American actress Lauren Ambrose was born on February 20, 1978 in New Haven Connecticut. Originally named Laura D'Ambruoso, she is of Italian ancestry on her father's side, and studied at Wilbur Cross High School and the ACES Educational Center for the Arts. She also trained in opera and voice at the Boston University Tanglewood Institute, and later on worked in Broadway, for film, and on television. Ambrose has appeared in films such as In & Out, Psycho Beach Party, and Can't Hardly Wait. She also performed in the Broadway play Awake and Sing!, and was nominated for an Emmy Award twice for her work on the show Six Feet Under.

Claire Fisher is portrayed by Lauren Ambrose in the award-winning HBO television series Six Feet Under. The youngest child and only daughter of the Fisher family, she is a rebellious and troublemaking teen, who dabbles in bad relationships, loose sex and drugs. However, she also pursues photography as a hobby. She sleeps around with a number of men, becoming pregnant at one point and undergoing an abortion. She also flirts with other girls, though she stays heterosexual. Like the rest of her family, Claire has visions of the deceased, though she receives positive encouragement from them.



(Image courtesy of John P. Johnson)