Feel The Dern

At 50, Laura Dern remains wild at heart.

- Logan Hill

Nobody teeters on the razor’s edge between triumph and catastrophe quite like Laura Dern. Other actresses may excel at playing the invincible heroine, the impossible vamp, or the indefatigable funny girl. But the strength and beauty and humor of Dern’s performances ring true because her victories always feel so hard-won.

“We all have our gifts, we all have our complications,” she says one late January morning, shortly after returning to Los Angeles from the Sundance Film Festival première of her new film, Wilson, opening March 24. “I think if we can have compassion for ourselves about that, then maybe we can show it toward other people.”