Born in LA to parents Bruce Dern (“Coming Home,” 1978; “Nebraska,” 2013) and Diane Ladd (“Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore,” 1974; “Rambling Rose,” 1991), itโs no surprise that Laura Dern went on to pursue acting. By the time she was 18, Dern was impressing critics with her supporting role in “Mask” (1985), where she played the blind girl that Rocky Dennisโa boy who suffers from craniodiaphyseal dysplasia, played by Eric Stoltzโfalls for during summer camp.
Despite Dernโs career moving steadily upward, never faulting or flopping for even one lousy role, she didnโt gain widespread recognition until recent years. Dern is one of those esteemed actresses that everyone knows but doesnโt come to mind immediately, stuck inside supporting roles over leads; nominations over wins. At least, that was the case until her overdue Oscar victory in 2020 for “Marriage Story” and her presence in the hugely popular HBO series “Big Little Lies,” for which Dern won a Primetime Emmy.
Unlike most actors, Dern doesnโt have any real doozies in her filmography. Whether itโs a one-minute cameo or headline role, Dernโs performances always hold up strong. Her film canon champions David Lynch, feminist themes, and the “Jurassic Park” franchise, and here weโve narrowed down 10 of her best on-screen performances. Usually, we only focus on movies, but Dern has been in some knockout TV shows that deserve a mention, too.
10. Citizen Ruth (1996)
Unexpected pregnancies incur their own set of problems without the whole world pushing on their agendas. After Ruth Stoops gets the news, she immediately has left and right wingers squeezing up either side of her until sheโs about to pop. Unable to catch a breath, Ruth must choose between keeping or aborting the baby before the clock runs out (and of course, no one thinks to ask what she wantsโฆ). Itโs not just protestors, preachers, and activists applying pressure on Ruth. Thereโs also the matter of a $15,000 cheque (to keep the baby) or laxed felony charges (to abort it) to consider. Safe to say, all this intense nose-butting and media sensationalism is meant as a social satire by director Alexander Payne.
Dernโs energized central performance as the dirt-poor, drug-addled mother-to-be who unexpectedly makes front page news (as the protagonist of the 1941 classic “Citizen Kane” does, referenced in the title and Citizen Ruthโs camerawork) is tantalizingly reckless and funny. Somehow, she makes Ruth loveableโdespite the fact that sheโs an irresponsible criminal who chooses drugs over her four children.
9. Big Little Lies (2017)
Dern is an astute casting choice for painting a modern portrait of motherhood. Refusing to sacrifice her career (and not just in “Big Little Lies,” but in other roles), Dern plays the wealthy business mom Renata, who epitomizes female rage in more than one scene. In fact, Renata sums up the whole infuriated female premise of “Big Little Lies” in one line, screaming, โWill somebody give a woman a moment!โ after ditching her slimy husband on the roadside.
Renata is ultimately a terrible personโmore of a caricature than a three-dimensional person. But itโs exactly the intense, over-the-top quality Dern portrays her with that made Renata a fan favorite. Her screaming matches can be found all over YouTubeโwhether with her fraudulent husband or season twoโs unearthed antagonist, played by Meryl Streep.
“Big Little Lies” is carried by a host of anti-heroic Californian women who approach parenting in vastly different ways. At the end of the day, theyโre all trying to protect their children from the debris of chaos they created in the first place, whipped up amid murder investigations, domestic abuse, and stock fraud. For Dernโs Renata, this means hovering like a helicopter and throwing the perfect birthday partyโone sheโll go to war over if ruined.
8. The Tale (2018)
Stories like thisโespecially true onesโcan either come off as powerful, raw, and necessary or else exploitative, using abuse as a cheap way to generate shock and emotion. “The Tale” stands firmly in the former category, recounting the disturbing story of child grooming at a training camp in the 70s. Jennifer Foxโs haunting metanarrative is reflective of her own experience, manipulated by the enigmatic Mrs. G and Bill (Elizabeth Debicki and Jason Ritter), who homed her and three other girls over the summer. Learning to ride horses and run track, Jennifer continued visiting the couple on weekends, believing their sexual relationship to be mature and โnormalโ for a 13-year-old.
