Lindsay Noelle Windal LaVanchy was born in St. Louis, Missouri. She spent her summers camping, canoeing, and horseback riding in the Ozarks of Lebanon, MO, as well as performing at St. Louis' regional theater, The Muny Opera, the largest outdoor amphitheater in North America. She studied theater at UCLA for her undergraduate degree. She also separately went to Europe to study theater with world renowned teachers in Berlin, Germany, as well as Stromboli, Italy. She filmed the social media/horror/short film "Dembanger". It screened at IFS film festival in Los Angeles winning Best Horror Short. After, she joined the writing team of the feature film version of the same name, and it went into Production in the Spring of 2019. She stars as the lead, and serves as a co-writer and one of the Producers of the film. It was accepted in the SXSW 2020 Film Festival in the Midnighters Narrative Feature competition category. It was renamed Initiation, and CAA and XYZ films handled the sales. With that film's same director, she filmed three additional projects: "The Labyrinth" produced by James Franco with Jason Ritter making a guest appearance; and a commercial/short film for Giorgio Armani, which premiered at The Toronto International Film Festival. As well as, The Mannequin, a tongue-in-cheek horror film which is due out in 2025. She filmed a Comedy Pilot, acting opposite Danny Pudi, called "The Tyler Zone". It was directed by Keith Schofield and produced by The Lonely Island team headed by Andy Samberg. With that same director, she shot a music video for the hit UK band "Bastille". She's performed in multiple TV shows, Super Bowl and National commercials. In 2016, she starred on stage in the West Coast premiere of Tennessee William's "Baby Doll". It had a sold out 3.5 month run, and LA TIMES theater critic Charles McNulty said of her performance: "The production, however, has a secret weapon in Lindsay LaVanchy, who draws out all the sensuality and sadness, the petulance and helplessness of Baby Doll, the 19-year-old virgin... She coos and pouts and stomps around like a fairy tale princess immured in a tower....". He continues, "...LaVanchy allows us to once again hope that maybe this time romance will live up to its promise and quench the lonely longing." In 2021/2022 her female friendship break up film, Trying, premiered at multiple festivals and won the Audience Award for a Short film. She served as the co-writer, co-producer, co-director and was one of two female leads. It is now in script development for the feature. She additionally began script development on another feature film in 2024, a romance, based on a play by Jane Chambers, set during the summer of 1974... a summer this group of women will never forget.
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Biography from IMDb.
- October 25, 1988 (38)
- St. Louis, Missouri, USA
- Actor, producer and writer
- 5 on MovieCove · 10 credits in all
What are Lindsay LaVanchy's films like?
Across a limited sample of 3 MovieCove titles with a thematic analysis, their films lean Survival and Morality.
Themes
What they feel like to watch
Ironic 0 · Wry 0 · Earnest 3
Light 0 · Serious 0 · Dark 3
Grounded 0 · Stylized 3 · Heightened 0
A split, not a type: Gentle 0 · Charged 2 · Intense 1
Steady 0 · Shifting 3 · Whiplash 0
Straight-faced 3 · Some laughs 0 · Funny 0
Slow burn 1 · Even-paced 1 · Relentless 1
Casual 0 · Engaged 3 · Full focus 0
Easy watch 0 · Affecting 3 · Heavy 0
A split, not a type: Resolved 2 · Open-ended 1 · Ambiguous 0
Roles they play
Usually the Hero: 2 of 3 analyzed roles.
- Heroas Ellery Scott in Initiation (2020)
- Allyas Hazel Miller in The Mannequin (2025)
- Heroas Ursa in Predator: Killer of Killers (2025)
Moods and endings
AI-generated from each title's plot synopsis and cast list, with extra plot summaries, reviews and Parents Guide notes for titles the model may not know, and the model's own knowledge of the ones it recognizes. Only analyzed titles count, so this covers part of the filmography; the feel axes count films only for now.
Where can I watch Lindsay LaVanchy's films?
As of October 24, 2026, 4 of their 5 MovieCove titles stream on a subscription or free service.
Subscription and free streaming for Lindsay LaVanchy's titles on MovieCove; rent and buy are not counted. Titles are listed by Midcredits score, highest first, at most 12 per service; a dashed chip is a producer credit or a minor one, such as a thanks. A service opens the browse page, which counts movies only, so its number can differ.
Filmography
10 credits, 5 with a MovieCove page.
Club Rats (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2025)
The Mannequin(2025)
Midcredits score: 25th percentile of all films
Midcredits score: 95th percentile of all films
Trying (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2021)
Initiation(2020)
Midcredits score: 19th percentile of all films
The Labyrinth (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2016)
Dembanger (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2013)
The Maiden and the Princess (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2011)
NCIS: Los Angeles(2009)
Midcredits score: 51st percentile of all shows
Castle(2009)
Midcredits score: 93rd percentile of all shows
Career shape
Star power in the 89th percentile of 239,109 people with a billed film role, over a full career of 10 titles from 2009 to 2025; peak year 2025.
Film career
Peak 2025 · their film career is on the way up. Top draw in 2 MovieCove titles. Film roles by billing, audience size and rating; 25+ votes. A show carries a single first-air date, so shows are not on the curve.
- 2021Screen debut· Init!ation
- 2021First top-billed film· Init!ation
Counts from TMDB across their full career, self appearances out; a title counts in every role they held on it. The ring is the typical Midcredits score (the median percentile) of the role's titles that are on MovieCove, shown from 5 scored.
How do Lindsay LaVanchy's films land?
Their typical MovieCove film has a Midcredits score in the 25th percentile, the median of all 3; across a limited sample of 3 films with reception data, the typical film sits in the 18th percentile for acclaim.
- 75th and up2
- 50th to 74th1
- 25th to 49th1
- Below 25th1
Shape of the crowd
2 of their 5 titles are Universally Loved.
- Universally Loved2
- Crowd Pleaser1
- Mixed2
Reviewers score the acting 66/100 in their films, across 3 reviewed titles; fans 75, detractors 43. The element that speaks to their work as an actor.
Percentiles are each film's standing among all films on MovieCove; the typical film is the median, so one outlier cannot drag it. Percentiles and reviewer scores count the films IMDb credits them on, for now; the Midcredits score bands, the shape of the crowd and the two cards count their MovieCove titles, shows included (a show ranked among shows), appearances as themselves left out. A descriptor is the shape of a title's IMDb rating distribution against the catalog; "most divisive" needs a spread wider than half of all titles, and a card names only a principal credit: a craft role, and on a show a crew role or a run of episodes, never a courtesy credit or a one-off guest spot.
Who does Lindsay LaVanchy work with?
People who share at least 2 of Lindsay LaVanchy's MovieCove titles, grouped by what they did on them; John Berardo shares the most, 2.
Directors
- John BerardoShared titles: The Mannequin (2025), Initiation (2020)See all 2 shared titles with John Berardo
Actors
- Isabella GomezShared titles: The Mannequin (2025), Initiation (2020)See all 2 shared titles with Isabella Gomez
- Shireen LaiShared titles: The Mannequin (2025), Initiation (2020)See all 2 shared titles with Shireen Lai
Producers
- Brian FragerShared titles: The Mannequin (2025), Initiation (2020)See all 2 shared titles with Brian Frager
- En Ming LaiShared titles: The Mannequin (2025), Initiation (2020)See all 2 shared titles with En Ming Lai
- Maxwell HamiltonShared titles: The Mannequin (2025), Initiation (2020)See all 2 shared titles with Maxwell Hamilton
