Laura Dern Biography

Actor, director, writer. Born Laura Elizabeth Dern on February 10, 1967 in Los Angeles. 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 UCLA for just two days, Dern enrolled in the prestigious Lee Strasberg Institute to study Method acting.

After a few bit parts during childhood, Dern received her first major role in 1980 in Adrian Lyne's Foxes. Subsequent roles included Teachers in 1984 and Mask in 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 her 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 Blue Velvet. Laura Dern reteamed with Lynch in 1990 for the groundbreaking Wild at Heart, in which she played an oversexed 20-year-old on the run opposite Nicolas Cage.

The following year, she appeared with her mother in the critically acclaimed Rambling Rose.  Laura Dern nuanced performance as a troubled teenager earned her 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 won the attention of mainstream audiences as a courageous scientist in Steven Spielberg's blockbuster Jurassic Park.  Laura Dern followed with a diverse variety of roles, including a resentful pregnant girl in 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.