Laura Mackenzie Phillips (born November 10, 1959, in Alexandria, Virginia) is an American actress and singer best known for her roles in American Graffiti and as rebellious teenager Julie Cooper Horvath on the sitcom One Day at a Time (1975-1980, 1981-1983). Phillips is the daughter of The Mamas and the Papas lead singer, John Phillips.
Family Background and Early Life
Laura Mackenzie Phillips is the daughter of The Mamas and the Papas lead singer, John Phillips, and his first wife, Susan Adams (aka Suzy January). She is the sister of Jeffrey Phillips and half-sister of Tamerlane Phillips, actress Bijou Phillips and singer Chynna Phillips. At one time, she was the stepdaughter of singer and actress Michelle Phillips.
Phillips displayed early musical talent, forming a band with her school classmates at the age of twelve. One of her performances started her on the way to professional entertainment success, when she was discovered by a casting agent who offered her an audition for a role in the 1973 film classic, American Graffiti (1973).[1]
Acting Career
Phillips was 12 years old when filming began on American Graffiti; the movie was released in 1973, when she was 14. In this, her first major acting role, Phillips was cast as Carol Morrison, a younger girl picked up by hot-rodding teenager John Milner. Due to her age and California state law, producer Gary Kurtz became Phillips' legal guardian during filming.[2]
Phillips' career skyrocketed in the 1970s and 1980s, when she was best known as Bonnie Franklin’s rebellious, boy-crazed elder daughter, Julie Cooper Horvath, on the long-running television show One Day at a Time. She was reportedly commanding $47,500 a week from the sitcom.[1] After having problems with drugs and alcohol, she was fired from the sitcom in February of 1980.[1] After two near fatal overdoses, she checked into Fair Oaks Hospital to undergo treatment. In 1981, after seeing that she had gone though rehab, the producers of One Day at a Time invited her back on the show. However, in 1982 she resumed her cocaine use, and in 1983 she was again fired from the show, this time permanently, and her character was written out of the series as having abandoned her child. In 1992, she entered into a long-term drug rehab program at Little Hill Alina Lodge, undergoing intensive treatment for nine months.[1]
In 1999, she co-starred with Cara DeLizia on the Disney Channel series So Weird as rock star "Molly Phillips," performing numerous songs in her own right. She guest-starred as Annie Spadero's sister, also a singer, on Caroline in the City.
Personal life
She has been married three times: to Jeff Sessler (from 1979-1981), to rock guitarist Michael Barakan (from 1996-2000) and, since June 2005, to music conductor/arranger Keith Levenson.
She has one son, Shane, born in 1987.
She was arrested on August 27, 2008 by Los Angeles airport police, on charges of possession of cocaine and heroin, after the narcotics were discovered during a screening by federal security staff. [3]
References
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