Lisa Robin Kelly was born in Connecticut and raised there in the town of Southington. She made her debut in a 1992 episode of Married… with Children entitled “Kelly Doesn’t Live Here Anymore”. She appeared again in 1997 on episodes of Charmed and Silk Stalkings, as well as in direct-to-video and TV movies, such as Amityville Dollhouse, Late Last Night and Jawbreaker.  Kelly played Laurie, the promiscuous and malicious older sister of Eric Forman on That ’70s Show. She left the show after five years; her character was written out of the show “to attend beauty school”. She returned to the show in the fifth season in four episodes, but was replaced with Christina Moore in the sixth season. In an interview with ABC News she admitted that “With That ’70s Show I was guilty of a drinking problem, and I ran.” Kelly appeared in a 2005 film, The Food Chain: A Hollywood Scarytale.

In August 2010, Kelly was arrested in North Carolina on a charge of driving under the influence. In November 2010, she pleaded guilty, was fined and sentenced to 12 months unsupervised probation.  On March 31, 2012, she was arrested on a felony charge of corporal injury upon a spouse, and was released on $50,000 bail. The charge was based on a complaint filed by her ex-boyfriend, John Michas. She later made public statements saying that she was the one who had been assaulted, and denied Michas’ claim that she assaulted him. On May 12, 2012, TMZ reported that the LA County DA declined to file charges.  In November 2012, police in Mooresville, North Carolina arrested the 42-year-old Kelly and her 61-year-old husband Robert Joseph Gilliam after responding to a disturbance at their home. Both were charged with assault and released on bond.  On June 23, 2013, Kelly was arrested for a suspected DUI when law enforcement responded to a call about a parked car blocking a lane of traffic on the I-5 freeway and she failed a field sobriety test.

Kelly died in her sleep on August 14, 2013, at age 43. Her manager Craig Wyckoff said Kelly had voluntarily checked herself into a rehabilitation facility several days earlier to receive treatment. Los Angeles County Coroner Lt. Cheryl MacWillie said the cause of Kelly’s death might take eight to ten weeks to determine while awaiting toxicology results.  On August 21, 2013, the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department announced that it had ruled out foul play as a possible factor in Kelly’s death, but the final determination could take another couple of months. On January 3, 2014, the L.A. Coroner concluded that Kelly’s death was due to “multiple drug intoxication” ingested orally.