All about Microsoft's "Lauren"

[Originally posted March 31, 2009 on Fortune.com.]

Her hair is red, her eyes dark brown, her physique slim. She stands 5'2" in her stocking feet and weighs 113 lbs. in her birthday suit.

Her name is Lauren De Long, and she set a million geek hearts aflutter with her spunky performance in the now famous "you find it, you keep it" PC ad, in which she chose an HP (HPQ) Pavilion running Microsoft (MSFT) Windows Vista Home Edition over any computer in the Apple (AAPL) store.

She also set off Apple 2.0's hottest flame war — 402 comments and counting — with the line "I'm just not cool enough to be a Mac person." (See How Microsoft put Apple owners on the defensive.)

She was supposed to be an ordinary American who answered a Craigslist ad for a market-and-research job and to her surprise found herself starring in a multi-million dollar Microsoft advertising campaign.

But a little inspired sleuthing by the wife of a Seattle-based investigative reporter turned up her film and television credits, her Now Casting bio and resume, her IMDB listing, her MySpace photo gallery and her official website.

Before donning dorky glasses and a green scarf to go laptop shopping with Steve Ballmer's money, De Long played a feed store clerk in a 2001 TV movie called The Retrievers, Darla in a 2003 film called American Grace, Grace in The Answer Yes (2006), head nurse in This Hollow Sacrament (2006), Samantha in 99 Pieces (2007), jacuzzi girl in 7eventy 5ive (2007), Molly in Ladybugs (2007) and Emmy Kyle in Hatched (2008).

She "provides the terror hottie mojo" in 99 Pieces, according to TerrorHotties.com. (link)
Her next gig, according to Todd Bishop's Microsoft Blog, is a 7-Eleven ad. "This is the perfect shoot for me," she says, "because I LOVE junk food."

She has also been booked to play Jessica in Humdrummer, a feature film. And in Zig Zag, a short pitched for the film festivals, she plays Amy, a "sexy and passionate criminal who's double-crossing ways backfire on her."

A few more things about Lauren: She loves to eat. She has a puppy named Bruce. She enjoys dark chocolate and a good glass of port. She loves the winter because she gets to stay inside by a fire. She prefers walking to running. She loves the lake and laying out in the sun. One of her favorite things to do is host a great party. She is awesome at the BBQ. She enjoys deep conversations and good debates. She is stubborn as hell but quick to apologize if she is wrong. She is a romantic. She hopes that someday she will be as accomplished as her mom. She has six brothers and no sisters. She still sleeps with her Teddy Bear. And holding a baby always tears her up. (link)

For more headshots and stills, click here.

Photo © 2009 Greg Nystrom. Posted with permission.

[Follow Philip Elmer-DeWitt on Twitter @ philiped]

Below: the ad that made her Internet-famous.