Laura Vandervoort

Laura Dianne Vandervoort (born September 22, 1984) is a Canadian actress. She is best known for her roles as Sadie Harrison in the CTV teen drama series Instant Star, Arla "The Bolt-Gun Killer" Cogan in the Syfy supernatural drama series Haven, Kara Zor-El (Supergirl) in The CW serial drama series Smallville, and as Lisa in the ABC science fiction series V (2009). In 2014, she starred in the Space channel drama series Bitten, a television adaptation of Kelley Armstrong's book series Women of the Otherworld as Elena Michaels. Early life Vandervoort was born and raised in Toronto, Ontario. She is the daughter of a Canadian mother and a Dutch father. In the first weeks of her life, she contracted meningitis, resulting in a severe sickness that lasted a few months. Her parents were initially told she was not going to survive. Growing up, Vandervoort was involved in several sports such as football, karate (where she is a second-degree black belt), basketball, tennis, gymnastics and baseball. She has a sister named Sarah and she is related to Canadian actor Gordon Pinsent. Career In 1997, she made her acting debut at age 13. After taking several classes and doing background work on Canadian shows such as Road to Avonlea and Harriet the Spy, she got her first speaking role in the Canadian children's horror anthology series Goosebumps and Are You Afraid of the Dark?, both series were aired on YTV. After commercials and guest starring roles in Mutant X, Prom Queen: The Marc Hall Story, Goosebumps, Twice in a Lifetime, Doc, Sue Thomas: F.B.Eye, Troubled Waters, The Dresden Files, and a few Disney Channel original films (Mom's Got a Date with a Vampire and Alley Cats Strike), at age 19, while attending York University where she studied Psychology and English, Vandervoort landed a lead role as Sadie Harrison in the CTV teen drama series Instant Star, which ran for four seasons.