Actor Andrea Laing’s star is shining!
If you were on a Delta flight anytime during 2022 and early 2023, you might have spotted Andrea Laing starring in the airline promotional video that comes on after the safety message. The parttime Buckhead resident spent two months in Argentina shooting the non-speaking spot that features Viola Davis as the voiceover. This unique opportunity is just one of many that this rising star has earned recently.
Laing, who is of Jamaican descent, grew up in High Point, North Carolina, where she studied broadcast journalism with a double minor in criminal justice and sociology at High Point University. Her goal had always been to work at CNN, so she moved to Atlanta in 2014 after graduation and began networking. She scored a temp position at TBS, then a full-time job at Turner. Her parents were thrilled about the 9-5 gig, but she wasn’t satisfied.
“My soul was telling me something wasn’t serving me. So, I decided to leave after two years, much to my parents’ disappointment,” Laing says.
At a professional meetup, she made friends with a production assistant who was working on film and TV sets. Laing was given the opportunity to help out on set and fell in love with being behind the scenes. “I was alive! I loved being a part of the action,” she says.
In 2015, she won a hosting competition with NBC and was selected to be a red-carpet host for the American Black Film Festival, where she interviewed celebrities such as filmmaker Spike Lee.
With more experiences under her belt, Laing began to itch for being in front of the camera. So she joined a talent agency and took the necessary classes to get started.
“I’m always putting myself in positions where there’s a good chance I’m going to fail. I’m foolishly optimistic that it just works out,” Laing says.
Her IMDb page displays that it has, with credits that include episodes of big-name shows such as “Dopesick” and “The Underground Railroad.” In 2022, Laing starred in the feature film Adult Swim Yule Log, a comedy horror flick that aired on HBO Max. Last year, Laing was the lead in a musical parody of Grease called Vape: The Musical at the Aurora Theatre that was voted “Atlanta’s Best New Work” by BroadwayWorld. She also had a recurring role as the assistant to the lead character on comedy-drama TV show The Game on Paramount+ that she landed from a table read (an organized reading of a script). She also appeared in Pain Hustlers, a film directed by David Yates (of seven Harry Potter movies and prequels) and starring Emily Blunt and Chris Evans.
Laing has also dabbled as an audiobook narrator and has worked on eight books. She was nominated for an Audie Award by the Audio Publishers Association for her reading of A Song Below Water, a young adult fantasy novel.
Of her professional journey, she says, “I have come a long way, made a lot of mistakes, but have always followed my soul and remembered my humanity. ‘Once you climb the ladder, it’s your duty to pass it back down,’ filmmaker Barry Jenkins once told me on set, and so if anyone needs advice, I gladly help them.”
As for what the future holds, Laing would love to do more international work. In the meantime, offscreen, you might see her in a Fast-Twitch class at The Forum Athletic Club or grabbing a healthy bite at True Food Kitchen in Buckhead.
@yourfavoriteandrea
