Laura Dern

Born:February 10, 1967

Place of Birth:Los Angeles, California, USA

Known For:Acting

Biography

Laura Dern, born on February 10, 1967, is an American actress and filmmaker who has left an indelible mark on the entertainment industry. With a lineage deeply rooted in Hollywood, being the daughter of actors Bruce Dern and Diane Ladd, Dern's passion for acting was inevitable. She burst onto the scene in the 1980s and quickly gained recognition for her roles in iconic films such as Mask (1985) and David Lynch's Blue Velvet (1986) and Wild at Heart (1990), showcasing her versatility and talent from the start.

Dern's career reached new heights with her Academy Award-nominated performance in the drama film Rambling Rose (1991), where she portrayed the complex and captivating titular character. Her global acclaim soared with her role in Steven Spielberg's blockbuster hit Jurassic Park (1993), solidifying her status as a sought-after actress in the industry. Dern's ability to embody diverse characters with depth and authenticity has been a hallmark of her career, captivating audiences and critics alike.

Throughout her illustrious career, Dern has amassed a collection of prestigious awards, including an Academy Award, five Golden Globe Awards, and a Primetime Emmy Award. Her remarkable talent was further recognized with her Golden Globe-winning performances in Recount (2008) and the comedy-drama series Enlightened (2011–2013), showcasing her ability to excel in both film and television projects with equal finesse.

In recent years, Dern has continued to captivate audiences with her compelling performances in acclaimed projects such as the biopic Wild (2014), for which she earned her second Academy Award nomination. Her role as Renata Klein in the hit drama series Big Little Lies earned her critical acclaim, along with a Primetime Emmy Award and Golden Globe Award, showcasing her ability to command the small screen with the same intensity as the big screen.

Dern's collaboration with visionary director David Lynch in Twin Peaks: The Return further solidified her status as a powerhouse in the industry, showcasing her willingness to take on challenging and unconventional roles. Her versatility was on full display in films like Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017), Marriage Story (2019), and Little Women (2019), where she seamlessly transitioned between genres and characters with grace and skill.

In Marriage Story, Dern delivered a tour de force performance that earned her both an Academy Award and Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress, further cementing her legacy as one of the most talented and versatile actresses of her generation. With a career spanning decades and a repertoire of unforgettable performances, Laura Dern continues to captivate audiences with her immense talent, passion, and dedication to her craft.

Images

Filmography

Acting

Jurassic World Dominion

Ellie Sattler

2022

Four years after Isla Nublar was destroyed, dinosaurs now live—and hunt—alongside humans all over the world. This fragile balance will reshape the future and determine, once and for all, whether human beings are to remain the apex predators on a planet they now share with history's most fearsome creatures.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi

Vice Admiral Holdo

2017

Rey develops her newly discovered abilities with the guidance of Luke Skywalker, who is unsettled by the strength of her powers. Meanwhile, the Resistance prepares to do battle with the First Order.

The Founder

Ethel Kroc

2016

The true story of how Ray Kroc, a salesman from Illinois, met Mac and Dick McDonald, who were running a burger operation in 1950s Southern California. Kroc was impressed by the brothers’ speedy system of making the food and saw franchise potential. He maneuvered himself into a position to be able to pull the company from the brothers and create a billion-dollar empire.

Jurassic Park

Ellie

1993

A wealthy entrepreneur secretly creates a theme park featuring living dinosaurs drawn from prehistoric DNA. Before opening day, he invites a team of experts and his two eager grandchildren to experience the park and help calm anxious investors. However, the park is anything but amusing as the security systems go off-line and the dinosaurs escape.

Little Women

Marmee March

2019

Four sisters come of age in America in the aftermath of the Civil War.

The Fault in Our Stars

Frannie Lancaster

2014

Despite the tumor-shrinking medical miracle that has bought her a few years, Hazel has never been anything but terminal, her final chapter inscribed upon diagnosis. But when a patient named Augustus Waters suddenly appears at Cancer Kid Support Group, Hazel's story is about to be completely rewritten.

Downsizing

Laura Lonowski

2017

A kindly occupational therapist undergoes a new procedure to be shrunken to four inches tall so that he and his wife can help save the planet and afford a nice lifestyle at the same time.

Wild at Heart

Lula Fortune

1990

Young lovers Sailor and Lula hit the road to start a new life together away from the wrath of Lula’s deranged, disapproving mother, who has hired a team of hitmen to cut the lovers’ surreal honeymoon short.

Marriage Story

Nora Fanshaw

2019

A stage director and an actress struggle through a grueling, coast-to-coast divorce that pushes them to their personal extremes.

Blue Velvet

Sandy Williams

1986

The discovery of a severed human ear found in a field leads a young man on an investigation related to a beautiful, mysterious nightclub singer and a group of psychopathic criminals who have kidnapped her child.

Cold Pursuit

Grace Coxman

2019

The quiet family life of Nels Coxman, a snowplow driver, is upended after his son's murder. Nels begins a vengeful hunt for Viking, the drug lord he holds responsible for the killing, eliminating Viking's associates one by one. As Nels draws closer to Viking, his actions bring even more unexpected and violent consequences, as he proves that revenge is all in the execution.

I Am Sam

Randy Carpenter

2001

Sam, a neurodivergent man, has a daughter with a homeless woman who abandons them when they leave the hospital, leaving Sam to raise Lucy on his own. But as Lucy grows up, Sam's limitations as a parent start to become a problem and the authorities take her away. Sam convinces high-priced lawyer Rita to take his case pro bono and in turn teaches her the value of love and family.

Wild

Bobbi Grey

2014

A woman with a tragic past decides to start her new life by hiking for one thousand miles on the Pacific Crest Trail.

