Laura Dern

Laura Elizabeth Dern is an American actress born on February 10, 1967. She has received numerous accolades throughout her career, including an Academy Award, an Actor Award, a BAFTA Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, and five Golden Globes. Dern rose to prominence through her feature film roles in the 1980s and achieved international recognition for her performance as paleobotanist Ellie Sattler in Steven Spielberg's 1993 adventure film Jurassic Park.

Dern was born in Los Angeles, California, to actors Bruce Dern and Diane Ladd. She is the great-granddaughter of former Utah governor and Secretary of War George Dern, and poet Archibald MacLeish was her great-great-uncle. Raised primarily by her mother and maternal grandmother after her parents divorced, she made early film appearances in White Lightning (1973) and Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974). At age 15, she served as Miss Golden Globe and appeared in Ladies and Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains (1982). She attained legal emancipation at 16, later briefly enrolling at UCLA before leaving to film Blue Velvet.

Dern had her first credited role in Foxes (1980) and gained recognition for her performance in Smooth Talk (1985). She achieved critical acclaim for her breakthrough role in David Lynch's Blue Velvet (1986), as well as her roles in Mask (1985) and Lynch's Wild at Heart (1990). In 1991, she starred in Rambling Rose, earning an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. She won a Golden Globe for the television film Afterburn (1992) before starring in Jurassic Park (1993), A Perfect World (1993), and Citizen Ruth (1995). In 1997, she guest-starred on the sitcom Ellen, earning a Primetime Emmy nomination, and later appeared in October Sky (1999).

Throughout the 2000s and early 2010s, Dern appeared in films such as Dr. T & the Women (2000), Jurassic Park III (2001), I Am Sam (2001), We Don't Live Here Anymore (2004), and Lynch's Inland Empire (2006). She won a Golden Globe for the television film Recount (2008). In 2010, Dern and her parents received stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. She co-created, executive produced, and starred in the HBO series Enlightened (2011–2013), winning her third Golden Globe. Her later film work included The Master (2012), The Fault in Our Stars (2014), and Wild (2014), which garnered her a second Academy Award nomination.

In 2017, Dern starred as Renata Klein in the HBO drama series Big Little Lies, winning a Primetime Emmy Award and a Golden Globe. That same year, she appeared in Twin Peaks: The Return and played Vice-Admiral Amilyn Holdo in Star Wars: The Last Jedi. She starred in the feature film The Tale (2018) and had supporting roles in Little Women (2019) and Marriage Story (2019). Her performance as a divorce lawyer in Marriage Story won her the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, a BAFTA Award, and a Golden Globe. Dern later reprised her role as Ellie Sattler in Jurassic World Dominion (2022).