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Laura Dern Quotes

Laura Elizabeth Dern is an American actress. She is the recipient of several accolades, including four Golden Globe Awards and a Primetime Emmy Award, and has been nominated for two Academy Awards.

Born to the actors Bruce Dern and Diane Ladd, Dern began a full-time acting career in the 1980s with roles in the dramas Foxes and Mask . She went on to collaborate with David Lynch in several films, including Blue Velvet , Wild at Heart and Inland Empire , as well as the television revival of Twin Peaks . Dern received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress for playing the titular orphan in Rambling Rose and won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film for the 1992 film Afterburn. She established herself as a Hollywood leading lady with a starring role in the adventure film Jurassic Park . In 1997, Dern guest-starred in the "Puppy Episode" of the sitcom Ellen, in which Ellen DeGeneres publicly came out.

Following roles in such films as Citizen Ruth , October Sky , and I Am Sam , Dern won the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress on Television for portraying Katherine Harris in the television film Recount and the 2012 Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy Series for her role as Amy Jellicoe in the HBO series Enlightened . Dern continued to take on supporting roles in several successful films, including The Master , The Fault in Our Stars , and Star Wars: The Last Jedi ; and she received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for the biopic Wild . Dern won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or Movie and received another Golden Globe for her role as Renata Klein in the HBO series Big Little Lies .

Dern is an activist for raising awareness about toxic substances that can affect children's health. She is also a supporter of various charities and an activist for Down syndrome awareness.

✵ 10. February 1967
Laura Dern photo
Laura Dern: 9   quotes 0   likes

Famous Laura Dern Quotes

“I like to be a little bit of a rebel as an actor, so I am interested in the unpopular person and the lesser-understood character. It's a bold choice to try to find empathy in an unlikeable place in storytelling.”

Laura Dern

On choosing an unlikeable role in a movie
New Zealand Herald interview (June 2018)

“I could have never done it if David [Lynch] wasn’t a friend. He was very protective of me, like a big brother—he always has been. When it comes to Wild at Heart, if we had a love scene, everyone was very respectful… There’s no getting it wrong. Daring to go too extreme or too subtle or too anything—he requires it all of you and it’s all such fun and there’s no judgment on a set with David—ever. Except when I bring bottles of water on a set; he hates that.”

Laura Dern

As quoted in "Laura Dern on David Lynch" by Daniel Nemet-Nejat, Moviemaker, Moviemaker.com (23 January 2007) https://www.moviemaker.com/archives/moviemaking/directing/articles-directing/dern-on-lynch-3393/

“I think the film is so interesting because I have never had an outpouring like this in my entire life as an actor. We shift stories in our own lives to be able to survive them, about our own family and whatever traumas we have walked through, to make them somehow palatable. And somehow, in adulthood, it's like we have to relive those stories in order to find healing in them.”

Laura Dern

On the message of the 2018 drama film "The Tale".
New Zealand Herald interview (June 2018)

“I have never had an experience (like 'Star Wars'), and that includes 'Jurassic Park,' of what it feels like to be a character to young children that feels otherworldly or iconic or whatever that is. So now, I've had this amazing experience of little kids seeing me and instead of wanting to talk about the movie, they kind of back away, a little scared. It's like when you go to Disneyland and see Mickey Mouse and you're little. It's a weird thing that 'Star Wars' holds something a bit untouchable or something like that.”

Laura Dern

As quoted in "Laura Dern says kids fear her since appearing in ‘Star Wars’" by James Desborough, New York Daily News (22 January 2018) http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/gossip/confidential/laura-dern-kids-fear-appearing-star-wars-article-1.3772851

“The thing I love about acting is, whatever character you play, it gives you the chance to expose another side of yourself that maybe you’ve never felt comfortable with, or never knew about. Not that every character is you, but there are underlying emotions that everybody has. I feel that movies are gifts that come to you, and there are no accidents in what you end up doing. I study Jung, who talks a lot about the shadow side, the repressed side.”

Laura Dern

Regarding the correlation between acting and one's personality
Interview Magazines interview (September 1990)

“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.”

Laura Dern

As quoted on the broadcast of the 66th Golden Globe Awards, NBC (11 January 2009)

“With the technology, we’ve become more apathetic, because we don’t look in each other’s eyes any more as we attempt communication. But at the same time, with one iPhone, we can start a revolution. If there’s injustice, you just film it and post it. And suddenly people are tapped into a current event they wouldn’t otherwise see, and that’s incredible.”

Laura Dern

Comparing the pros and cons of the advancing technology, as quoted in Chet Cooper interview with Laura Dern, Chet Cooper, Ability Magazine (February/March 2015) https://abilitymagazine.com/laura-dern.html

“Many of us were taught not to tattle. It was a culture of silencing and that was normalized. I urge all of us to not only support survivors and bystanders, who are brave enough to tell their truth, but to promote restorative justice. May we also please protect and employ them. May we teach our children that speaking out without the fear of retribution, is our culture’s new North Star.”

Laura Dern

As quoted on the broadcast of the 75th Golden Globe Awards, NBC (7 January 2018) https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/laura-dern-culture-silencing-victims-golden-globes_us_5a52d805e4b089e14dbc5ac0

“I never had a misunderstanding of what [acting] was about. Unfortunately, overall, movies are a conglomerate. People buy and sell people in this business, which can get really ugly unless you have the right set of values and understand why you’re doing it. Luckily, I was raised by people who’d already gotten to that point, and seen all the yuck stuff—which is probably why they originally didn’t want me to act. I also understood the difference between getting a part at a Hollywood party and really getting a job. I knew you had to go in and audition and maybe then they’d hire you, and that’s where you start. I also had a good understating about press: that it’s the actor’s responsibility to publicize his or her films, that the press can be fun, that it’s not about hyping yourself into stardom or trying to sell yourself as a hot ticket.”

Laura Dern

On understanding the theatrical film business in Hollywood
Interview Magazines interview (September 1990)

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