The Master

Helen Sullivan

2012

Freddie, a volatile, heavy-drinking veteran who suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, finds some semblance of a family when he stumbles onto the ship of Lancaster Dodd, the charismatic leader of a new "religion" he forms after World War II.

Novocaine

Jean Noble

2001

A dentist finds himself a murder suspect after a sexy patient seduces him into prescribing her drugs.

Lonely Planet

Katherine Loewe

2024

At an idyllic writers retreat in Morocco, a newly single novelist finds an unexpected connection with a younger man who's reevaluating his life choices.

Little Fockers

Prudence

2010

It has taken 10 years, two little Fockers with wife Pam and countless hurdles for Greg to finally get in with his tightly wound father-in-law, Jack. After the cash-strapped dad takes a job moonlighting for a drug company, Jack's suspicions about his favorite male nurse come roaring back. When Greg and Pam's entire clan descends for the twins' birthday party, Greg must prove to the skeptical Jack that he's fully capable as the man of the house.

A Perfect World

Sally Gerber

1993

A kidnapped boy strikes up a friendship with his captor: an escaped convict on the run from the law, headed by an honorable U.S. Marshal.

The Son

Kate

2022

A successful lawyer, with a new wife and infant, agrees to care for his teenage son from a previous marriage after his ex-wife becomes concerned about the boy's wayward behavior.

Inland Empire

Nikki Grace / Susan Blue

2006

As a Hollywood actress begins to adopt the persona of her character in a film, her world becomes nightmarish and surreal.

Mask

Diana

1985

A boy with a massive facial skull deformity and his biker gang mother attempt to live as normal a life as possible under the circumstances.

October Sky

Miss Riley

1999

Homer Hickam is a kid with only one future in sight, to work in the local coal mine like his father. However, in October 1957 everything changes when the first artificial satellite, Sputnik, goes into orbit. When Homer sees the Soviet satellite streak overhead, he becomes inspired to learn how to build rockets. With the help of his friends, and the local nerd, Homer sets to do just that by trial and a lot of error. Unfortunately, most of the town, and especially Homer's father, thinks that they are wasting their time. Only one teacher understands their efforts and lets them know that they could become contenders in the national science fair with college scholarships being the prize. Now the gang must learn to perfect their craft and overcome the many problems facing them as they shoot for the stars.

Spielberg

Self

2017

A documentary on the life and career of one of the most influential film directors of all time, Steven Spielberg.

Trial by Fire

Elizabeth Gilbert

2019

The tragic and controversial story of Cameron Todd Willingham, who was executed in Texas for killing his three children after scientific evidence and expert testimony that bolstered his claims of innocence were suppressed.

The Tale

Jennifer

2018

An investigation into one woman’s memory as she‘s forced to re-examine her first sexual relationship and the stories we tell ourselves in order to survive.

Certain Women

Laura

2016

Three strong-willed women strive to forge their own paths amidst the wide-open plains of the American Northwest: a lawyer forced to subdue a troubled client; a wife and mother whose plans to construct her dream home reveal fissures in her marriage; and a lonely ranch hand who forms an ambiguous bond with a young law student.

Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore

Girl Eating Ice Cream Cone (uncredited)

1974

After her husband dies, Alice and her son, Tommy, leave their small New Mexico town for California, where Alice hopes to make a new life for herself as a singer. Money problems force them to settle in Arizona instead, where Alice takes a job as waitress in a small diner.

Fat Man and Little Boy

Kathleen Robinson

1989

Assigned to oversee the development of the atomic bomb, Gen. Leslie Groves is a stern military man determined to have the project go according to plan. He selects J. Robert Oppenheimer as the key scientist on the top-secret operation, but the two men clash fiercely on a number of issues. Despite their frequent conflicts, Groves and Oppenheimer ultimately push ahead with two bomb designs — the bigger "Fat Man" and the more streamlined "Little Boy."

Lynch/Oz

Lula Fortune (archive footage) (uncredited)

2023

Victor Fleming’s 1939 film The Wizard of Oz is one of David Lynch’s most enduring obsessions. This documentary goes over the rainbow to explore this Technicolor through-line in Lynch’s work.

Everything Must Go

Delilah

2011

When an alcoholic relapses, causing him to lose his wife and his job, he holds a yard sale on his front lawn in an attempt to start over. A new neighbor might be the key to his return to form.

White Lightning

Sharon Anne (uncredited)

1973

An ex-con teams up with federal agents to help them with breaking up a moonshine ring.

Common Ground

Self

2023

Sobering yet hopeful, Common Ground exposes the interconnectedness of American farming policy, politics, and illness. Follow the solution-driven plight of Regenerative Farmers as they make a case for soil health across the continent and beyond.

When the Game Stands Tall

Bev Ladouceur

2014

A young coach turns a losing high school football program around to go undefeated for 12 consecutive seasons.

Citizen Ruth

Ruth Stoops

1996

"Citizen Ruth" is the story of Ruth Stoops, a woman who nobody even noticed -- until she got pregnant. Now, everyone wants a piece of her. The film is a comedy about one woman caught in the ultimate tug-of-war: a clash of wild, noisy, ridiculous people that rapidly dissolves into a media circus.

Jurassic Park III

Ellie

2001

In need of funds for research, Dr. Alan Grant accepts a large sum of money to accompany Paul and Amanda Kirby on an aerial tour of the infamous Isla Sorna. It isn't long before all hell breaks loose and the stranded wayfarers must fight for survival as a host of new -- and even more deadly -- dinosaurs try to make snacks of them.

Production

Inland Empire

Co-Producer

2006

As a Hollywood actress begins to adopt the persona of her character in a film, her world becomes nightmarish and surreal.