Genie Francis is an American actress. She is best known for playing the role of Laura Spencer on the television soap opera General Hospital from 1977 to present, for which she won a Daytime Emmy Award in 2007.

Laura Spencer is a fictional character from General Hospital, an American soap opera on the ABC network. Laura, originally played by Stacey Baldwin, was introduced in 1974 as the illegitimate daughter of Lesley Webber. The character was written out in the summer of 1976. In early 1977, Genie Francis took over the role of the rebellious teenage Laura. In 1978, thanks to the efforts of executive producer Gloria Monty's plan to entice younger viewers, the character's popularity skyrocketed in the late 1970s and early 1980s due to her pairings with Scott Baldwin and, most famously, Luke Spencer ; the latter became a popular supercouple among soap opera fans and viewers. Luke and Laura's 1981 wedding – which featured a guest appearance from Elizabeth Taylor — was viewed by 30 million people. In 1981, Francis quit the show, claiming unequal treatment compared to Geary, and the character was written out as having disappeared the following January. Francis returned for a brief stint in late 1983 to reunite Luke and Laura, and then again in late 1984 when Laura was revealed to be pregnant.