Laura Dern biography

Synopsis

Early Life

Laura Elizabeth Dern was born on February 10, 1967, in Los Angeles, California. The granddaughter of politician George Dern and daughter of actors Bruce Dern and Diane Ladd, Laura Dern has played everything from willowy ingénues to drug-addicted washouts. After attending the University of Southern California for one semester and the University of California, Los Angeles, for just two days, Dern enrolled at the prestigious Lee Strasberg Institute to study method acting.

Film Career

After a few bit parts during childhood, Dern received her first major role in 1980, in the Adrian Lyne film Foxes. Her subsequent roles include Teachers (1984) and Mask (1985), after which she surprised audiences with the role of a rebellious teen anxious to experience a sexual awakening in Smooth Talk in 1986. The daring role earned Dern a New Generation Award from the Los Angeles Film Critics. That same year, she stepped even further toward the fringe with David Lynch's disturbing 1986 film, Blue Velvet. She reteamed with Lynch in 1990 for the groundbreaking Wild at Heart, in which she plays an oversexed 20-year-old on the run and stars opposite Nicolas Cage.

The following year, Dern appeared with her mother, actress Diane Ladd, in the critically acclaimed Rambling Rose (1991). Her nuanced performance as a troubled teenager earned her an Academy Award nomination for best actress. Ladd was also nominated for an Oscar, marking the first time a mother-daughter team received dual nominations in the same year.

In 1993, Dern won the attention of mainstream audiences as a courageous scientist in Steven Spielberg's blockbuster Jurassic Park, based on the popular book of the same name by Michael Crichton. She followed with a variety of roles, playing a resentful pregnant girl in the 1996 film Citizen Ruth, a supportive high school teacher in 1999's October Sky, and a member of an unconventional Alabama family in Billy Bob Thornton's Daddy and Them (2001).

Television Roles

In addition to film, Dern has received wide acclaim for her television performances. In 1993, she won a Golden Globe Award (best performance by an actress in a TV mini-series or motion picture) for her performance on HBO's Afterburn. In 1997, she was nominated for an Emmy Award for her portrayal of a lesbian in a landmark episode of the sitcom Ellen.