• Name: Laura Dern
  • Date of Birth: February 10, 1967
  • Place of Birth: Not available
Mini-bio: Playing characters ranging from wide-eyed virgins to willful sirens to drug-addicted losers, Laura Dern is among the screen's most interesting modern actresses. Tall, blonde, blue-eyed, and slender, D... read moreern moves with a coltish combination of grace and gangliness that she uses to make herself alternately plain or beautiful, innocent or seductive, as her roles require. Her parents, Bruce Dern and Diane Ladd, are both successful actors but initially discouraged her from becoming involved in the profession. Still, acting was Dern's childhood goal, and after her parents divorced, she made her film debut at the age of six in White Lightning (1973).The following year, Dern played a bit part in Martin Scorsese's Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore. She got her first major role in 1980, playing a teenager in Adrian Lyne's Foxes. By 1983, she had appeared in more films, and in defiance of her parents' wishes, decided to get some formal dramatic training at the Lee Strasberg Institute, where she studied Method acting. She went on to appear in films such as Teachers (1984) and Mask (1985) and gained a reputation for realistic portrayals of goodhearted innocents. Dern could have easily been typecast into such roles had Joyce Chopra not cast her as a rebellious teen anxious to experience a sexual awakening in Smooth Talk (1986). The young actress' portrayal earned her a New Generation Award from the Los Angeles Film Critics. That same year, Dern became an even more marketable actress when she played a fresh-faced young sleuth in David Lynch's disturbing, groundbreaking Blue Velvet. She again worked with Lynch in the flamboyantly bizarre Wild at Heart (1990), in which she played an oversexed 20-year-old on the run with her lover (Nicholas Cage). The film proved to be a family affair, as Ladd played her villainous mother. The two appeared together again the following year in the beautifully wrought Rambling Rose. Dern's naturalistic performance as a troubled 19-year-old who wants love, but has confused it with sex, won her considerable acclaim that culminated in an Oscar nomination for Best Actress. Ladd was also nominated, making it the first time a mother-daughter team had been so honored in the same year. In 1993, Dern became a bigger star portraying a courageous paleo-botanist in Steven Spielberg's blockbuster Jurassic Park. Three years later, she played one of her most offbeat roles as a paint-huffing, spiteful, pregnant, and dumb as a box-of-doorknobs homeless girl who finds herself caught in the middle of a battle royale between pro- and anti-abortion groups in the black comedy Citizen Ruth. In 1999, she took on two very diverse roles, first playing a supportive high school teacher in October Sky and then returning to the realm of eccentricity -- and to sharing the screen with her mother -- as part of an unconventional Alabama family in Billy Bob Thornton's Daddy and Them. Though audiences were no doubt eager to see what Slingblade director Thornton had up his sleeve for the eagerly anticipated feature, Daddy and Them did recieve stateside release into a full two-years after production wrapped - and when it finally did find it's way into theaters critical and popular response was lukewarm at best. The disappointment was more than counterbalanced that year however when Dern and boyfriend Ben Harper gave birth to their first baby boy Ellery, and in addition to also returning to the land of dinosaurs with Jurassic Park III in 2001Dern essayed memorable supporting performances in a number of films including Novcaine, Focus and I Am Sam. Stepping back into the lead for her role as true life HMO whistle-blower Linda Peeno in the made-for-HBO film Damaged Goods, many found Dern's performance so moving that whispers of an Emmy nomination began to circulate. That wasn't in the cards however, and the following year Dern returned to feature work with the adulterous drama We Don't Live Here Anymore.In addition to her film career, Dern has appeared on stage and television. In 1992, she won an Emmy nomination and a Golden Globe award for performing in the HBO docudrama Afterburn. In 1997, she again proved her versatility by offering a convincing, Emmy-nominated portrayal of a lesbian who is comfortable with her sexuality in a landmark episode of the sitcom Ellen in which star Ellen DeGeneres "comes out of the closet." ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
Post it anywhere Link it anywhere

Laura Dern Wiki Profile

EasyEdit tools are temporarily disabled for maintenance.









