Laura Dernhas been a force of nature throughout her entire career.

She has played iconic characters who are complex, deeply empathetic women.

Throughout her career,Dern has demonstrated her talents and has proven herself able to elevate any story.

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The most essential Laura Dern movies showcase her wide range as anactor.

When Will takes an employee of his former workplace hostage, Laura is called in to speak with him.

The fact that Dern is able to play this with emotional depth makesCertain Womena necessary watch for any fan.

Laura Dern wears a coat and stands in an office in Certain Women.

Image via IFC Films

Dern comes in as the divorce lawyer Nicole retains to represent her.

She is fiercely smart, and willing to stop at nothing to get the best for her client.

She finds herself having to adjust to a new life in the spotlight.

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Dern plays Terry, whose husband Jack (Mark Ruffalo) is having an affair.

Dern’s emotional honesty in playing a woman whose husband is unfaithful is captivating to watch.

She doesn’t need much dialogue to convey Terry’s heartbreak and inner turmoil.

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Dern plays Diana, a young blind woman Rocky meets at a camp for disabled children.

Maskis an essential Laura Dern movie because it is an early look at her ability to shine.

It’s difficult to overstate Dern’s impact as a cultural icon inJurassic Park.Dr.

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Ellie Sattler representsa unique kind of action heroand Dern plays her with complete sincerity.

It follows Rose (Dern), a woman living in Georgia during the Great Depression.

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Nicolas Cage’s Sailor leaning close to kiss Laura Dern’s Lula in Wild at Heart

Image via The Samuel Goldwyn Company

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Wild at Heart: This film follows a passionate young couple on a wild road trip across the American South, pursued by a cast of eccentric characters. As they navigate love, danger, and surreal circumstances, their journey explores themes of freedom and identity in a stylized, visceral narrative landscape.

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Laura Dern sitting in her office in ‘Marriage Story’.

Image via Netflix

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Directed by Noah Baumbach, Marriage Story follows Charlie and Nicole Barber, a theater director and his actress wife, through the dramatic disintegration of their marriage and subsequent divorce. Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson star as Charlie and Nicole, with a further cast that includes Laura Dern, Alan Alda, and Ray Liotta.

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Saoirse Ronan as Jo and Laura Dern as Marmee in Little Women.

Inage via Sony Pictures Releasing

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Jo March reflects back and forth on her life, telling the beloved story of the March sisters - four young women, each determined to live life on her own terms.

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Laura Dern holds a pink hair comb and stands in court in ‘Citizen Ruth’.

Image via Miramax

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Laura Dern looks across a table at someone off-camera in We Don’t Live Here Anymore.

Image via Warner Independent

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Laura Dern standing next to a horse and looking off-camera in Mask.

Image via Universal Pictures

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In Steven Spielberg’s massive blockbuster, paleontologists Alan Grant (Sam Neill) and Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern) and mathematician Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) are among a select group chosen to tour an island theme park populated by dinosaurs created from prehistoric DNA. While the park’s mastermind, billionaire John Hammond (Richard Attenborough), assures everyone that the facility is safe, they find out otherwise when various ferocious predators break free and go on the hunt.

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Kyle MacLachlan as Jeffrey Beaumont looking into the eyes of Laura Dern as Sandy Williams in Blue Velvet.

Image via De Laurentiis Entertainment Group

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The discovery of a severed human ear found in a field leads a young man on an investigation related to a beautiful, mysterious nightclub singer and a group of psychopathic criminals who have kidnapped her child.

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Lukas Haas looks at Laura Dern as she looks away as they sit together in a forest in Rambling Rose.

Image via New Line Cinema

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Movie

Laura Dern