Louisa Krause

The Rigor of the Pennsylvania Stage

Louisa Krause is not a poster face. She's an up-close actress who has built her reputation on the fringes of the industry. Her training at Carnegie Mellon University gave her a technical foundation that many of her generation's peers envy.

Before filming, she reads the script looking for the cracks in her character. Flat roles don't interest her. In 2007 she made her film debut in The Speed of Life, and from then on made it clear her path would go in a different direction.

Theater was her first refuge.

In 2013 she starred in the play The Flick Off-Broadway. That production won the Pulitzer Prize and allowed her to show that silence is her greatest weapon as a performer. The role of Sam required a restraint that Krause commands naturally.

Coldness as a Tool of the Trade

Many directors seek her out for her icy gaze and her ability to hold back her cards until the right moment. In 2011 she took part in Martha Marcy May Marlene. That Sean Durkin film put the spotlight on a generation of actors who rejected artifice.

But her big leap up came with cable television. In 2017 she took on the challenge of leading the second season of The Girlfriend Experience, playing Bria Jones. It was a physically and psychologically exhausting shoot.

And the gamble paid off.

The series required Krause to move through a world of luxury and high-end prostitution. She chose to steer clear of clichés and offer a dry portrait of a woman on the run. At no point did she seek the viewer's sympathy.

Because she prefers truth to on-screen beauty, her choices tend to be bold and far from commercial. In 2012 she appeared in The Comedy (one of the most polarizing films of the decade), sharing the cast with Tim Heidecker.

The Value of the Invisible

Despite her standing in independent film, she has also moved comfortably into bigger-budget productions. In 2012 she joined the cast of The Vow. Even in those projects, her presence tends to add a note of strangeness that unsettles audiences.

In 2019 she worked under Todd Haynes in Dark Waters, playing Karla. In this film about the DuPont scandal, she showed that there are no small characters for someone who knows how to fill the frame with a single gesture.

She still lives in New York and avoids the Los Angeles spotlight whenever she can.

Her role in the series Billions as Lu from 2016 gave her financial stability that lets her choose her projects carefully. Krause isn't in any rush to get anywhere. Her pace of work is steady but low-key.

In 2023 she took on projects that reinforce her commitment to auteur cinema. The drama The Great Indian Kitchen is one example of her interest in stories with a raw social backdrop. The film The Vow grossed 196 million dollars worldwide.