Monica Lacy is one of the rare actresses working today to move easily between comedy and drama. She’s played everything from brainiacs to bombshells, her off-beat humor and warmth always hinting at the surprises underneath her All-American good looks. Next up, she’s appearing in Amazon’s The Kicks as quirky, idealistic soccer mom Sharon Burke. Other recent TV appearances include guest-starring roles as an MIT computer scientist on CBS’s Hawaii Five-O and a suffering wife on ABC’s Agents of SHIELD.
Monica grew up on an ‘urban farm’ in Orange County, CA where she practiced her powers of persuasion on the Orange County Fair judges, winning annual awards for her dairy goats. She began her acting career in high school when an agent spotted her and her identical triplet sisters, Leanna and Joy. Taken by their charm and innocence, Disney quickly snapped them up to star in Parent Trap III and Parent Trap: Hawaiian Honeymoon. They shot roles on Growing Pains and Beverly Hills 90210, among others, and Monica put her motor-mouth to good use when the girls were interviewed on The Johnny Carson Show. While her sisters eventually chose paths away from the spotlight, Monica knew she was just getting started and soon found roles in several iconic television shows. She asked Bud to help her stay celibate on Married with Children, dated Kramer on the classic “yadda yadda” episode of Seinfeld, and had her heart broken by Bailey on Party of Five. On film, she’s been busted out of jail by Reese Witherspoon in Freeway, fought to get out of a small town in the Sundance Award-winner Possums, and haunted Vincent D’Onofrio in The Cell. She’s starred in five hour-long pilots for for CBS, MTV, and NBC, including Clyde Phillips’ Time Well Spent and the series lead in Sorority, alongside January Jones and Christina Hendricks.
Monica studied acting with Larry Moss and Howard Fine and improv with The Groundlings. She’s performed stand-up about her unusual childhood behind the ‘Orange Curtain’ and has starred in nearly 200 television commercials. She can currently be seen showing off her physical comedy chops as the goofy and lovable spokeswoman for AutoNation. In between film and television roles, Monica’s made time to earn her BA in English Literature at UCLA and complete its Professional Screenwriting Program.
As a triplet, Monica knows how important it is to be recognized for who you are on the inside. To that end, she volunteers with PhotoPiece, a non-profit which helps inner city youth learn to photograph the world and share their perspective. She also supports Phase One, raising money to fund clinical trials for cancer. Monica collects contemporary photography, grows her own herbs and vegetables, and, above all, cherishes her favorite ‘role’ as real-life quirky, idealistic soccer mom to her two brainiac kids.
