American actress and producer Laura Dern has worked with a series of leading directors from Stephen Spielberg and Robert Altman to Paul Thomas Anderson, and most frequently, David Lynch.
Laura Dern has won four Golden Globe Awards, and she has been nominated twice for an Oscar (1992, 2015).She has also enjoyed critical acclaim with her own productions, such as the recent TV series Enlightenment.
The moving sadness of life’s wild side
And 2015 has started well for her too.
For the second time in her acting career, Dern has earned an Academy Award nomination. Her portrayal of Bobbi, a woman suffering from a terminal illness in Wild, is both touching and insightful.
In the movie, her daughter (played by the equally immaculate Reese Witherspoon) becomes increasingly mystified about how her mother could find light in a world that can be so brutal.
Dern says that one of her favorite lines of dialogue is in a scene in which Bobbi is in the hospital undergoing chemotherapy.
She looks out the window and says with genuine gratitude, “I always wanted a room with a view.”
“Playing Bobbi was such an inspiration to me, as a mother and as a woman,” Dern told The Washington Post. after her nomination for Best Supporting Actress.
“If you’re watching this film and you consider the mother you want to be, she is quite the inspiration.”
The perfect technique for enjoying the moment
Speaking to the independent radio station Newstalk during her visit to Ireland, Laura Dern described the role the Transcendental Meditation technique has played in her success as an actress.
STARRING IN “WILD”: Laura Dern and Reese Witherspoon. Photo: Anne Marie Fox/Fox Searchlight“I learned Transcendental Meditation at 18. I was not as dedicated back then, but I am now!” Dern revealed. “I feel incredibly blessed to have it in my life, just as a practical application.”
I think what David [Lynch] has done, and no pun intended here—has transcended an unfortunate misconception of commitment to TM as a purely spiritual practice.
As more and more hospitals are using it now all over the world really and truly for stress management, then more people are finding their way to it. For the workplace, for health reasons…
For me, as an artist, it helps to figure out how to be in the moment.
If you’re an actor, a painter, or a mother – there’s no greater daily practice for learning how to turn your focus just to this moment. TM serves me beautifully in so many areas. I feel really lucky to have it! “
