Born in 1959 in St. Paul, Minnesota, Laila Robins earned her undergraduate degree from the University of Wisconsin Eau-Claire, and subsequently attended the prestigious Yale School of Drama, earning a Masters of Fine Arts. She began working on stage in the mid-1980s and quickly found herself on screen in a substantial role, playing Steve Martin's wife, in the holiday classic "Planes, Trains and Automobiles" (1987). Her first series regular role came on the show "Gabriel's Fire" (ABC, 1990-91) playing the attorney who helps free James Earl Jones, then hires him as a private investigator. Once that show ended, Robins continued to work both on stage and screen, notably playing a recurring role as young Livia Soprano on "The Sopranos" (HBO, 1999-2007), and making multiple appearances on "In Treatment" (HBO, 2008-2010), and "Bored to Death" (HBO, 2009-2011). In 2014, she appeared as a series regular, playing the US Ambassador to Pakistan on season 4 of "Homeland" (Showtime, 2011-). The following year she was a regular on season 2 of "Murder in the First" (TNT, 2014-16). It was announced that she would be a series regular on "Deception" (ABC, 2018-)
