Lauren Greenfield was born in Boston, grew up in Los Angeles, and graduated from Harvard University with a B.A. in visual and environmental studies in 1987. She worked as a photojournalist based in Los Angeles and London, and published work in National Geographic, Time, Newsweek, The New York Times Magazine, the London Sunday Times Magazine, Fortune, Vanity Fair, LIFE, and other magazines. Her early projects included the photographic series Survivors of the French Revolution and a film called Once You're In..., which documented the lives of young Irish illegal immigrants in Boston. Her best-known work to date is Fast Forward: Growing Up in the Shadow of Hollywood, a book of color photographs which were also exhibited at ICP, the Maylight Festival in Bologna, the Fotofestival Naarden in Holland, and the Visa pour L'Image in Perpignan, France. Greenfield has received many honors for her photographs, notably ICP's Young Photographer Infinity Award, the National Geographic Society Documentary Grant, and a National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts Award.