren was nominated for a Canadian Screen Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance as Maggie Lawson in CBC’s This Life.

Trivia

 * Lauren Lee Smith is no stranger to Murdoch Mysteries. She guest starred in Journey to the Centre of Toronto as explorer Elva Gordon in Season 7.
 * Smith has confessed that she is terrified of flying in a recent interview. In addition to acquiring a motor cycle, she underwent a rigorous physical training program, which included boxing, before shooting began for the series.
 * A natural blonde, her hair is dyed red for the part of Frankie Drake.