Laura Dern

Laura Elizabeth Dern  (born February 10, 1967) is an American actress,  film director  and  producer. Dern has acted in such films as Smooth Talk  (1985),  Blue Velvet  (1986),  Fat Man and Little Boy  (1988),  Wild at Heart  (1990),  Jurassic Park  (1993),  The Baby Dance  (1998)  October Sky  (1999) and  I Am Sam  (2001). She has won awards for her performance in the 1991 film  Rambling Rose, for which she was nominated for an  Academy Award for Best Actress. She was awarded a  Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film  for her portrayal of Florida Secretary of State  Katherine Harris  in the film  Recount  (2008). From 2011 to 2013, Dern starred in HBO’s  Enlightened. In this role, she won the 2011  Golden Globe Award  for Best Actress in a Television Series Musical or Comedy.

Early life
 Dern was born in  Los Angeles ,  California, the daughter of actors  Bruce Dern  and  Diane Ladd , and the great-granddaughter of former  Utah  governor, and  Secretary of War ,  George Dern. The  poet ,  writer, and  Librarian of Congress   Archibald MacLeish  was her great-uncle. Laura Dern's film debut was a cameo in her mother's film  White Lightning  (1973). She also made a brief appearance in  Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore  (1974), one of Ladd's signature roles. Her mother objected to her 13-year-old daughter's presence on the set of  Ladies and Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains, but Dern sued for  emancipation. In 1982, she became the youngest-ever winner of  Miss Golden Globe.

Career
 1984 marked the beginning of a longstanding association with acting coach Sandra Seacat, to whom Dern, speaking 17 years later, would attribute a dramatic transformation in both her life and her work. Speaking with  Back Stage West  again in 2004, Dern would expand upon her earlier comments; most recently, Dern thanked Seacat in her acceptance speech for Best Actress in a Television Series at the  69th Annual Golden Globe Awards  in 2012.

Between 1985 and 1990, Dern gained critical acclaim for roles in Mask, Blue Velvet and Wild at Heart. Dern's starring role in Blue Velvet was a breakthrough though her next notable film, Wild at Heart, took almost four years to be released. Dern's affiliation with Lynch has continued with her role in Inland Empire. In 1992, Dern and her mother became the first mother and daughter to be nominated for an Academy Award for acting in the same film in Rambling Rose. They did not play mother and daughter in the film. Dern starred as Dr. Ellie Sattler in Steven Spielberg's 1993 blockbuster Jurassic Park. That same year, Clint Eastwood enlisted the actress for his film A Perfect World. She also starred as Ruth in the 1996 satire Citizen Ruth, the directorial debut of Alexander Payne. Dern's mother makes a cameo appearance, playing Dern's character's mother, with Dern's character screaming a torrent of abuse at her. 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. In 1998, Dern co-starred in Jodie Foster's film The Baby Dance. While dating Thornton in 1999, she was cast as his love interest in his film Daddy and Them, which also includes Diane Ladd. Dern also appeared in Joe Johnston's film October Sky.

Robert Altman  called upon Dern's talents to play a  Champagne -loving Aunt in his Texas-based comedy  Dr. T & the Women  in 2000. She co-starred in  Within These Walls, and  Arthur Miller's   Focus. She had a minor role in  Jurassic Park III, and was a supporting actor in the film  I Am Sam. She starred in the 2002 film  Damaged Care  and the 2004 film  We Don't Live Here Anymore. Dern was part of the ensemble dramedy  Happy Endings  in 2005, and she appeared in the 2006 film  The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio. In 2006, David Lynch and Dern reunited for  Inland Empire  and, also in 2006, Dern had a supporting role in  Lonely Hearts. Mike White hired Dern for his directorial debut in 2007, the comedy titled  Year of the Dog  and starring  Molly Shannon ,  John C. Reilly  and  Peter Sarsgaard. In 2008 Dern starred in  Recount  for which she won a  Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress - Series, Miniseries or Television Film. Since then, Dern was seen in the independent 2009 drama  Tenderness    and, in 2010, she appeared in  Little Fockers, playing an advanced school principal who dated  Owen Wilson 's character Kevin Rawley.

Dern has done much work on television, most notably Afterburn, for which she received a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Mini-Series or Movie. She guest-starred on The West Wing, as a voice on King of the Hill and as a lesbian who coaxes Ellen DeGeneres out of the closet in the famous 1997 "The Puppy Episode" of the television series Ellen. On the April 24, 2007 airing of DeGeneres' talk show, Dern revealed she did not work for more than a year following her appearance in that episode because of resulting backlash, but nevertheless called it an "extraordinary experience and opportunity."

Dern 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. On November 1, 2010, she received the 2,420th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Her parents, Diane Ladd and Bruce Dern, were presented with stars too.

In October 2011, Dern starred in a new HBO television series called Enlightened. Dern plays Amy Jellicoe, "a health and beauty executive who returns from a post-meltdown retreat to pick up the pieces of her broken life" with, among others, her mother, played by her real-life mother Ladd. Dern brought screenwriter Mike White back into television work after he had had an on-the-job meltdown of his own, and into the series' project. Jellicoe's Hawaiian retreat included introduction to meditation and the character tries to continue the discipline as she resumes her working life. Dern received her third Golden Globe for her role in the series.

Dern appeared in Paul Thomas Anderson's 2012 film The Master, along with Amy Adams and Philip Seymour Hoffman.

Political views
Dern is known as an activist and supporter of many charities, such as Healthy Children Healthy World, which aims to raise awareness about toxic substances that can affect a child's health.

During the 66th Golden Globe Awards, on January 11, 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!"

Relationships and family
Dern has had high-profile romances with Kyle MacLachlan, Nicolas Cage, Renny Harlin, Jeff Goldblum, and Billy Bob Thornton (who ended their relationship abruptly in May 2000 by marrying Angelina Jolie while Dern was away working on a movie).

 Dern began dating musician Ben Harper after they met at one of his concerts in fall 2000. Harper and Dern married on December 23, 2005 at their home in Los Angeles. They have two children together, son Ellery Walker (born August 2001) and daughter Jaya (born November 2004). Through this marriage, Dern also became a stepmother to Harper's children from his first marriage, his son Charles and daughter Harris. In October 2010, Harper filed for divorce from Dern, citing irreconcilable differences. They briefly reconciled and attended the  2012 Golden Globe Awards  together, but Dern reactivated the divorce by filing a legal response in July 2012. The divorce was finalized in September 2013.