Laura Molina

Laura Molina (born December 15, 1957) is an American artist, musician, and actress from Los Angeles, California, particularly recognized for her provocative Naked Dave series of paintings and her self-published comic book Cihualyaomiquiz, The Jaguar under her Insurgent Comix imprint.

Raised in East Los Angeles and the suburbs near Pasadena, she graduated early from Arroyo High School in 1976 and trained in acting at the Inner-City Cultural Center with mentors like C. Bernard Jackson and George C. Wolfe, later studying character animation and filmmaking at the California Institute of the Arts on Walt Disney scholarships.

Her distinctive artistic style draws from the Chicano Movement, Mexican cultural icons such as Frida Kahlo and Jesús Helguera, and British Pre-Raphaelites, often channeling activism against racism, sexism, and patriarchy through her work.

Full Name	Laura Molina
Gender	Female
Occupation	Artist
Date of Birth	15-December-1957 (68 years)
Birth Year	1957
Birth Location	Los Angeles, California, U.S.

In the early 1980s, Laura Molina fronted the all-female rock band Tiger Lily while painting billboards in traditional oil techniques to support herself, and she later recorded music with Devo member Bob Casale before shifting focus to visual arts in 1991.

She served as an Artist-in-Residence at Self Help Graphics & Art from 1993 to 1995, participated in their Screen Print Atelier in 2003 and 2006, and founded Chicano Art Magazine in 2006 as its first Editor-in-Chief.

The Naked Dave series stemmed from a brief, tumultuous relationship with illustrator Dave Stevens in 1978, which ended after a miscarriage, inspiring her to revisit the theme in 1993 following a failed reconciliation; a 2004 documentary short explored this obsession.

Laura Molina worked professionally as a scenic artist and animatronic figure-finisher from 1989 to 2005, contributing to films like Hocus Pocus, Back to the Future Part II and III, and television projects, while also taking acting roles in shows such as Nip/Tuck, Frank TV, and Franklin & Bash.

Her exhibitions include Chicana Art and Experience: Mujeres con Garbo at the AFL-CIO headquarters in Washington, D.C., in 2008 and Latino Artists of Los Angeles at the Millard Sheets Center for the Arts in 2005.

Politically active, she participated in the Occupy Movement from 2011 and ran as a Democrat in California's 25th congressional district election in 2012 before withdrawing; she now writes her first novel, The Red Moon, and maintains an online presence as a neurodivergent content creator.