Just as Jennifer (played by Dern) is recalling the events within the filmโs diegesisโjourneying back to the camp in her 40s after her mother finds an essay Jennifer wrote about it as a childโ”The Tale” is also a meditation on the reality of what happened from an even further point of hindsight. The whole film plays out like a kaleidoscope of retrospect and revelations as Fox traverses the malleable nature of memory and how itโs intrinsic to trauma. Such an important, personal, and difficult story required an actor that Fox (now a successful documentary filmmaker, with “The Tale” being her only narrative) could trust to do her own experience justice.ย Dern was the perfect casting for such a sensitive portrayal, switching gradually between passivity and full-blown panic attack.
7. Twin Peaks (2017)
David Lynch is about as anti-mainstream as you can get in terms of filmmaking and narrative style, yet “Twin Peaks” remains a hugely popular cult classic. The original stars Kyle MacLachlan as the offbeat FBI agent Cooper, who loves coffee and uses his dreams to help solve murder crimes. Itโs not a satire so much as a take on soap opera television, imbued with surrealist horror and unnatural dialogue.
The Emmy award-winning hit was revived for a third season almost three decades after the first episode dropped, marketed as a separate, not-quite-spin-off throwback season called “Twin Peaks: The Return.” MacLachlan circles back to the cliffhanger ending 25 years before, and Dern joins as his white-haired, chain-smoking secretary Diane Evansโa โcross between a saint and a cabaret singer.โ
Dern has reportedly never auditioned for a Lynch movie; she just bags the roles on merit and friendship alone. As such a close collaborator, it wouldnโt be fair to deny Dern a slice of the “Twin Peaks” action, and she gives the previously invisible secretarial figure a foul-mouthed, eccentrically dressed manifestation. Where Diane was originally just a prop for Cooper to sift through and rationalize his thoughts, Dern molds her into a bold, fully-fledged character.
6. Little Women (2019)
Dern rejuvenated the role of Marmee March from Louisa May Alcottโs classic novel “Little Women,” which was previously associated with Susan Sarandon from the 1994 adaptation. Greta Gerwigโs soothing revision of “Little Women” is just as cozy as the original but with more sympathy for its characters and authentic location filming in Massachusetts. Somehow, Gerwigโs “Little Women” feels modernized and polished, yet more loyal to the period setting and source material. It tells the story of the March family in non-chronological order, made up of four vastly different but loving sisters played by Saoirse Ronan, Emma Watson, Florence Pugh, and Eliza Scanlen.
Dern holds them all together as the matriarch of the familyโan enduring image of a strong mother remaining kind during difficult times (in the backdrop, the American Civil War rings out, Marmeeโs husband is off serving, and thereโs barely enough food to put on the table). She listens to her daughtersโ fits, rages, cries, and joys. She is equally generous to both her family and the community. Dernโs portrayal of Marmee feels like a dependable warm blanket on a snowy day (which it often is through the window)โexactly how Alcott intended.
Related to Laura Dern’s Performances: All Jurassic Park Movies Ranked From Worst to Best
5. Jurassic Park (1993)
Dernโs performance in “Jurassic Park” can easily be overlooked as just another cog in a Hollywood action franchise. But this isnโt any old franchiseโitโs one of the first cinematic universes ever created, thanks to Steven Spielberg, father of the blockbuster. The dinosaur fantasy films have gone steadily downhill with the constant unimaginative additions of “Jurassic World,” but thankfully, they donโt leave a scratch on the industry-changing original. In a novel adaptation that would transform CGI forever (in the early 90s, that animatronic T-rex really was terrifying), “Jurassic Park” helicopters us to a theme park island populated by real-life cloned dinosaurs. What could go wrong?
Dern didnโt just play the part of Dr. Ellie Sattler from the book but amplified her importance, influence, and dimensionality to fill the space of a Hollywood fantasy production. Rather than being simply a student of Dr. Alan Grant (portrayed by Sam Neil), Ellie is upgraded to his equal in the movie versionโboth paleo scientists are invited to inspect the island and pass its safety check.
Safe to say, the park doesnโt garner its safety certificate, as Ellie ends up fighting off Velociraptors. Dern brings a sense of wonder and curiosity to her intellectual characterโa profession that can often fall into the cynical, hard-to-impress stereotype. She returned for “Jurassic Park III” (2001) and “Jurassic World Dominion” (2022) as a staple fanservice character, but itโs her first appearance thatโs remembered.
4. Wild at Heart (1990)
Dern could have easily been another typecast actress. If it wasnโt for her open-mindedness and a helping hand from David Lynch, she would have likely transitioned from a young blonde beauty to that “Jurassic Park” lady. But thankfully, Lynch has frequently collaborated with the actressโknown for his weird movies and proving Dernโs versatility.
