Geena Davis Biography
Summary
"Virginia Elizabeth 'Geena' Davis" (born January 21 1956) is an Academy Award- and Golden Globe-winning and Emmy-nominated American actress and former fashion model.
Biography
Early life
Davis was born in Wareham, Massachusetts to Lucille, a teacher's assistant, and William Davis, a civil engineer. One of the first signs of her interest and skill in the performing arts was her budding talent in music. She learned piano, flute and drums. She played organ well enough as a teenager to serve as an organist at her church in Wareham. Enrolling at New England College, Davis eventually graduated with a bachelor's degree in drama from Boston University in 1979. While an exchange student in Sandviken, Sweden, Davis became fluent in Swedish.
Career
After graduating, Davis signed with New York's Zoli modelling agency and served as a window mannequin for Ann Taylor. With a height of six feet and a shoe size of 9(US)/43(EUR), Davis was a striking model cast from a different mold. She was working as a model when director Sydney Pollack spotted her and cast her in "Tootsie" (1982) as a soap opera actress. She followed this up with roles in the short-lived television series "Buffalo Bill" (1983-1984), for which she also wrote an episode, and "Sara" (1985). Davis made a breakthrough with "The Fly" and "Beetlejuice". She received an Oscar as Best Supporting Actress for her role in "The Accidental Tourist" (1988) and a Best Actress nomination for her role in "Thelma and Louise" (1991). Davis replaced Debra Winger for the lead in "A League of Their Own". She then co-starred in "Hero" alongside Dustin Hoffman and Andy Garcia. Following this, Davis teamed up with then husband Renny Harlin for the films "Cutthroat Island" and "The Long Kiss Goodnight". She and Harlin produced the films.
Davis starred in the short-lived sitcom "The Geena Davis Show" (2000-2001). In early 2004, she guest-starred as Grace Adler's sister Janet on the NBC sitcom "Will & Grace". She most recently starred in the ABC television series "Commander in Chief" as the first female President of the United States. This role garnered her a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Drama Series in 2006, and she also was nominated for a SAG Award for Outstanding Female Actor in a Drama Series and an Emmy Award.
Personal life
On September 1, 2001, Davis married Iranian-American Dr. Reza Jarrahy. They have three children: daughter Alizeh Keshvar (born April 10, 2002) and fraternal twins Kian William Jarrahy and Kaiis Steven Jarrahy on May 6, 2004. The marriage is Davis' fourth; she was previously married to Richard Emmolo (25 March 1982 - 26 February 1983); actor Jeff Goldblum, with whom she co-starred in three films, "Transylvania 6-5000", "The Fly" and "Earth Girls Are Easy" (1987 to 1990); and Renny Harlin, who directed her in "Cutthroat Island" and "The Long Kiss Goodnight" (1993 to 1998).
In 1999, Davis was a semi-finalist in trials for the United States' Olympic Archery team. She placed twenty-fourth out of twenty-eight.
Davis is 6 feet tall (1.83 m), and a member of American Mensa, the High IQ Society, with an IQ of 140.
Activism
Davis is fronting the Women's Sports Foundation campaign Geena Takes Aim in support of Title IX - an Act of Congress focusing on equality in sports opportunities, now expanded to prohibit gender discrimination in United States' educational institutions.
In 2004, while watching children's television programs and videos with her daughter, Davis noticed what she thought was an imbalance in the ratio of male to female characters. From that starting point, Davis went on to sponsor the largest research project ever undertaken on gender in children's entertainment (resulting in 4 discreet studies, including one on children's television). The research showed that in the top-grossing G-rated films from 1990-2005, there were three male characters for every one female. That research sparked Davis to launch The Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media (www.TheGeenaDavisInstitute.org) in 2007. The Institute's first focus is an on-the ground program that works collaboratively with the entertainment industry to dramatically increase the presence of female characters in media aimed at children and to reduce stereotyping of both males and females.
Filmography
"Tootsie" (1982)
"Fletch" (1985)
"Transylvania 6-5000" (1985)
"The Fly" (1986)
"Beetlejuice" (1988)
"Earth Girls Are Easy" (1988)
"The Accidental Tourist" (1988)
"Quick Change" (1990)
"Thelma and Louise" (1991)
"A League of Their Own" (1992)
"Hero" (1992)
"Princess Scargo and the Birthday Pumpkin" (1993) (short subject) (voice)
"Angie" (1994)
"Speechless" (1994) (also producer)
"Cutthroat Island" (1995)
"The Long Kiss Goodnight" (1996) (also producer)
"Stuart Little" (1999)
"Stuart Little 2" (2002)
"Stuart Little 3: Call of the Wild" (2006) (voice)
Television work
"Buffalo Bill (TV series)" (1983-1984)
"Knight Rider" (1983) "(guest star, 'K.I.T.T. The Car')"
"Family Ties (1984) (guest star, two episodes)
"Sara" (1985) (canceled after a few months)
"Secret Weapons" (1985)
"The Geena Davis Show" (2000-2001)
"Commander in Chief (TV series)" (2005-2006)
Credit
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article about Geena Davis.
