Justin Lazard (born November 30, 1966) is an American actor, producer, director, and model.
Lazard was born in New York, but raised in Connecticut, and is of English, German and Irish descent. His father, Sidney Lazard, is a former foreign correspondent, and his mother, Julie (née Thayer), is a photographer. In 1974, the family relocated to Paris where his father was stationed by ABC News. After his parents' divorce when he was a freshman in high school, Lazard marked time in boarding schools and at Emory University. Transferring to NYU to study acting, he was "discovered" in a bar by a talent agent and was soon appearing in TV commercials.
After a small role in Spike of Bensonhurst in 1988, Lazard landed the recurring role of a punk-rock undercover cop on NBC's Miami Vice, appearing in three episodes. To pay for acting classes, he began a brief career as a model. Small parts in features (i.e., Born to Ride in 1991) and regular roles in unsuccessful series (e.g., Second Chances CBS 1993–94) followed.
In 1995, Lazard landed the role of a charming stockbroker on the primetime CBS soap Central Park West, but the series floundered and despite some retooling and a title change to "CPW", the show was cancelled after its second season. He starred in Extreme (1995) as part of a Rocky Mountain rescue team but the series was cut short after 7 episodes. He had a role in the direct-to-video release The Big Fall (1997).
Working in partnership with his brother Marc through Lazard Productions, he began to create material for himself. His most notable role was in Species II (1998) as an astronaut who mutates into an alien bent on having sex with human women and impregnating them, creating a race of alien children. He went on to produce the thriller Dark Harbor (1998), which he co-scripted with director Adam Coleman Howard. Lazard also served as executive producer on Stanley's Gig in 2000, written and directed by his brother, Marc Lazard.