Elise van 't Laar was nominated for Best Actress at the Dutch Film Festival for her starring role in Peter Hoogendoorn's Between 10 and 12, which opened at the Venice Film Festival 2014. She won the award for Best Actress at the Nashville Filmfestival (2016) for her leading role in the feature movie Craving, directed by Saskia Diesing. 
She was co-starred in the film Supernova, directed by Tamar van den Dop, which opened at the Berlinale 2014. She was also featured in the highly acclaimed mini-series Ramses, who won the Prix de l'Europe for best European TV Drama and an International Emmy award.
Elise also played the lead in the short film Days of Steel. 

Elise graduated from the Academy of the Arts in Arnhem. She made her first stage appearance with in the production of Blonde Mientje by D*amor. Before completing her studies, Elise starred in Iets, Iemand by Generatie Oost directed by Laura van Dolron. With theatre company Oostpool, Elise starred in The Misanthrope from Molière, played Harper in Angels in America and starred in A Lie of the Mind by Sam Shepard. She was also seen in Strindberg's The Father, directed by Karlijn Kistemaker.

On television, Elise also played a supporting role in the drama series Celblok H and she guest starred Flikken Maastricht, Divorce 2, Cinderella and Heer en Meester.