View the gallery
Laura Dern radiates a familiar blend of intellect and warmth that has made her one of Hollywood’s most beloved figures for decades. At 58, the Academy, Emmy and Golden Globe Award–winning actress has transcended the labels of leading lady or indie muse. She’s a modern icon who has made a career out of breaking boundaries rather than fitting into them. From Blue Velvet to Big Little Lies, Marriage Story to Enlightened, she brings rawness, truthfulness and empathy to every role. In person, she’s confident, open and warm.
Whether she’s being directed by the late, great David Lynch, Greta Gerwig, Mike White, Alexander Payne, Noah Baumbach or Steven Spielberg, Dern transforms herself completely into a role. The daughter of actors Diane Ladd and Bruce Dern, Dern grew up in Los Angeles and spent time on her parents’ movie sets at a young age.
“I knew I wanted to become an actor when I was 7 years old,” Dern has said. “My dad was working with Alfred Hitchcock, my mom was working with Martin Scorsese—and it was the great summer of my childhood.”
One of Dern’s first roles was as an extra in the Scorsese film Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, which earned Ladd an Oscar nomination.
In 2018, Ladd was diagnosed with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. Doctors told her that her only hope of getting better would be by attempting to expand her lung capacity through exercise. So Dern and her mother began going on walks near the beach, during which the pair had deep conversations about life, love and their relationship.
“I thought I was dying, so Laura and I just told each other everything,” Ladd said. Dern recorded their conversations, which became their joint 2023 memoir Honey, Baby, Mine. Just after sitting for DuJour’s cover shoot and before an interview with Dern could be completed, Ladd died at age 89.
“My amazing hero and my profound gift of a mother, Diane Ladd, passed with me beside her this morning, at her home in Ojai, California,” said Dern in a statement. “She was the greatest daughter, mother, grandmother, actress, artist and empathetic spirit that only dreams could have seemingly created. We were blessed to have her. She is flying with her angels now.”
It’s certainly a bittersweet time for Dern. While dealing with the loss of her mother, she also welcomes the return of her Apple TV series Palm Royale, as well as two of her most exciting film roles since she won an Oscar five years ago for playing a powerhouse divorce attorney in Baumbach’s Marriage Story.
First up is Baumbach’s latest, Jay Kelly, in which Dern stars as the beleaguered publicist to the title character, played by George Clooney.
“I love working with Laura because the work never ends. She makes everything better,” says Baumbach. “Laura and I are in a forever dialogue that continues through and beyond the movies we’re making. We meet at dinner, call and write each other with character and story ideas, locations we’d like to shoot in, movies to watch, books to read. Laura is an early reader of all of my scripts because she always seems to understand what movie I’m making better than I do.”
After that comes Bradley Cooper’s Is This Thing On? The film is its own kind of Marriage Story, though certainly a more optimistic one. This time, Dern stars as Tess, a one-time Olympian volleyball player who is questioning her longtime relationship with Will Arnett’s Alex.
Arnett, Cooper and Mark Chappell co-wrote the film with Dern in mind. “She’s such a powerhouse,” Arnett explains, describing his costar as a “great artist.” “Her ability to find all these details about her character and bring them to life is truly remarkable. Laura’s Tess is such a rich, complete and complicated character, and she always finds ways to surprise. I think Laura really rewards the audience with a deeply honest performance that at times forces you to catch your breath.”
“That was my goal, to write a character worthy of her abilities,” adds Cooper. “To work with her is a lifelong dream.”
Hair: DJ Quintero
Makeup: Gita Bass
Photo Assistants: Brandon Abreu, Margaret Gibbons and Evan Lee
Styling Assistant: Kyle Gleason