Why Laura Porter From Felon Looks So Familiar
In the opening moments of "Felon," a family man named Wade Porter (Stephen Dorff) chases an attempted burglar out of his home with a baseball bat. He ends up hitting the burglar in the head with the bat and killing him on his lawn. He's then charged with murder, as a result of the burglar's death occurring outside of his home rather than inside — where the act could have been deemed self-defense.
Wade's situation goes from bad to worse before he even arrives at prison. On the bus to the prison facility, an Aryan Brotherhood leader stabs another man and hides the murder weapon underneath Wade's seat. Since Wade is unwilling to give up the real perpetrator, he's sent to solitary confinement as a suspect in the stabbing. While he's in solitary, he discovers that the prisoners in the extra security facility must fight one another during their limited time outdoors as part of an illicit gambling operation among the prison guards.
All the while, Wade is visited periodically by his wife Laura Porter. In short, his prison sentence puts an increasingly severe strain on their marriage. While Laura initially angles to leave Wade, she ultimately proves essential in his mission to bring the guards' prison fighting ring to light.
Laura Porter is portrayed by actor Marisol Nichols, who may look familiar to viewers from a TV-dominated career spanning decades.
Nichols' first major role was in Resurrection Blvd.
Marisol Nichols' acting career kicked off in 1996 with a series of appearances in TV series like "Beverly Hills 90210" and "ER." She went onto play supporting roles in films like "Scream 2" and "Bowfinger." Arguably her first major role was a series lead in the family drama "Resurrection Blvd." on the Showtime network.
"Resurrection Blvd." aired for 53 episodes across three seasons in total, from 2000-2002, well before the advent of prestige TV. The series followed the dramatic lives of the members of the Santiago family, who all lived in East Los Angeles. Roberto Santiago (Tony Plana) was the father of five children — men in the Santiago family historically competed as boxers, and how Roberto's children lived up to or diverged from that legacy was one of the show's primary sources of dramatic tension.
Nichols portrayed Victoria Santiago, the youngest child and a high school student. She was ultimately credited in every episode of the series.
Marisol Nichols was a main cast member in Season 6 of 24
Marisol Nichols joined the cast of Fox's hit thriller "24" during its sixth season as Nadia Yassir, the Los Angeles Counter Terrorist Unit's Chief of Staff, a position held by someone new in practically every season of the series that featured the CTU.
When Season 6 of "24" opens, the United States is in the midst of a series of ongoing attacks by Middle Eastern terrorists. Yassir is a Pakistani Muslim and can speak Arabic, having studied the language in college, so she works as a translator when needed. That said, her Muslim heritage also drives another Counter Terrorist Unit agent, Mike Doyle (Rick Schroder), to profile her and falsely accuse her of corroboration with the very terrorists she's investigating.
The majority of CTU Chiefs of Staff end up murdered at some point during or after the seasons in which they hold the position. Nadia Yassir is but one of two Chiefs of Staff to ultimately survive their tenures on "24."
Nichols joined the Archieverse as Hermione Lodge in Riverdale
CW teen drama "Riverdale" famously reimagines the cast of the prototypically American "Archie" comics as present day teens in a darker and edgier version of Archie's hometown of Riverdale. As in its comic strip source material, one of Archie's (KJ Apa) close friends is Veronica Lodge (Camila Mendes) whose family is unusually wealthy by Riverdale resident standards.
Veronica's mother, Hermione, is traditionally something of a socialite. In "Riverdale," however, Marisol Nichols' Hermione is wealthy only through her husband Hiram Lodge (Mark Consuelos), who ends up imprisoned for blue collar financial crimes. Hermione moves to Riverdale with Veronica, as a return to her hometown after the loss of her husband's income. Hermione and Veronica are ultimately able to live a luxurious lifestyle in Riverdale thanks to some cash left behind by Hiram prior to his imprisonment. Hermione continues to look for work over the course of "Riverdale," given that she's Veronica's sole guardian and operating only on a limited amount of money left behind by her incarcerated husband.
Nichols announced she was leaving "Riverdale" ahead of its fifth season, only to reverse course and reprise the role once again (via Yahoo).
Marisol Nichols portrayed a police captain in Spiral: From the Book of Saw
In the opening of 2021 "Saw" franchise spinoff "Spiral: From the Book of Saw," police detective Marv Bozwick (Dan Petronijevic) is chasing down a suspected thief when he's attacked by a separate masked assailant. Bozwick wakes up in a scenario familiar to fans of the "Saw" films in which he must choose between gruesome self-mutilation and death. He ultimately succumbs to the latter.
In light of the murder, veteran detective Ezekiel Banks (Chris Rock) and new detective William Schenk (Max Minghella) are assigned to investigate what appears to be a killer copying the methods of perennial "Saw" villain Jigsaw. Angie Garza, the police chief in charge of the case who assigns Banks and Schenk to investigate the murder, is portrayed by Marisol Nichols.
Early on in the investigation, Bozwick's murder appears to have been not a crime of opportunity but a targeted kidnapping, as other police officers likewise disappear. Garza too soon becomes implicated in the killer's Jigsaw-inspired schemes as the connection between the killer and the police department gradually comes to light.