The Girl Who Couldn't Whistle

Laura Harring keeps perfect harmony, says Cheryl Woodcock,
Correspendent and producer of Entertainment Tonight and The Insider

Recently I ran into a dear friend of mine-major film star who had just returned from India. He shared with me his spiritual journey in that great land and blessed me, literally. I was so grateful for the knowledge, spirituality, awareness and kindness he bestowed. He mentioned that I should meet a friend of his, an actress named Laura Harring. She, too has pursued spiritual awareness from a very young age, which has shaped her both personally and professionally.

The next evening as I was having dinner in a crowded restaurant, a woman kept walking by our table and brushing the back of my chair. Finally I looked up and saw great beauty.. It was Laura Harring! Although we'd never met, we fell in like old friends.

On the eve of the 2008 Cannes Film Festival, Harring learned from a friend that her image was being used on the festival"s official poster artist Pierre Collier-is of Harring's character Rita (complete with blonde wig) from Lynch's award-winning film Mulholland Dr. That film earned Lynch an Academy Award nomination for best director; at Cannes he took home the prize for best director, and the film was nominated for best director, and the film was nominated for the Gold Palm. It also marked a turning point in Harring's career, establishing her as an actress of international status. "I was very, very nervous," Harring recalls of her first trip to Cannes, ad I had nobody officially with me; I was alone. My mom said, 'Just radiate and give love.'"

That advice was sound. It allowed Harring to enjoy the moment and open herself to the experience. "I arrived and I never expected the amount of praise and unbelievable reviews," says Harring. The headlines of the newspapers compared her to Ava Gardner, Rita Hayworth, and Marilyn Monoroe. She was in shock.

Harring's is an unlikely success story. Born and raised in Mexico and then Texas, she was painfully shy as a girl. "I never spoke a word," she says. "I wasn't like other kids." She credits her cuban-born stepfather with giving her the positive reinforcement to emerge from her childhood isolation. But it was meeting Richard Guy and Rex Holt-better known as the legendary pageant team GuyRex-that would enable Harring to blossom into her true self: radiant and beautiful. GuyRex famously coached five Miss Texas USA titleholders who went on to win Miss USA beauty pageant consecutively from 1985 to 1989, a feat never accomplished by one state before ever since. The Winners came to be known as the "Texas Aces." Harring was the first of the Texas Aces, becoming Miss El Paso USA, Miss Texas USA and Miss USA 1985. The duo gave Harring exceptional confidence. "They said beautiful things about me and they just saw magic," she recalls. "I was Miss USA. They helped me get there."

After completing her reign as Miss USA, Harring was tapped by Hollywood and quickly cast opposite celebrated actor Raul Julia in the television movie The Alamo: Thirteen Days to Glory. Roles on daytime and nighttime soaps followed, including a stint on General Hospital, and Aaron Spelling's Sunset Beach. Then came Mulholland Drive., which established her as a world-class talent. "My career is one step at a time," she says. "I'm consisitently working on great projects. I still have my privacy because I'm not on the radar. I do things that make me happy."

With several new film projects on the works, Harring continues to cement her reputation as one of today's finest screen talents. Her film The Caller opposite Frank Langella and Elliott Gould just won the Made in NY Narrative Award at the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival. She also recented starred with Academy winner Javier Bardem in Love in the Time of Cholera, based on Gabriel Garcia Marquez's acclaimed novel set along the lush Columbian coast.

Harring credits her success and happiness to her spirituality, and sees a variety of possibilities for the future. "I've been studying Eastern teachings," she says, "and the basis of all the Eastern mysticisms is that there are many colors in life. It doesn't matter which path you follow; its your path and there are many ways to the diving."

It's hard to fanthom these words from someone who as a young, shy girl felt insecure because she couldn't whistle like other kids. But yes, this is the same little girl who was born in Mexico and as Miss USA became a symbol of American poise and beauty. This is the same woman who attended her first Cannes Film Festival alone and now seven years later, graces the official poster. Harring has evolved in her own way and on her own terms. She wears her past and presentlike a badge of honor.

"Never give up your dreams," she says finally. "I can't tell you how many people told me to give up. My dad spent hours teaching me to whistle. Now, I whistle while I work."

Los Angeles Confidential July 2008