Lourd is the daughter of actress Carrie Fisher and casting agent Bryan Lourd. Through Fisher, Lourd is is the granddaughter of actress Debbie Reynolds and singer Eddie Fisher and the niece of Todd Fisher, Joely Fisher, and Tricia Leigh Fisher. Lourd attended NYU and graduated in 2014. In June 2014, The Sun reported that Lourd would appear in the 2015 Star Wars sequel film The Force Awakens as a young version of Princess Leia, Fisher's character in the franchise. Lourd later said that though she has role in the film, she is not playing Leia. In February 2015, Lourd was cast in the Fox horror-comedy series Scream Queens.Lourd's character, a rich and disaffected sorority girl known as Chanel No. 3, wears earmuffs in every scene as an homage to Fisher's iconic"cinnamon buns" hairstyle from the original Star Wars film.