If I had different parents who were in it for the money, I might have a different perspective. But they really are artists; they intelligently approach each character and prepare in every sense of the word. I grew up in a world that had great discipline.
— Laura Dern
People now tell me it's a good thing I stayed away from teen films. Well, it wasn't my choice. I wasn't hired.
I'm a natural blonde. I was a towhead as a kid, and then it got ashier when I was 18.
It's interesting to play a real-life person who has already been a character on 'Saturday Night Live.'
I think my mom exposed me to the concept of using your voice for anything you care about.
When you're first reading the script and thinking about playing the part, it's slightly daunting. It's easy to question, 'Is an audience going to like me? And is that my job?'
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 feel so lucky to have a mom who is not only an extraordinary actor but someone who is game enough to not worry about our relationship versus what we play in movies or television.
I can't say 'I'm proud to say' - because it's not a choice for many Americans - but I can say I'm fortunate enough to not be raising my kids on McDonald's.
Hopefully, film inspires you to think about human nature. It make us consider how we treat strangers and our most intimate.
I always fall in love with qualities of people I work with.
My favorite books are psychology, self-help, and I'm fascinated by Jung, by dream work.
Jealousy is a scary thing.
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 think it's about not just the crisis you're in, but how do you get to the other side? How do we heal? How do we survive this experience while remaining hopeful instead of filled with despair? That's what interests me.
When you become a parent, you really care that you get that right, and you care about nothing else.
Stay true to your own voice, and don't worry about needing to be liked or what anybody else thinks. Keep your eyes on your own paper.
Sometimes my family got me in the door. Somebody would say, 'Bruce Dern's daughter - sure I'd like to meet her.' It was a point of interest. But after five minutes of talking about my father, I still had to read for the part.
Diet is weird. It's elusive. I just try to listen to my body.
Being an actress my whole life, it feels so good to have a clean face when I'm off, so I'm not a big makeup wearer.
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 next to my mom. You know, and then again, there with my dad. Like, there's a beauty to it, and I care deeply about film history.
When you're playing someone who has a strong ego about themselves, you can't play them when you have the opposite opinion of the one they have of themselves.
I love when actors can let go of where and how they have to do it, and just that we do it. That we are flawed and human, and don't worry about how we look or who we are, or that it seems too old of a character if we're still young.
I remember there being a period of time when I had a baby, and I was so sleep-deprived that I'd get into having no filter, and that was not good.
You must always watch when David Lynch makes anything.
I care a lot about big food and everyone's right to healthy, nutritious food and what's caused obesity in America and obesity in children in America.
Me and Woody Harrelson, we're twins. We're the same person. I should only make movies with him.
I resent ever being stereotyped.
I was on the cover of a lot of magazines, and there were compliments about beauty and fashion and what I was wearing. Man, if you get locked into that, you can lose your freedom as an actress.
I always wondered what it would be like to have a normal childhood.
I'm moved by people who see the world differently than others. People who see the world with a longing for its poetry often can be broken people.
I'm interested in human nature. That's why I chose to become an actor.
There are artists or filmmakers or cinematographers who have had long careers who, maybe to reinvent themselves or just to stay in a secure place, layer it on or ham it up, if I can use that expression, or make grand choices that don't feel as authentic as what they did to make us fall in love with them in the first place.
I will be working with David Lynch when I'm 80.
All kids are selfish. I wanted to do homework and do my thing and call my agent. My mother's needs weren't in my mind at that moment.
I care a lot about fragrance not only in my life, but sometimes it feels right while working on a character.
David Lynch is like that - every sound, every detail to the end of making the film, he never gives up. It has to be perfect.
At 12, turned 13, made a movie with Sex Pistols and The Clash. Learned about a lot of things I never knew and hope will never know again. Don't know how my parents let me do that.
I worked with HBO on 'Recount,' and we had a wonderful experience together. I'm such a fan of HBO and how much flexibility they give in character as well as schedule.
It excites me to go to a movie and be reminded that I'm human, and I'm filled with opposites, and I'm built with flaws. Part of growth and healing is recognizing that.
I think people do their bravest work when given an elusive canvas. That would be seemingly the weirdest, but also the most wonderful.
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 eat something?'
What a cool job to be part of - whether it's doing lighting or acting or serving food on set. You're part of telling a story that hopefully has an essential component, and that's super exciting to me.
For me, the key is years of the blessed filmmakers I've worked with giving me permission to be bold and jump off cliffs and to be boundaryless. I would put David Lynch at the top of that list.
I certainly wouldn't mind if 'Jurassic Park' turns out to be commercially successful, and somebody says, 'Hey, you were in a box-office hit, and if you want to do another movie, we'll give you five million dollars to make it.'
I grew up with a tribe of amazing women, but certainly my mother and my godmother really modeled women as actors.
It's lovely to be considered pretty and lovely to do photo shoots, and I just love fashion. But I'm proud that I did the characters I wanted to do.
I was raised Catholic, and my grandmother taught me to stay. As a teenager, I thought if you went on a date, you should stay for a couple of years. I didn't realize that if he wasn't your cup of tea, you got to leave.
I have a very wonderfully, bizarrely amazing relationship with my mother in that we've been through a myriad of emotions because we've acted together and played all these different kinds of mother-daughters.
To stay true to your art is such a complicated journey, and Dad clearly has done it.
