Laura Dern is an immensely popular actress in American movies and TV shows. She has been nominated at the Oscar Awards as Best Actress for her performance in her 1991 movie Rambling Rose. She has also appeared in major roles in several other high profile movies such as Mask, Jurassic Park, Blue Velvet, Wild at Heart, October Sky, I Am Sam, The Fault in Our Stars, and will be featured in the upcoming Star Wars: Episode VIII.
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Early Life and Beginning of Career
Laura Dern was born on February 10, 1967 in Los Angeles. Her parents are both actors. Her father is Bruce Dern and mother is Diane Ladd. Her parents fell in love and married when they were filming The Wild Angels. Coming from a movie family, it was not difficult for Dern to enter the movies herself. She did a cameo in the movie White Lightning in which her mother starred. She also featured with her mother in another of her movies Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore.
Dern’s acting skills were noticed from a very young age. She won Miss Golden Globe in 1982, when she was merely 15 years of age. She took acting lessons with Sandra Seacat later and then, with a refined set of skills, she found roles in movies such as Blue Velvet and Wild at Heart. She worked in David Lynch’s Inland Empire next and then Rambling Rose came her way where she was nominated for an Academy Award with her mother, a record-breaking first.
Acting Success
Major films came her way after her Academy nod. She received roles in Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park and Clint Eastwood’s A Perfect World. Other films that she worked for included Citizen Ruth, The Baby Dance, Daddy and Them, and October Sky. After a slew of other films such as Happy Endings, Lonely Hearts, and Year of the Dog, Dern got a chance to act in Recount which fetched her a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress.
She took up roles in a drama titled Tenderness after this, and appeared in Little Fockers as well. The recent news is that she is part of the cast of Star Wars: Episode VIII.
Acting on Television
Dern’s major television work was in Afterburn, a show for which she received the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress. Other shows she has appeared on includes The West Wing and King of the Hill. She has also appeared on Ellen Degeneres’ show.
Personal Life
Laura Dern has had some celebrity boyfriends including Nicholas Cage, Jeff Goldblum, Kyle MacLachlan, Renny Harlin, and recently, Billy Bob Thornton. Her husband was the musician Ben Harper whom she married in 2005. They had a divorce in 2013, citing irreconcilable differences.
Along with her acting, Dern also involves herself in charity work. She makes notable contributions to Healthy Child Healthy World and for patients of Down Syndrome for the ABILITY Magazine. She is a vocal political activist too and a supporter of the Obama government. She is known to be quite a tall woman, with a height of 5’ 10½“. Presently, she is believed to have a net worth of $12 million.
Last Modified: Apr 7, 2020
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