Laura Elizabeth Dern born during the shooting of Roger Cormans "The Wild Angels" on Feb 10, 1967. The Daughter of Bruce Dern and Diane Ladd. Dern has been nominated for multiple Emmy's and Golden Globe's for various television movies, and "Rambling Rose", she got a Best Actress Oscar nomination co-starring her mom Ladd.
She has starred in surreal films such as those directed by David lynch and his take on the aura of the dangerous Dark Sexuality side of cinema, In which she starred in "Wild At Heart", "Smooth Talker", and "Blue Velvet"
"I get so protective of David [Lynch], like an older sister or something, which is so absurd. He's not waiting for us to get the movie because he doesn't think the cinema is about 'getting it'. I think he believes - which I've found very rare in filmmakers - in the intelligence of the audience, that they're intelligent enough to discover the film and what it means within themselves."
She began studying at the Lee Strasberg Institute in Los Angeles at the age of nine and was enthralled to land a bit part as a party crasher in Adrian Lyne's "Foxes" (1980).Dern earned bounding success as the gum-cracking, chain-smoking, hell-raising Lula Pace Fortune, Nicolas Cage's uninhibited companion in David Lynch's"Wild at Heart" (1990). A character opposite to her "Blue Velvet" one. On the run from her crazed mother – played with manic glee by real-life mom Ladd – Lula summed up the spirit of the enterprise ."The whole world's wild at heart and weird on top." The next year, again acting with Ladd, she won widespread critical acclaim as Rose, a sweetly wanton orphan-turned-housekeeper whose presence disrupts a 1930s Southern family in Martha Coolidge's "Rambling Rose" (1991). Dern received a Best Actress Oscar nomination while Ladd settled for a Best Supporting Actress nod, making them the first mother-daughter team cited in the same year for the same film.
Dern's pre-teen gawkiness matured into lithe beauty, but this doesn't prevent Dern from fearlessly throwing herself into a wide variety of roles which are sometimes unflattering, an excellent example being her unflinchingly comic performance of an enormously aggravating loser whose pregnancy becomes a social and political football in Citizen Ruth (1996). This aftermath being in Dern being one of the most interesting actors working in Hollywood today.
Dern enlightened critics again the following year, earning an Emmy nomination and a Golden Globe award for her performance as a widowed military wife in the HBO documentary-drama "Afterburn" (1992).In 1997, Dern was featured in Widespread Panic's music video for their song, "Aunt Avis," which was directed by Dern's then boyfriend and future fiancé, Billy Bob Thornton.
"It's really fun to act like a bimbo. But it's fun to act like a bimbo only when people know that you really aren't one."
She secured her place in celebrity history (and a third Emmy nomination) as the lesbian lover in the "coming out" episode of "Ellen" (ABC, 1994-98), and turned around to give a critically-acclaimed performance as a low-rent mother of four who contracts to sell her next baby to a yuppie couple in "The Baby Dance" Showtime, 1998 Joe Johnston's "October Sky" (1999) presented Dern as a morally upright teacher who inspires West Virginia schoolboys to look beyond their coal-mining community
Unfortunately, Dern – who had made a practice of flying under the tabloid radar – suffered a shocking blow in the public eye when her then fiancé of a year, Billy Bob Thornton, left her abruptly for his much younger “Pushing Tin” (1999) co-star, Angelina Jolie, going so far as to marry her within weeks.
Having previously dated such Hollywood talent as Treat Williams, Renny Harlin, Kyle Maclachlan, Jeff Goldblum and Billy Bob Thornton, Dern eventually married musician Ben Harper in 2005.
"For the first time in my life, everything in my life makes sense," Laura Dern, 37, told PEOPLE about becoming a mom to son Ellery, now 3. Dern and her fiancé, musician Ben Harper, will welcome their second child this winter.
Wearing a June Cleaver wardrobe, Dern glowed in “The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio” (2005), where she had a supporting role as a woman who encourages a mother of 12 struggling to keep her impoverished family together to join a group of successful song-writing housewives. Surprisingly going back into the skewed world of David Lynch, Dern went on to earn universal rave reviews for anchoring the disjointed and surreal “Inland Empire” (2006), where she played an actress thrown into a rabbit-infested identity crisis odyssey. Some critics hailed the hallucinatory effort as the director’s finest work while others felt Lynch slipping into self-parody,yet although both parties agreed that Dern’s performance was outstanding.
Dern made her mark on the small screen with an Emmy-nominated portrayal of Florida Secretary of State Katharine Harris in HBO’s acclaimed political drama “Recount” (2008). The fact-based picture chronicled the events surrounding the 2000 presidential election and earned a number of Emmy nominations for its remarkable dramatization of the complicated story. For her work, Dern also earned a 2008 Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress in the television movie and miniseries category.
Dern is known as an outspoken activist and supporter of many charitable causes, such as Healthy Child Healthy World, which aims to raise awareness about toxic substances that can affect a child's health. She has been acknowledged with several awards from the independent film industry including the Sundance Institute and was the subject of an aggressive media campaign by David Lynch to win her an Academy Award nomination for her work in Inland Empire.
During the 66th Golden Globe Awards, on January 11th, 2009, Dern expressed support for the incoming administration of Barack Obama during her acceptance speech for the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress - Series, Miniseries or Television Film for her work on the film Recount. She is quoted as saying, "I will cherish this as a reminder of the extraordinary, incredible outpouring of people who demanded their voice be heard in this last election so we can look forward to amazing change in this country. Thank you so much!"

