Laura Dern's Real Name: Laura Elizabeth Dern

Quick answer: Laura Dern was born Laura Elizabeth Dern on February 10, 1967, in Los Angeles. She is the daughter of actors Bruce Dern and Diane Ladd. She is known for Blue Velvet, for playing Dr. Ellie Sattler in Jurassic Park, and for Big Little Lies. She won the Oscar for best supporting actress for Marriage Story (2019) (Library of Congress; Britannica).

Real name and early life

The Library of Congress name authority files her as "Dern, Laura." Its citation reads "b. Laura Elizabeth Dern, Feb. 10, 1967, Los Angeles, Calif.; actress, producer, director; daugher [sic] of Bruce Dern and Diane Ladd." A second LOC citation gives Santa Monica, in Los Angeles County, as her birthplace. Britannica gives her name in full as Laura Elizabeth Dern and her birthplace as Los Angeles.

Britannica says her parents divorced when she was small and that she was raised by her mother. As a child she had uncredited parts in her mother's films White Lightning (1973) and Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974). Her first credited role was in Foxes (1980), starring Jodie Foster. Around the time she played a punk musician in Ladies and Gentlemen, the Fabulous Stains (1982), she enrolled at the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute.

Career highlights

Her first major role was a blind teenager in Peter Bogdanovich's Mask (1985). She drew praise for Smooth Talk (1985), and her breakthrough came in David Lynch's Blue Velvet (1986). She worked with Lynch again on Wild at Heart (1990), Inland Empire (2006), and the 2017 Twin Peaks revival. Dern and her mother both received Oscar nominations for Rambling Rose (1991).

She played paleobotanist Dr. Ellie Sattler in Steven Spielberg's Jurassic Park (1993), returned in Jurassic Park III (2001), and reprised the role in Jurassic World Dominion (2022). Other credits include A Perfect World, Citizen Ruth, October Sky, and I Am Sam. She played Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris in HBO's Recount (2008) and starred in Enlightened.

Britannica says her role as Reese Witherspoon's mother in Wild (2014) brought her second Oscar nomination. She played Vice Admiral Holdo in Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017) and won an Emmy for HBO's Big Little Lies. In 2019 she played Marmee in Greta Gerwig's Little Women. That same year her divorce attorney in Noah Baumbach's Marriage Story finally brought her an Academy Award. She has since starred in the comedy series Palm Royale (2024–).

Name notes for searchers

Dern has always worked under her birth name; Elizabeth is her middle name. Her mother is credited as Diane Ladd, so the two do not share a surname on screen, which sometimes confuses searchers.