Lora Lee Gayer

Lora Lee Gayer, born Lorraine Lee Gayer on April 27, 1988, is an American stage actress whose Broadway career spans from 2011 to 2016. She was born in New York City to Thomas and Cynthia (née Dray) Gayer and grew up in Naples, Florida, where she has one younger brother, Thomas Gayer the Fourth. Her parents worked together in the fashion industry. Though her early interests leaned toward the visual arts, Gayer shifted toward performance as a child, joining the Naples Philharmonic Youth Chorale at age eleven. At thirteen she began attending the summer program at the Interlochen Center for the Arts in Michigan, and three years later enrolled full-time in Interlochen's preparatory school. She subsequently studied at the Carnegie Mellon School of Drama in Pittsburgh, where she majored in musical theater. Following graduation, she returned to New York to pursue performing work. In 2006, prior to her professional career, Gayer participated in the YoungArts program in Miami and was among the students featured in the documentary short Rehearsing a Dream.

Gayer made her Broadway debut in the 2011 revival of Follies, playing Young Sally. She had previously performed the role at the production's premiere at the Kennedy Center before the show transferred to Broadway, where it ran from September 12, 2011 to January 22, 2012. She reprised the role when the production played the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles from May to June 2012. In 2013, she made her film debut as Lily in Towheads, released on March 27 of that year. That same year, she played Philia in the Shakespeare Theatre Company's Washington, D.C. production of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, which ran from November 21, 2013 to January 5, 2014. The performance earned her a Helen Hayes Award nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress, Resident Musical.

Gayer returned to Broadway in 2015, originating the role of Tonia Gromeko in the musical Doctor Zhivago, which began previews in March of that year and closed on May 10, 2015 after 26 previews and 23 official performances. Also in 2015, she performed as part of Cdza in a segment on CollegeHumor's Comedy Music Hall of Fame. In 2016, she originated the principal role of Linda Mason in the Roundabout Theatre's Broadway production of Holiday Inn, a musical based on the film of the same name and featuring music by Irving Berlin. The production opened on October 6, 2016 and ran through January 15, 2017. In January 2019, Gayer performed a piece titled "The Interview" as part of "The Pussy Grabber Plays" at Joe's Pub at The Public Theater in New York City. The song was co-written by Natasha Stoynoff, one of the women who publicly accused Donald Trump of sexual misconduct before the 2016 presidential election.