Shot by Michael Shelford
Shot by Michael Shelford
Shot by Michael Shelford
Shot by Michael Shelford
LARA MARKS is a British-Greek filmmaker and actor from London, currently based in Los Angeles. She completed her MFA in Film Producing at the American Film Institute Conservatory in Los Angeles and trained as an actor at the East 15 Acting School in London.
Her current film Syringe, which she produced, co-created and starred in will be having its world premiere at HollyShorts UK on November 15 2026, and will be screening at the BIFA qualifying North East International Film Festival on November 22 2026. Syringe was also selected as a finalist for the Roy Dean Short Film Grant. It is a psychological body horror short film about women's healthcare and medical gaslighting.
Prior to Syringe, she produced Jewish-Ukrainian comedy, Cherry Kompot, which premiered at AFI Fest and won Awards for 'Best Short Film' at the London Independent Film Awards and the Eastern Europe Film Festival. She directed, edited and produced a music video, Possible Stranger, for British alt-pop artist, Samfire, which premiered in Wonderland magazine, and was featured on Antakly Projects and on the Guilty Feminist. At AFI, she produced, co-wrote and starred in a short film Tell Me Something True, produced three additional narrative shorts, The Last Time I Saw Aaron, I Am Jaya and Marilyn and worked on numerous other productions.
She studied at the University of Oxford, where she was a member of OUDS, acting in productions ranging from new-writing to renowned works, including Tom Stoppard’s Arcadia, Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet and Harold Pinter’s Celebration. Whilst there, she also up a theater production company, Gold Thread Productions, through which she produced, directed, and starred in shows in Oxford, London, Berlin and at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Past productions with Gold Thread include Jason D. Martin's Dying Light, Oscar-winning writer Alan Ball's Five Women Wearing the Same Dress, Stoppard's The Real Thing and Marsha Norman's Pulitzer prize-winning play, ‘Night, Mother.
Lara also used these productions to raise awareness and support for relevant causes. Through the Fringe run, she fundraised for Clean Break, a charity that seeks to empower and educate female ex-convicts through theatre, and through ‘Night, Mother for Papyrus, a charity for suicide prevention.
‘Lara Marks, as both director and performer, crafted a powerful scene of recognition, never once being too melodramatic, and the accuracy of the experience hit me hard.’
— EDFRINGEREVIEW on Five Women Wearing the Same Dress
‘The cast in general is strong, however the standout performance comes from Lara Marks… Marks’ ability to switch between the two roles is incredible and I found myself almost forgetting it was the same person playing the two parts, testament to her skill as an actress.’
— OXFORD OPENING NIGHT on Cashiered
'The director, Lara Marks, did a wonderful job — the slow unravelling of their love story was poignantly demonstrated throughout the minutiae of Marks’ direction.'
— THE CHERWELL on Dying Light