Biography

The daughter of actors Bruce Dern and Diane Ladd, this at-first-glance innocent looking young player has become one of the more intriguing leads of films, TV, and theater since the mid-1980s. Dern first registered as a troubled pregnant teen in "Teachers" (1984). Her effective portrayal of a blind girl in love with the disfigured protagonist of "Mask" (1985) threatened to typecast her in "symbol of purity" roles until filmmakers Joyce Chopra ("Smooth Talk," 1985) and David Lynch ("Blue Velvet," 1986) explored her aura of latent dangerous sexuality in films that exposed the darker side of American small-town life. 5The tall willowy blonde demonstrated her wider range with a hell-raising performance as Lula, Nicolas Cage's uninhibited traveling companion, in Lynch's "Wild at Heart" (1990). The next year, she won widespread critical acclaim as Rose, a sweetly wanton orphan whose presence disrupts a Southern family in the 1930s in Martha Coolidge's "Rambling Rose" (1991). Dern was nominated for a Best Actress Oscar and her mother--who co-starred as her employer--was nominated as Best Supporting Actress, the first time a mother-daughter team was cited in the same year for the same film. 5Her next role, as potential dinosaur chow in Steven Spielberg's blockbuster "Jurassic Park" (1993) was less demanding but more high-profile. The opposite was true of the dark chase film "A Perfect World" (also 1993), in which she played a criminologist. It was a box-office disappointment despite the presence of co-stars Clint Eastwood and Kevin Costner. Dern returned to feature leads with a well-received performance as a pregnant glue-sniffer who becomes caught in a tug-of-war between pro-choice and pro-life forces in the satire "Citizen Ruth" (1996).

Filmography

Mysteries of Love (2002) (V) .... Herself
Damaged Care (2002) (TV) .... Linda Peeno
Searching for Debra Winger (2002) .... Herself
I Am Sam (2001) .... Randy Carpenter
Focus (2001/I) .... Gertrude Hart
Novocaine (2001) .... Jean Noble
Within These Walls (2001) (TV) .... Sister Pauline Quinn
Jurassic Park III (2001) .... Dr. Ellie Sattler
... aka JP3 (2000) (USA: promotional abbreviation)
Daddy and Them (2001) .... Ruby Montgomery
Directors: Clint Eastwood, The (2000) (V) .... Herself
Dr. T & the Women (2000) .... Peggy

AFI's 100 Years... 100 Stars (1999) (TV) .... Herself
Film-Fest DVD: Issue 1 - Sundance (1999) (V) .... Herself (Interviewee)
Film-Fest DVD: Issue 2 - Cannes (1999) (V) .... Herself (Interviewee)
Intimate Portrait: Kelly Preston (1999) (TV) .... Herself
Intimate Portrait: Laura Dern (1999) (TV) .... Herself
Season for Miracles, A (1999) (TV) .... Berry Thompson
October Sky (1999) .... Miss Frieda Riley
Baby Dance, The (1998) (TV) .... Wanda LeFauve
Bastard Out of Carolina (1996) .... Narrator
Citizen Ruth (1996) .... Ruth Stoops
... aka Meet Ruth Stoops (1996)
Ruby Ridge: An American Tragedy (1996) (TV) .... Vicki Weaver
... aka Siege at Ruby Ridge, The (1996) (TV) (USA)
American Film Institute Salute to Steven Spielberg, The (1995) (TV) .... Herself
Down Came a Blackbird (1995) (TV) .... Helen McNulty
... aka Ramirez (1995) (TV)
"Century of Women, A" (1994) (mini) TV Series (voice) .... Family Member
"Fallen Angels" (1993) TV Series .... Annie Ainsley (Murder, Obliquely)
Perfect World, A (1993) .... Sally Gerber
Last Party, The (1993) (uncredited) .... Herself (at Democrat convention)
Jurassic Park (1993) .... Dr. Ellie Sattler
... aka JP (1993) (USA: promotional abbreviation)
Afterburn (1992) (TV) .... Janet Harduvel
64th Annual Academy Awards, The (1992) (TV) (uncredited) .... Presenter - Best Visual Effects
Rambling Rose (1991) .... Rose
Industrial Symphony No. 1: The Dream of the Broken Hearted (1990) (TV) .... Heartbroken Woman
Jonathan Ross Presents for One Week Only: David Lynch (1990) (TV) .... Herself
Wild at Heart (1990) .... Lula Fortune
... aka David Lynch's Wild at Heart (1990) (USA)

Nightmare Classics (1989) (TV)
Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, The (1989) (TV) .... Rebecca
Fat Man and Little Boy (1989) .... Kathleen Robinson
... aka Shadow Makers (1989) (UK)
Haunted Summer (1988) .... Claire Clairmont
Sister, Sister (1987)
Blue Velvet (1986) .... Sandy Williams
Smooth Talk (1985) .... Connie
Mask (1985) .... Diana Adams
Three Wishes of Billy Grier, The (1984) (TV) .... Crissy
Teachers (1984) .... Diane
Happy Endings (1983/I) (TV) .... Audrey Constantine
Ladies and Gentlemen, the Fabulous Stains (1981) .... Jessica McNeil
... aka All Washed Up (1981)
Foxes (1980) .... Debbie

Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974) (uncredited) .... Girl Eating Ice Cream Cone
White Lightning (1973) (uncredited)
... aka McKlusky (1973)