Laura Dern Thanks Parents Bruce Dern And Diane Ladd In Touching Oscar Speech

Laura Dern as Nora Fanshaw in Marriage Story
(Image credit: (Netflix))

Laura Dern has been attending the Oscars since she was seven years old, since she is the daughter of Hollywood couple Bruce Dern and Diane Ladd. For 45 years she’s watched other actors and filmmakers take home a trophy at the Academy Awards. Now she’s an Oscar winner herself. Laura Dern just won the Best Supporting Actress award for Netflix’s Marriage Story.

She’s been nominated two times before in 1991 for Rambling Rose and in 2015 for Wild, but this is her first Oscar win. Laura Dern gave a heartwarming acceptance speech that honored her parents and had Greta Gerwig super emotional. Take a look:

How sweet! During her speech, Laura Dern took time to thank Netflix and the meticulous writer and director of Marriage Story, Noah Baumbach. Along with Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson, the actress collaborated with him during the development of the script of the Netflix drama, injecting their own experiences about love and heartbreak into the script.

In Marriage Story, Dern played the seductive and savvy Los Angeles divorce attorney to Scarlett Johansson’s Nicole as she attempts to win custody over her and Charlie’s young son. Her monologue to Nicole where she goes off about the double standards toward women and mothers.

In the acceptance speech, she called her own step children “gifts” and brought the attention to her famous parents – calling them her “acting heroes”. Cuts often went to Diane Ladd, who was sitting next to Laura Dern during the Oscars. She let out tears as Dern gave special attention to her during her Oscar win. Her Little Woman director and wife of Noah Baumbach was also in tears during the moment.

Laura Dern’s win is no surprise to those following along with Oscar season this year. The actress has taken home a trophy in the Best Supporting Actress category at just about every award show including the Golden Globes, Screen Actor Guild and BATFAs. The actress took home another award just last night at the Independent Spirit Awards after being serenaded her name by the Gay Men’s Choir during a fun bit at the ceremony.

Laura Dern’s birthday is tomorrow as she mentions in the speech. The actress will be 54 years old. And what a way to celebrate. She’s certainly offered cinema a slew of memorable performances – from playing Dr. Ellie Satler in Jurassic Park to her fan-favorite role of Renata on HBO’s Big Little Lies.

The actress won over Kathy Bates for her role as the mother of Richard Jewell in Clint Eastwood’s latest film, Scarlett Johansson for Jojo Rabbit (also nominated for Marriage Story in the Best Actress category), Florence Pugh for Little Women and Margot Robbie for Bombshell.

This is an awesome achievement for Netflix’s Marriage Story, nominated for six Oscars total. Stay tuned here on CinemaBlend for more updates on the ceremony.

Sarah El-Mahmoud
Staff Writer

Sarah El-Mahmoud has been with CinemaBlend since 2018 after graduating from Cal State Fullerton with a degree in Journalism. In college, she was the Managing Editor of the award-winning college paper, The Daily Titan, where she specialized in writing/editing long-form features, profiles and arts & entertainment coverage, including her first run-in with movie reporting, with a phone interview with Guillermo del Toro for Best Picture winner, The Shape of Water. Now she's into covering YA television and movies, and plenty of horror. Word webslinger. All her writing should be read in Sarah Connor’s Terminator 2 voice over.