Laura Basuki (born 9 January 1988) is an Indonesian model and actress. She won a Citra Award for Best Leading Actress for her role in the 2010 film Tiga Hati, Dua Dunia, Satu Cinta (Three Hearts, Two Worlds, One Love).

Biography

Basuki, who was born in Berlin on 9 January 1988, is of mixed Indonesian-Vietnamese ancestry. As a teenager, she intended to be a doctor. However, her mother pressured Basuki into becoming a model. The 1.74 m (5 ft 8 ⁄2 in) tall Basuki, who weighed 49 kilograms (108 lb), enrolled at the OQ Modeling School in 2005. Her first modelling job was at a bridal pageant showing the works of Bijan Wanaatmadja. This was followed by numerous spots marketing products like Coca-Cola and Vaseline; according to the weekly entertainment magazine Tabloid Nova, Basuki's look was compared to that of Japanese porn star Maria Ozawa. As the modelling work kept her too busy to study medicine, Basuki began studying economics.

In 2008 Basuki was cast in her first role, Gara-Gara Bola (Because of Football), after the producer Nia Dinata saw Basuki's face in a magazine. Basuki accepted the offer because of di Nata's standing in the Indonesian community. She played the role of a bookie's wife after receiving a month of coaching; her previous experience had only been with commercials and music videos. Gara-Gara Bola garnered her two awards at the 2009 Indonesian Movie Awards.

Two years later, Basuki played a Catholic woman in love with a Muslim man in Tiga Hati, Dua Dunia, Satu Cinta (Three Hearts, Two Worlds, One Love), which was a critical success. For her work, Basuki received a Citra Award for Best Actress at the 2010 Indonesian Film Festival. Also in 2010, Basuki served as an emcee hosting a quiz show for the MNC Group; the programme, broadcast during the 2010 FIFA World Cup, was about football.

Basuki married the businessman Leo Sanjaya in 2011. In early 2012 she played a beautiful journalist in Agus Kuntz' film Republik Twitter (The Twitter Republic). Basuki's fourth film, Di Timur Matahari (East of the Sun), debuted on 12 June 2012. A children's movie directed by Ari Sihasale, it followed Basuki's character Vina as she moved to Papua with her Papuan husband. For the shooting, she spent over a month in the mountainous inner regions of the island, bathing only weekly.