Biography
As famous for her role as Aunt Becky as she became for her part in the 2019 college admissions scandal, Lori Laughlin was a famous face for several decades. Born in Queens, New York in 1964, Loughlin grew up in Long Island where she began nurturing a desire to act from the time she was five. At eleven, she signed with a modeling agency and at 16, she was appearing on her first series, the soap opera "The Edge of Night" (ABC, 1956-1984). She made her movie debut in "Amityville 3-D" (1983) a few years later and went on to appear with Kelly Preston in "Secret Admirer" (1985), but Loughlin's big break came when she was cast as Rebecca "Aunt Becky" Donaldson on the hit sitcom "Full House" (NBC, 1988-1995). The role made Loughlin an icon, and she would stick with the show for all of its eight seasons. TV would prove a great fit for the actor, as she took on co-starring roles on "Summerland" (WB, 2004-05) and "90210" (CW, 2008-2013) in the years to come, but the next major phase in her career would come in 2013 when she starred in the period TV movie "When Calls the Heart" (Hallmark, 2013). The TV movie in fact doubled as a pilot, which was picked up for series the following year and proved to be a solid hit. Around this same time, Loughlin began starring in a series of light-hearted mystery TV movies known as "The Garage Sale Mysteries" (Hallmark, 2013), which proved quite popular as well. At the height of this flurry of projects, much of the cast of "Full House" signed on for a sequel series titled "Fuller House" (Netflix, 2016-19), and Loughlin joined the project as well, introducing her decades-old character to a new generation of fans. Then in 2019, Loughlin was indicted by the FBI for paying $500,000 in order to fraudulently gain admissions for her two daughters into the University of Southern California. Loughlin and her husband, fashion designer Mossimo Giannulli, were among over 50 other parents who faced charges as part of what was nicknamed the Varsity Blues College Admissions Scandal. Netflix and Hallmark both announced they were dropping Loughlin in the wake of the charges, putting a major dent in her public image.
