Teresa Kelly Laughlin is a 70-year-old former actress, fashion designer, and current PR executive who transformed her early Hollywood legacy into a successful New York-based public relations empire.
Born into the countercultural Billy Jack film franchise, she appeared in five films before age 22, then switched to fashion design with a high-end eveningwear label sold at Neiman Marcus, before ultimately founding TC Laughlin Public Relations Group in New York City, where she serves luxury brands with a curator’s selective eye.
Teresa Kelly Biography
Born September 25, 1955, in Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles, Teresa was born into a family already steeped in film and social activism.
Her parents, Tom Laughlin and Delores Taylor, had married just one year earlier and would soon create one of independent cinema’s most successful franchises with the Billy Jack films.
Kelly attended Palisades Charter High School. At 18, she had already been featured in five films and appeared in a TV series. She was also part of a tour schedule around that time.
She grew up alongside siblings Frank and Christina Laughlin, all three eventually appearing in their parents’ films before pursuing separate creative careers.
Teresa Kelly Career
Teresa’s acting career spanned 1967 to 1986, centred almost entirely on her family’s Billy Jack film franchise.
Her first role came at age 11-12 as an uncredited pedestrian in The Born Losers (1967), the film that introduced her father’s iconic half-Native American Vietnam veteran character.
She gained her first credited role at 15-16 as Carol in Billy Jack (1971), the breakthrough hit that became one of the highest-grossing independent films of all time when adjusted for inflation.
Teresa played Carol, a student at the alternative Freedom School, in the films The Trial of Billy Jack (1974) and Billy Jack Goes to Washington (1977). She appeared in musical performances and contributed original songs she wrote and performed, including “Johnnie,” “Look, Look to the Mountain,” “Shed a Tear,” and “Dreaming and Hoping.”
Her only non-family film came in 1984 when she appeared as Vicky in Breakin’, the breakdancing phenomenon, credited as T.C. Laughlin. Her final acting work was in the unfinished The Return of Billy Jack (1986), which halted production when her father suffered injuries during a stunt sequence and financing collapsed.
After Billy Jack Goes to Washington, Teresa made what she described as a deliberate choice to leave acting around age 22, opting for higher education over Hollywood.
Fashion Designing
Teresa’s fashion career began with education at Parsons School of Design in New York, preceded by college and general art school. During her school years, she worked as both a photographer and stylist for Life, Seventeen, and Geo magazines.
After Parsons, she worked for various companies in New York’s Seventh Avenue garment district before launching her own private couture business “in a room by herself.”
Her fashion business evolved from creating custom garments for high-profile clientele into a wholesale collection of high-end eveningwear described as “luxurious, sophisticated yet incredibly wearable.”
The collection was confirmed to have been sold at Neiman Marcus and other upscale speciality stores across the country, with multiple sources referencing an “impressive roster of private celebrity clientele.”
The business reportedly grew at what one source called a “meteoric pace” throughout the 1980s and 1990s.
Teresa’s acute business acumen drew the attention of investors, and David Letterman eventually became a business partner.
Her fashion business closed following what sources vaguely describe as “an unexpected family event” that “caused a forced hiatus and eventual closure.”.
PR Career
Following the closure of her fashion business, Teresa was recruited by a boutique PR firm before founding her own company, TC Laughlin Public Relations Group, Inc., based at 315 Madison Avenue in New York City.
The firm specialises in public relations for luxury brands, fashion, interior design, and lifestyle products, serving what her company website describes as carefully curated clients selected “with the careful deliberation of a curator, ensuring that all the brands are a good fit.”
The company is verified as operational, with an estimated annual revenue of $1-5 million and 6-10 employees.
Teresa Kelly’s Family
Teresa Kelly Laughlin’s parents both remained central to her life until their deaths: father Tom Laughlin died December 12, 2013, at age 82, and mother Delores Taylor died March 23, 2018, at age 85 from dementia at the Motion Picture & Television Fund Home.
Her siblings, Frank Laughlin (a film editor who worked on documentaries) and Christina Laughlin (now Christina Harrington, a writer and producer currently working on a documentary about the Billy Jack films), remain involved in managing their parents’ legacy through Billy Jack Rights, LLC, which all three siblings co-founded in 2010 to manage rights to their father’s films.
So far, there has been no report of Teresa Laughlin getting married or having children.
Teresa Kelly’s Net Worth
The estimate would place Teresa Kelly’s net worth in the $1-3 million range, given her PR firm’s estimated annual revenue of $1-5 million.
Her previous fashion business success before closure, and probable New York real estate holdings for office/studio space.
Her wealth sources include modest earnings from her 1967-1977 acting career, likely significant income during the peak years of her 1980s-1990s fashion business that sold at Neiman Marcus, and current income from her boutique PR operation serving high-end clients.
