A laterally driven electromagnetic microactuator (LaDEM) is presented, and a micro-optical switch is designed and fabricated as a possible application. LaDEM provides parallel actuation of the microactuator to the silicon substrate surface (in-plane mode) by the Lorentz force. Poly-silicon-on-insulator (Poly-SOI) wafers and a reactive ion etching (RIE) process were used to fabricate high-aspect-ratio vertical microstructures, which allowed the equipment of a vertical micro mirror. A fabricated arch-shaped leaf spring has a thickness of $1.8{mu}m$, width of $16{mu}m$, and length of $800{mu}m$. The resistance of the fabricated structure fer the optical switch was approximately 5$Omega$. The deflection of the leaf springs increases linearly up to about 400 mA and then it demonstrates a buckling behavior around the current value. Owing to this nonlinear phenomenon, a large displacement of $60{mu}m$ could be measured at 566 mA. The displacement-load relation and some dynamic characteristics are analyzed using the finite element simulations.