Laura Dern treasures this ‘timeless advice’ from late mother
Laura Dern’s late mother had a knack. She could condense the most meaningful life advice into just a few sentences.
Beloved actor Diane Ladd died at age 89 in 2025, but her wisdom carries on.
“My mother would say, ‘This is the moment we’re given. Make that call. Say I love you. Let’s just take it one day at a time and try to fill it with laughter and love and learning and do the best we can,’ ” Laura Dern says. “It’s timeless advice … the kind that works.”
The 58-year-old Oscar-winning daughter of Ladd and actor Bruce Dern is sharing the other gift she inherited from her famous family, starring in two films this winter: “Jay Kelly,” streaming on Netflix, and “Is This Thing On?” playing in theaters.
In the Bradley Cooper-directed “Is This Thing On?” Will Arnett portrays a middle-aged man named Alex who is heading for a divorce and seeking a new purpose in life through stand-up comedy. Dern plays his wife, Tess, who is dealing with the sacrifices she made for their family while she wonders if love can take a new path.
“It takes a lot of bravery to be true and real — and that’s what this movie is about,” she says.
Dern, a mother of two, lives in L.A., where she and her parents have three adjoining stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Her good life advice:
Life’s unpredictable
“It’s a film about finding your way back to each other,” she says of “Is This Thing On?” “I was given an invitation to explore a relationship beyond the words.”
Dern was struck by Cooper’s storytelling during their 33-day shoot. “There was a bravery and discipline in the filmmaking,” she says. “It’s about unbelievably complex relationships without telling a long background story.”
She says the film mirrors real life in its unexpectedness. “In life, we often don’t know how we got to this spot,” she says. “Most of us don’t know how, especially when we face moments of despair and begin to ask the big questions.”
Vulnerable stage
“Woody Harrelson and I would obsessively watch monologues from Will Arnett and other things he had done over the years,” Dern says. “He is one of our great actors and writers. … We were just about to start the journey, and I got to watch Will as Alex start to go to comedy clubs and do stand-up. The vulnerability was stunning to me.”
No judgment
On the set and off, Dern says she looks for moments of true freedom. “To feel like nothing is wrong and everything is an opportunity is a beautiful way to work and live,” she says.
Career path
What exactly happened when she told her mother that she wanted to be an actress? Dern laughs. “I believe my mother said, ‘Be a lawyer. Be a doctor. Be a leper missionary. But don’t be an actress!’ ”
She wasn’t about to listen and remembers talking to an agent at her mother’s birthday party. “I asked, ‘Will you let me come and read a monologue for you and tell me if you think I have talent? And if I do, will you send me out on an audition?’ ” Dern recalls. “I needed that release — for me, that was performing.”
‘So lucky’
“Why do I want to be an actress now? It has changed over the years. The answer now is because I’m having so much damn fun!” she says. “It wasn’t so fun as a teenager. I was caught up in the angst of chasing this dream as an artist. Now, I know it’s a privilege to tell stories for a living. It’s just amazing good fortune to have this life. Now I say, ‘Oh, my God, I get to make movies.’ I feel so lucky on a daily basis.”
Find wonder
To perfect an iconic movie moment — the wide-eyed look her character experiences when she sees a living dinosaur for the first time in “Jurassic Park,” Dern had to dig really deep. “There was a big X drawn into the tree and some hippie-looking guys with large cameras from (Industrial Light &Magic). It was the first big CGI movie, and you really had to believe that dinosaur was up there,” she says with a laugh.
Dig deep
After her mom was diagnosed with a lung condition called idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis in 2018, doctors indicated daily walks would improve her lung capacity and build her strength. Ladd wasn’t much of a walker, but Dern promised to do it with her, so they could talk. Those recorded conversations became their bestselling book “Honey, Baby, Mine.” “There is something about being in motion. And being in nature that just inspires conversation and, perhaps, truth,” Dern says. “We covered everything from pain to surface questions like favorite color, which I learned was blue. You need to dig deep with your parents. You think you know the obvious, but maybe you don’t know.”
Still learning
“I hope you ask me when I’m 60 what I didn’t know when I was in my 40s and 50s,” Dern says. “I’m sure I will say I realize I knew nothing then because I feel like I’m just scratching the surface now — and that’s a good feeling.”
