Lara Flynn Boyle is an American film and television actress best known for her performances as Laura Palmer's best friend Donna Hayward in Twin Peaks and Assistant District Attorney Helen Gamble in The Practice. She has had a number of movie roles from the late 1980s through the present but has found the most recognition through her roles in television series.

Boyle was born in Davenport, Iowa, the daughter of Sally Boyle, a clerical worker, assistant, and manager. Although she is of mostly Irish descent, Boyle also has an Italian-American great-grandfather. She is named after a character in Boris Pasternak's novel Dr. Zhivago. She was raised in Chicago, Illinois and Wisconsin. Boyle studied at and graduated from The Chicago Academy for the Arts.