Lauren Cohan

Biography:

Lauren Cohan was born Lauren Storholm in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. Her father is American, with Irish, partial Norwegian, English, Scottish, and distant German and Dutch ancestry, while her mother is Scottish. She spent her early years in New Jersey and also lived briefly in Georgia. At age thirteen, she moved with her family to her mother’s native United Kingdom, settling in Surrey, England.

After her mother remarried, Lauren legally adopted her stepfather’s surname, Cohan. She converted to Judaism when she was five years old. Through her parents’ later marriages, she has younger half-siblings. Cohan graduated from King Alfred’s College in Winchester, now known as the University of Winchester.

Cohan made her film debut in Casanova (2005), playing Sister Beatrice. She later starred as Charlotte Higginson in Van Wilder: The Rise of Taj (2006–2007), the sequel to Van Wilder. She went on to appear in the 2008 film Float. In 2010, she was cast in Death Race 2 and later took the lead role in the 2016 supernatural horror film The Boy. That same year, she portrayed Martha Wayne in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. In 2017, she played Leila Steinberg in the biographical drama All Eyez on Me. In 2025, she appeared in the independent apocalyptic film When I’m Ready, marking her first on-screen movie role since 2018’s Mile 22.

Her first significant television role came in 2007 when she was cast as Bela Talbot in the third season of Supernatural. The character, a thief dealing in valuable supernatural artifacts, appeared in six episodes, with her final appearance in the episode “Time Is on My Side.” Cohan later played Rose, a 560-year-old vampire, in The Vampire Diaries. In 2011, she had a recurring role in Chuck as Vivian McArthur Volkoff, the daughter of the show’s primary antagonist. She also made guest appearances on series such as Archer, Cold Case, CSI: NY, Life, and Modern Family.

In 2011, Cohan starred in a pilot for The CW titled Heavenly, playing Lily, a lawyer who partners with an angel, though the show was not picked up.

In April 2011, Cohan was cast in what became her most prominent role as Maggie Greene (later Maggie Rhee) on AMC’s The Walking Dead, a post-apocalyptic horror series based on the comic books of the same name. She first appeared in the second season in a recurring role before becoming a series regular in season three. By 2015, the show had become the highest-rated series in cable television history. After completing her contract at the end of season eight, Cohan entered salary negotiations with AMC for season nine. Due to a pay dispute, she did not initially renew her contract but eventually agreed to appear in five episodes during the first half of the ninth season before departing the show in 2018.

In early 2018, amid negotiations with AMC, Cohan was cast as CIA agent Francesca “Frankie” Trowbridge in ABC’s action-comedy drama Whiskey Cavalier. The series premiered in February 2019 but was not renewed for a second season. In October 2019, it was announced that Cohan would return to The Walking Dead as a series regular for its eleventh and final season. After the show concluded, she starred alongside Jeffrey Dean Morgan in the spin-off series The Walking Dead: Dead City, with both serving as executive producers. In July 2023, the series was renewed for a second season.

Cohan divides her time between London and Los Angeles for her personal life and professional commitments.