October Skyl

Laura Dern Vital Stats

Born in Santa Monica, California USA 7:48am(PST)
Weight: N/A
Hieght: 5 10 1/2"(1.79m)
Supported Obama in 2008 Election, so most likely , if not formarly, Democratic.
Got $2,000 For starring in 1982's The Mask


Laura Dern Family


Daughter: Jaya Harper Born November 28, 2004
Son"Ellery Walker Harper Born August 21, 2001
Father Bruce Dern
Mother Diane Ladd Married to Bruce 1960-1969
Godmother Shelley Winters
Grandmother:Mary Lanier Mother of Diane Ladd
Great Cousin:Tennessee Williams
Great Uncle: Archibald McLiesh
Great Grandfather George Dern Governed Utah once
Sister: Diane E. Dern Drowned at 18 Months, five years before Laura was born.
Step-Father:Robert Hunter Married Diane Ladd in 1999
Step-Father:Andrea Beckett Married Bruce Dern in 1969



Laura Dern Significant Others
Billy Bob Throton 1997-1999 Dated, Never Officially Married, broke up to marry Angelina Jolie
Jeff Goldblum Met During Jurassic Park, Married in 1994 But it ended in 1996
Kyle MacLachlan During Blue Velvet 1985-1989 they were together
Renny Harlin Previously dated, Now woth Geena Davis
Treat Williams Met during Smooth Talk in 85
Ben Harper Met in 2000(He was previously married) Together ever since

Laura Dern Education

Harvard University Cambridge Massachussets
Royal Academy, of Dramatic Art London, England
The Lee Strasberg Theatre Institue Los Angeles, California
University of California, Los Angeles Los Angelas, California
University of Southern California Los Angeles, California
flixster.actor.pane.162654251 - flixsterflixster.actor.pane.162654251 - flixsterflixster.actor.pane.162654251 - flixster flixster.actor.pane.162654251 - flixsterflixster.actor.pane.162654251 - flixster

Laura Dern Movies

Laura Dern Movies
Laura Dern at LocateTV.com

Facts

No facts approved yet. Be the first

Laura Dern Trivia

  • What film has this cast : Helen Hunt ,Farrah Fawcett, Laura Dern, Shelley Long, Tara Reid, Kate Hudon, Richard Gere, Liv Taylor, Robert Hays,and Matt Malloy ?  Answer »
  • In Jurassic Park, who plays Ellie Sattler?  Answer »
  • Which movie stars Laura Dern and Sam Neil?  Answer »
  • Which Actress did NOT appear in any of these movies: - Dirty Dancing - Steel Magnolias - Back to the Future II - Single White Female - A league of their own  Answer »

Actor Quizzes