Environment Of People Foundation

Laura San Giacomo has achieved tremendous success in film, television and in theater.  She received the Independent Spirit Award for her work in Steven Soderbergh’s Sex, Lies and Videotape, which also earned her nominations for a BAFTA Film Award and a Golden Globe.  Other film credits include Pretty Woman, Quigley Down Under, Under Suspicion, Nina Takes a Lover and Once Around, the latter playing Holly Hunter’s sister.

On television, San Giacomo received a second Golden Globe nomination for her performance as Maya Gallo on the hit comedy series Just Shoot Me.  She also received glowing reviews for her starring role in the television movie of the week Jenifer.  Other television roles include the Stephen King miniseries The Stand and more recently a recurring role on the television series Veronica Mars.

San Giacomo began her career on the stage in such acclaimed Off Broadway productions as Beirut, North Shore Fish and Italian American Reconciliation and such regional theater productions as Three Sisters and Wrong Turn at Lungfish.

In addition to her work as an actress, San Giacomo is also a children’s advocate.  She is one of a group of parents who, along with educators from California State University, Northridge, helped found two charter schools in that area.  One school has since won the California Charter School of the Year Award in 2005 and was nominated for the California Distinguished School Award in 2003.  A goal is to continue the work with the district for quality programs to set precedence and create opportunities for meaningful education for all children.

San Giacomo has been honored by The American Academy for Cerebral Palsy and Developmental Medicine, by Media Access for her Inclusive Education PSA in The More You Know series, by Shane’s Inspiration with the Humanitarian Award, SERT’s Gilly Award and Redbook’s Mother and Shaker Award.  She has worked with Wheels for Humanity and been a keynote speaker at several conferences for TASH and CalTASH, an organization that works toward an inclusive society, two U.S. Department of Education-sponsored conferences, and at the Young Neuroscientists’ Workshop for the Children’s Neurobiological Solution’s Foundation.