Lauren Ridloff | Performer

Lauren Ridloff | Performer

Lauren began her career as an actor just three years ago. Prior to that, she was a kindergarten teacher in Brooklyn, NY, for ten years. After leaving that job to take care of her two young children, she was hired in 2016 to tutor director Kenny Leon in American Sign Language as he prepared to mount a revival of the classic Broadway play, Children of a Lesser God. After months of working together, it became clear to Kenny and the play’s producers that Lauren was the perfect choice for the lead, Sarah Norman. She pulled it off with resounding success, including two rave reviews from the New York Times and a Tony nomination.

Her first onscreen role was in Todd Haynes’ Wonderstruck playing Pearl, a hearing woman in a silent film - an irony was not lost on Lauren. She went on to become a series regular on the hugely popular AMC series, The Walking Dead. In 2021, Lauren will become Marvel’s first-ever Deaf superhero in Eternals, a role she could only imagine when she first became an actor.

Lauren feels her experience in the entertainment industry is wide but not deep. She hopes that being a BAFTA Breakthrough will afford her opportunities to develop her career in different and rewarding new directions. She is especially interested in talking to people who were ‘firsts’ in their fields, helping her to become an effective spokesperson for underrepresented communities.