Laura Dern

“Going to the Academy Awards is something I remember since I was six, when I went with my mom for the first time, 14 with my dad, you know, and there I am, at 22, 23, whatever I was, sitting...”

“There's something so accessible about heroes who have faults.”

“You know someone is your favorite person when you've done a day of press, listened to yourself ad nauseam, listened to them tell every story, and when it ends, it's like, 'Are we going to ea...”

“If you're looking to be loved for a part, it's great and enticing to be adorable in a romantic comedy. But then, as an actor, you get stuck.”

“I've worked with David Lynch since I was 17, and working with him is home and family; being around Alexander Payne is home and family, Jonathan Demme. There are directors... Robert Altman, P...”

“I knew I wanted to become an actor when I was 7 years old. My dad was working with Alfred Hitchcock, my mom was working with Martin Scorsese - and it was the great summer of my childhood.”

“Having been raised by actors who love moral ambiguity and flawed protagonists, I feel like it's sort of in the blood to want to take it on.”

“I tend to always love material with flawed protagonists and morally ambiguous people.”

“In American culture we are supposed to take a pill when we're depressed or in grief as opposed to actually feeling.”

“I was raised by an actress, and I watched all those women turn 60 and ask, Shouldn't get face work? My mother and Anne Bancroft said, We're not going to fall into that.”

“We like our archetypes and heroes to be what they are at face value. And life doesn't work out like that.”

“I knew you had to go in and audition and maybe they'd hire you, and that's where you start. I had a good understanding about press: that it's the actor's responsibility to publicize his or h...”

“I'm not averse to being a supporting character. I try to pick parts where I can add something.”

“My dad was always interested in characters he didn't understand - he was such a great bad guy in movies. And that is really the thing that calls me to the material often: something I struggl...”

“I was raised by two actors in a moment in time - the Seventies - when there was no judgment of characters, no heroes and bad guys.”

“The bad news is, I have worked less than I have liked. The good news is, I can look back on my body of work and feel truly proud of the work I have done.”

“Growth doesn't hurt. This is what I've learned. In the end, it doesn't hurt. It hurts while it's happening. But in the end, you know, for life, for parenting, and for the arts, it's not a ba...”

“My mother opened a bank account for me when I made $60 on my first day of work as an extra. She's that kind of mother.”

“I like to play people who are deeply flawed, and I want to find the good nature in them. I even try to be kind to myself when I've made big mistakes.”

“I have never been someone who applied 'work begets work' to my career, sometimes unfortunately.”