When she was a child, Diane Lane and her mother, a nightclub singer, were walking along the streets of Manhattan in a blustery windstorm. “I was 5 years old, and I shouted, ‘Hold on to your wig, Mommy!’ She just about died,” the actress laughs. “I thought everyone knew it was a wig—I mean, she changed it everyday.” This early anecdote was formative for the star—establishing her comfort with speaking her mind and with the mutability of looks. Since then, Lane has appeared in over 50 films with every hair color, length and texture imaginable. This month, she’s Penny Chenery, a well-coiffed platinum blond in Secreteriat; she was nominated for an Oscar as a fiery redhead in Unfaithful. And just two years ago, she chopped her hair off in the bathroom. “It was the most fun, liberating moment of my life. I wore my haircut as a rebellious celebration,” she says. “It was a chance to take back possession of myself—when no director could sit back and tell me that they owned my hair.” She pauses. Lane isn’t the first star to take hair into her own hands. “I remember all the hoopla when Britney Spears did it,” she continues. “Now, I don’t know anything about her psychology or anything about that. But I do understand you have to own yourself.” Another pause. “I’ve grown a lot in understanding how hair is defining. Not only of our image, but of our power.” It’s safe to say that Lane has secured her mastery of both.