The actressโs range prevails all through Dernโs career, stretching from 1990 when she appeared as the bubbly runaway Lula Pace Fortune. Although Lula herself wouldnโt hurt a fly, she attracts danger like a bee to honey, hitting the road with her Southern outlaw lover Sailor (Nicholas Cage). Together, they make out in motel rooms, dance to metal bands, and run away from murderers.
Dernโs mother, Diane Ladd, also appears as Luluโs mother in “Wild at Heart,” who orders the hit on Sailor. Crime and romance are common threads in road movies, but given itโs a Lynch film, “Wild at Heart” is more akin to the psychosis of “Natural Born Killers” (1994) than the whimsy of “True Romance” (1993). “Wild at Heart” won a Palm dโOr but isnโt the top Lynch pick for Dern, as she errs on the side of sexualized iconography rather than a fully developed independent character.
3. Marriage Story (2019)
Once again, Dern shows the impact a supporting role can have, winning her first Oscar as the assertive family lawyer Nora Fanshaw in “Marriage Story.” More shark than woman, Nora immediately bats down the lethargy of her clientโs rival lawyer when Nicole and Charlie Barber (Scarlett Johansson and Adam Driver) file for divorce. Like an aggressive game of tennis, the court finally reaches an agreement for the coupleโs separation, though Nora secures a slightly better deal for Nicole to emphasize the filmโs feminist favoring. This ties into one of Marriage Storyโs most iconic scenes, where Nora delivers an impassioned monologue on the history of (unjust) gender dynamics within the family unit and society as a whole. โWe can accept a perfect dad [โฆ], but you [Nicole] will always be held to a different, higher standard.โ
Noraโs insightful qualities are not tampered down to please others . Sheโs fiery, demanding, and clever to a fault, guiding our deductions on whose side to take. Although Noah Baumbachโs Netflix drama is mainly about the past, present, and future of its complex central couple, we need Nora to navigate and vocalize Nicoleโs POV as a symbol of how women have been disregarded far too often in such circumstances.
2. Smooth Talk (1985)
“Smooth Talk” deserves more talk than itโs currently getting. Washed away with time, the glowing critical reviews upon release were not enough to make “Smooth Talk” retain its recognition 40 years onโฆeven with a 4K restoration from The Criterion Collection in 2020. The majority of its praise rests on the shoulders of an 18-year-old Dern, who isnโt afraid to hold the weight of a long, silent headshot, conveying the depth of her characterโs emotion through facial expressions alone.
And itโs a lot of emotions that are brewing inside Connie Wyatt. Fifteen, fidgety, and flirty, Connie yearns to explore her sexuality but is tied down by an insufferable mother and small-town conservatism. The only place she feels free to play around is at the mall, where she hangs out like any bored teen of the 1980s, eyeing up potential boyfriends.
Like the restless and naรฏve 15-year-old girl in “Badlands” (1973), Connie falls for a seductive, James-Dean-bad-boy-older-type, whose charm and petty crime soon melt into true, unpredictable danger. Dodging the rose-tinted tropes of other coming-of-age dramas, “Smooth Talk” blends the universal experience of teenage girlhoodโregardless of eraโwith the threat of potential violence.
1. Inland Empire (2006)
“Inland Empire” is the most difficult David Lynch film to comprehend, and for anyone familiar with his work, thatโs a big statement. From “Eraserhead” (1977) to “Blue Velvet” (1986, also co-starring Dern), Lynchian has become its own adjective for all things hypnagogic, unsettling, transient, confused (intentionally), and all-out bizarre. Usually in a creepy but not completely terrifying way.
“Inland Empire” occurred well into Lynchโs established filmmaking career, decades after heโd first discovered meditation as a path to divine (and weird) creative inspiration. Like all his work, “Inland Empire” is an experimental dive into the psyche with A-list actors, this time including Dern, Justin Theroux, Harry Dean Stanton and Jeremy Irons,
Once again dodge-balling those typecast roles, Dern plays the victim of a cursed film production who is haunted by different characters and โdark consequences.โ Sets turn into reality, anthropomorphic rabbits speak in tongues, and film stock is switched out for digital fish-eye shots. Only a truly great actress could pull off the protagonist of a movie this surreal, and Dern executed it without so much as a wince.
