Lauren Noll
Directing
Biography
Lauren Noll is an L.A. based actor-director from the mountains of East Tennessee. Her feature directorial debut, SAME SAME BUT DIFFERENT, is a female-driven ensemble comedy highlighting three women navigating the tensions of their cross-cultural relationships and the pressures of modern life, friendship, and womanhood. It will premiere at SXSW 2026. Hailing from a rich background in theatre, she earned her graduate degree in Acting at Harvard’s American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.) and the Moscow Art Theatre (MXAT) before her focus pivoted toward film. Lauren first stepped behind the camera with the short drama HONOR, an intimate, autobiographically inspired story about coming of age, coming out, and facing expulsion from Brigham Young University. The film earned multiple awards and launched her new path as a filmmaker. She followed this short debut with GEN V, which began an ongoing creative partnership with actor-writer Dalia Rooni and secured the pair a development deal with Adi Shankar’s Bootleg Universe. The duo went on to make CLEAN SLATE, a recipient of the Collaborative Film Challenge Grand Jury Prize and a grant from Blackmagic Design, before embarking to make their first feature film SAME SAME BUT DIFFERENT together. Most recently, Lauren co-wrote and starred in the Oscar Qualified short film, THE HEART OF TEXAS, which screened at more than 75 festivals worldwide and earned Lauren a dozen acting awards on the festival circuit for her performance as Janie May, a down-on-her-luck country singer caught between a last shot at her dream and the crushing responsibility she bears for another dreamer she collides with on her path. Across all of her work, Lauren is drawn to intimate, character-driven stories about ordinary people searching for grace and meaning in chaotic worlds. Her love for actors and their craft is undeniably infused into her directing style. She approaches each project with honesty, humor, and deep compassion, crafting stories that reveal the beauty and hilarity of being human.
Known For
An Iranian immigrant agrees to marry her boss's son to stay in the U.S., but their simple green card wedding on Cape Cod gets complicated when her two Iranian best friends arrive with their own American boyfriends and cross-cultural baggage in tow.
Same Same But Different
Luna and Soleil run a professional Snuggle Company in NYC.
Snuggle Buddies
Laine faces expulsion from BYU with her graduation around the corner after her roommate hears her in bed with a woman and turns her into the Honor Code. Upon being invasively questioned, Laine is granted a troubling option to save her degree, forcing her to choose between her heart and her faith.
Honor
An aspiring country singer on her way to a life changing audition collides with an undocumented worker who refuses medical care, or police assistance, out of fear of being discovered and deported. The two engage in a struggle, each in pursuit of their own American dreams.