2013–2017: Acting debut and breakthrough While studying at the William Esper Studio, her first acting job was the main role of
Destiny Evans in the only season of the
web series reboot of the American soap opera
One Life to Live (2013). Harrier took over the role after auditioning. Errol Lewis from the
Soap Opera Network wrote that Harrier "[has] nicely taken on the life of [her character]" and "the chemistry between [her and her on-screen boyfriend] is instantly there while leaving you wanting more". promoting
Spider-Man: Homecoming Harrier next guest starred as Amber in the television series
Unforgettable (2014), and made her film debut in
The Last Five Years (2014) as a young woman who has an affair with Jamie,
Jeremy Jordan's character. She was cast in the
AMC pilot
Galyntine (2014), opposite
Alycia Debnam-Carey, which was filmed but not taken to series. In 2015, she appeared in the film
4th Man Out, and in her last year at William Esper she was cast in
Codes of Conduct, an
HBO miniseries pilot created by
Steve McQueen. Harrier considers this pilot to be her "first real job". The pilot was filmed but the series was canceled and never aired. Harrier starred alongside
Rowan Blanchard and
Mahershala Ali in
The Realest Real, a campaign film directed by
Carrie Brownstein for luxury French fashion brand
Kenzo in 2016. She also modeled for various campaigns for brands including
Calvin Klein and
Louis Vuitton, and became an ambassador for the latter and luxury Italian jewelry brand
Bulgari. In 2016, she also booked the role of
Peter Parker's love interest
Liz Allan in
Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017). She did two auditions and then a
screen test with
Tom Holland before getting the role six weeks later. Her character was loosely based on the
Marvel Comics character of the same name, and Harrier was given the creative freedom to create a modern version of the character. The film brought Harrier greater celebrity, while her performance was met with mixed reviews; some critics praised her for avoiding the
damsel in distress trope and breaking barriers as the first love interest of color, In a negative review,
Dana Schwartz of
Marie Claire said, "Liz is always reactionary; she doesn't
do anything ... [she] could literally be replaced by an object and ... the movie wouldn't change at all." Jim Vejvoda from
IGN said "Harrier nicely plays against expectations". Mark Hughes wrote for
Forbes that Harrier is a "welcome change to the usual romantic interests in superhero film" and plays Liz as a "likable, sympathetic,
type-A person". In June 2017, it was announced that Harrier would be portraying Millie Montag in
Fahrenheit 451, HBO's film adaptation of the
1953 novel of the same name, opposite
Michael B. Jordan; however, her scenes were later removed by the director, who decided the character did not fit with the storyline and wanted to shorten the film's runtime.
2018–present: BlacKkKlansman and Hollywood for
BlacKkKlansman|alt=Side profile of Laura Harrier at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival Harrier co-starred as Patrice Dumas, a civil rights activist, in the film
BlacKkKlansman (2018) opposite
John David Washington,
Adam Driver, and
Topher Grace. The film premiered at the
Cannes Film Festival in May 2018, where it won the
Grand Prix, and was theatrically released in August 2018. The director,
Spike Lee, handpicked Harrier after seeing an audition tape she had done for another project. In preparation for the role, Harrier met with activist
Kathleen Cleaver and other women who were in the
Black Power movement; studied
Angela Davis; and contacted people who were in the Black Student Union at
Colorado College during the 1970s. She also spoke with her father, who dealt with racism while living in
South Side, and as the only black student at his boarding school in
Michigan; his ancestors were slaves. Harrier also attended several of Lee's classes at New York University where he is a film professor. For her performance, Harrier received positive reviews, and was nominated for a
Black Reel Award and a
Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture. She plays Caitlyn Walker, an art student at the
Glasgow School of Art, who is struggling with the recent death of her father. The film was a critical failure. Cath Clarke of
The Guardian thought Harrier gave a "blank performance". She starred in the
Netflix miniseries
Hollywood (2020) by
Ryan Murphy as Camille Washington, an up-and-coming black actress facing prejudice during the
Hollywood Golden Age in the post-
World War II era. Harrier primarily drew inspiration for her role from actress
Dorothy Dandridge, and to a lesser extent from singer and actress
Lena Horne. and some critics compared her performance unfavorably to her work in
BlacKkKlansman. Darren Franich and Kristen Baldwin from
Entertainment Weekly thought she was "so charismatic in
BlacKkKlansman", but remarked "there’s no sign of that fire here".
The Hollywood Reporter's Daniel Fienberg noted she "looks the part", but believed Camille was underdeveloped. Gabriel Tate from the
i newspaper gave a positive review, regarding her "heartbreakingly convincing". In July 2020, Harrier played a young woman going through a breakup in the music video for "
What's Love Got to Do with It", the remix version by
Kygo of the original
Tina Turner song. Harrier was cast in
Finch (2021) with
Tom Hanks, but her role was cut from the film; she was also cast in
The Starling (2021) alongside
Melissa McCarthy. In 2022, Harrier appeared in the
Hulu biographical miniseries
Mike, based on the life of American boxer
Mike Tyson. She lent her voice to the Netflix animated musical special
Entergalactic, created by American rapper
Kid Cudi as a visual companion to his
album of the same name. In May 2022, Harrier was cast in a
remake of Ron Shelton's 1992 film ''
White Men Can't Jump'' for
20th Century Studios, which was released on May 13, 2023. ==Personal life==