Born: 10-Feb-1967
Birthplace: Los Angeles, CA

Gender: Female
Race or Ethnicity: White
Sexual orientation: Straight
Occupation: Actor

Nationality: United States
Executive summary: Blue Velvet, Citizen Ruth

Laura Dern's parents, Bruce Dern and Diane Ladd, were both film actors. Her godmother is Shelley Winters. At 13 she was in Foxes with Jodie Foster and Scott Baio. At 15 she played a punk rocker in Ladies and Gentlemen, the Fabulous Stains. At 17 she was the blind girl a disfigured Eric Stoltz fell for in Mask.

In 1986, Dern starred in David Lynch's Blue Velvet. The movie, with Isabella Rossellini, Kyle MacLachlan, Dennis Hopper, and Dean Stockwell lip-synching the title tune, was disturbing but mesmerizing, and Dean was a howl as the innocent virgin learning the horrors hidden in her home town. Blue Velvet made Dern a star, at least at art houses and midnight shows. For multiplex mall moviegoers, her signature role was as one of the scientists in 1993's Jurassic Park. Her other films include the abortion comedy Citizen Ruth, Lynch's Wild at Heart, the wayward orphan's drama Ramblin' Rose, and the rocket science melodrama October Sky. On TV, Dern was the woman who lured Ellen DeGeneres to become a lesbian on Ellen.

A liberal, Dern has long been outspoken for the homeless, the pro-choice movement, and women's rights in Afghanistan. She was a vegetarian for six years, until the diet made her anemic.

Father: Bruce Dern (actor)
Mother: Diane Ladd (actress)
Mother: Andrea Beckett (stepmother, m. Bruce Dern, 1969)
Sister: Diane Elizabeth Dern (b. 29-Nov-1960, d. 18-May-1962 drowned)
Boyfriend: Treat Williams (actor; dated 1984)
Boyfriend: Kyle MacLachlan (actor, together 1985-89)
Boyfriend: Renny Harlin (director, dated 1991)
Boyfriend: Vincent Spano (actor, dated 1992)
Boyfriend: Jeff Goldblum (actor, together 1994-96, broken engagement)
Boyfriend: Billy Bob Thornton (actor, together 1997-99, broken engagement)
Boyfriend: Ben Harper (musician, together since 2000, m. 23-Dec-2005, one son, one daughter)
Son: Ellery Walker Harper (b. 21-Aug-2001)
Daughter: Jaya (b. 28-Nov-2004)

    High School: The Buckley School, Sherman Oaks, CA

    Environmental Media Association Board of Directors
    Healthy Child Healthy World Advisory Board
    Hollywood Women's Political Committee
    Risk Factors: Vegetarian, Yoga

    FILMOGRAPHY AS ACTOR
    Year of the Dog (20-Jan-2007)
    Inland Empire (6-Sep-2006)
    Lonely Hearts (30-Apr-2006)
    The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio (28-Sep-2005)
    Happy Endings (20-Jan-2005)
    We Don't Live Here Anymore (20-Jan-2004)
    Searching for Debra Winger (16-May-2002) Herself
    I Am Sam (3-Dec-2001)
    Focus (9-Sep-2001)
    Novocaine (8-Sep-2001)
    Jurassic Park III (16-Jul-2001)
    Daddy and Them (6-Jun-2001)
    Dr. T & the Women (12-Sep-2000)
    A Season for Miracles (12-Dec-1999)
    October Sky (19-Feb-1999)
    The Baby Dance (23-Aug-1998)
    Bastard out of Carolina (24-Aug-1996) Narrator [VOICE]
    The Siege at Ruby Ridge (19-May-1996)
    Citizen Ruth (Jan-1996)
    Down Came a Blackbird (22-Oct-1995)
    A Perfect World (24-Nov-1993)
    Jurassic Park (11-Jun-1993)
    Afterburn (30-May-1992)
    Rambling Rose (10-Sep-1991)
    Wild at Heart (17-Aug-1990)
    Industrial Symphony No. 1: The Dream of the Broken Hearted (1990)
    Fat Man and Little Boy (20-Oct-1989)
    Haunted Summer (1988)
    Blue Velvet (19-Sep-1986)
    Smooth Talk (10-Sep-1985)
    Mask (8-Mar-1985)
    The Three Wishes of Billy Grier (1-Nov-1984)
    Teachers (5-Oct-1984)
    Ladies and Gentlemen, the Fabulous Stains (1981)
    Foxes (29-Feb-1980)

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