Larry Laverty

Laurence Laverty (born 1959) is an American character actor. His film roles include playing Larry Davies in The Hamiltons, as well as appearances in Dead Tone (2007) and in Gus Van Sant's Elephant (2003). Laverty made television guest appearances in Judging Amy, The Practice, Breaking Vegas, Nash Bridges, and MADtv. His performance on The Tonight Show led to a number of appearances on daytime soap operas including Days of Our Lives, Passions, Port Charles, and All My Children.

He is also a writer and photographer and, in 2019, published a book of photography entitled Power and Majesty: The Plight and Preservation of the African Elephant, which contains Larry's photographs from his observations of the elephants in Africa. The aim of the book is to raise awareness about and support wildlife conservation and animal welfare. In 2025, he followed up with his second book, this one observing the elephants in Asia, Magnetic: Humanity and the Asian Elephant.

Early life

Laverty was born in 1959 in Berkeley, California, and grew up in nearby Oakland. His father was an engineer and a veteran of World War II, and his mother was a bookkeeper and historian. Laverty was an Eagle Scout, as well as a member of the Sierra Club and the Audubon Society. He graduated from Skyline High School in Oakland and then moved to Kuna, Idaho, to live on the family farm while he worked a variety of jobs. He earned two college degrees, in business administration and political science, from Boise State University, which included attending an acting class during his last year before graduating in 1985. He also undertook graduate studies at Johns Hopkins University.

Career Laverty performed on stage in a number of plays and musicals while studying acting with the American Conservatory Theater, The Groundlings, and The Second City. He spent 11 years living in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in Calgary, Alberta, and in Butte, Montana, while he trained in the hopes of joining the U.S. Olympics team as a speedskater. including Gus Van Sant's Elephant (2003), What's Bugging Seth? (2005), Further North (2008), The Wylds (2010), Cut (2011), American Disciples (2011), Radio Dreams (2016), and The Control Group (2014). He was also a producer of several films including Kid (1993), which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, Most of the Time (2016), and Gods In Shackles (2016). He appeared in the 2007 film Dead Tone in a supporting role. The next year, he appeared in the Antony De Gennaro film Son of Terror and the Phillip Grasso film ChainSmoke. He has also appeared in a number of television roles including Days of Our Lives, Judging Amy, The Practice, and All My Children. Beginning in 2015 onward, his images of wildlife in Africa were published by numerous international wildlife conservation organizations.

In 2017, he began taking part in speaking engagements that focused on the plight of the African elephant, engagements that revolved around the presentation of his images taken while spending six months in Africa. In 2019, he released a table-top book of images and observations on African elephants entitled Power and Majesty: The Plight and Preservation of the African Elephant. Larry followed that up with publication of a similar book on Asia's elephants Magnetic: Humanity and the Asian Elephant, published in 2025.

Filmography Laverty has appeared in more than 100 films and televisions series, including: