Virginia Elizabeth "Geena" Davis
(born January 21, 1956) is an Academy award-winning American actress, film producer, writer, former fashion model, and a women's Olympics archery team semi-finalist. [1]
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GEENA DAVIS TICKETS
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Early life
Davis was born in
Wareham, Massachusetts,
USA, the daughter of Lucille, a teacher's assistant, and William Davis, a civil engineer; she has a brother named Dan.
[2] At an early age, she became interested in music. She learned
piano,
flute and
drums and played
organ well enough as a
teenager to serve as an organist at her church in Wareham. Davis attended
Wareham High School and while an exchange student in
Sandviken,
Sweden, she became
bilingual; she is fluent in Swedish. Enrolling at
New England College, Davis eventually graduated with a
bachelor's degree in
drama from
Boston University in 1979. While at Boston University, Davis worked part time for the
Media Group.
Career
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After graduating, Davis served as a window
mannequin for
Ann Taylor until signing with New York's Zoli modelling agency in 1979. With a height of six feet and a shoe size of 11 (US), Davis was a striking
model cast from a different mold. Davis auditioned for roles in many popular movies, including
The Terminator
’s Sarah Connor, which went to
Linda Hamilton. 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);
Sara
; and a small role in
Fletch
(1985).
Davis made her film 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
(1992) and received a Best Actress Golden Globe Award nomination for her performance. 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 co-produced the films.
In 2000-2001, Davis starred in the short-lived sitcom
The Geena Davis Show
. 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 an
Emmy Award and a
SAG Award for Outstanding Female Actor in a Drama Series.
Personal life
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Davis was married to Richard Emmolo (March 25, 1982 – February 26, 1983); actor
Jeff Goldblum, with whom she co-starred in three films,
Transylvania 6-5000
,
The Fly
and
Earth Girls Are Easy
(1987 – 1990); and
Renny Harlin, who directed her in
Cutthroat Island
and
The Long Kiss Goodnight
(1993 – 1998).
On September 1, 2001, Davis married plastic surgeon Reza Jarrahy MD who is
Iranian-American. They have three children: daughter Alizeh Keshvar (born April 10, 2002) and fraternal twin boys Kian William Jarrahy and Kaiis Steven Jarrahy on May 6, 2004.
Davis is tall and is a member of
American Mensa, the society of persons with IQs in the statistical top 2%,
[3] 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 discrete studies, including one on children’s television) at the Annenberg School for Communication of University of Southern California. The study, directed by Dr. Stacy Smith, shows that there are nearly 3 males to every 1 female character in the nearly 400 G, PG, PG-13, and R-Rated movies the undergraduate team of Annenberg students coded.
In 2005, Davis teamed up with the non-profit group Dads and Daughters to launch, a venture dedicated to balancing the number of male and female characters in children's TV and movie programming.
Davis launched The 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.
For her work in this field she received an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree from
Bates College in May 2009.
[4]
right on May 31, 2009.
Sports
Davis states that she wasn't an athlete growing up,
[5] and that her introduction to
archery was in 1997, two years prior to her tryouts.
Geena Davis was one of 300 women competing in July 1999.
for a semifinals berth in the US Olympic team for archery, to participate in the Sydney
2000 Summer Olympics She placed 24th of 300 and did not qualify for the team, but participated as a wild-card entry in the Sydney International Golden Arrow competition.
[6]
Filmography
Year
| Film
| Role
| Notes
|
1982
| Tootsie
| April Page
|
|
1985
| Fletch
| Larry
|
|
Transylvania 6-5000
| Odette
|
|
1986
| The Fly
| Veronica Quaife
| Nominated — Saturn Award for Best Actress
|
1988
| Beetlejuice
| Barbara Maitland
|
|
Earth Girls Are Easy
| Valerie Gail
|
|
The Accidental Tourist
| Muriel Pritchett
| Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
|
1990
| Quick Change
| Phyllis Potter
|
|
1991
| Thelma and Louise
| Thelma Yvonne Dickinson
| Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress David di Donatello Award for Best Foreign Actress shared with Susan Sarandon National Board of Review Award for Best Actress tied with Susan Sarandon Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actress Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
|
1992
| A League of Their Own
| Dottie Hinson
| Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
|
Hero
| Gale Gayley
|
|
1993
| Princess Scargo and the Birthday Pumpkin
| Narrator (voice)
| short subject
|
1994
| Angie
| Angie Scacciapensieri
|
|
Speechless
| Julia Mann
| also producer Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
|
1995
| Cutthroat Island
| Morgan Adams
|
|
1996
| The Long Kiss Goodnight
| Samantha Caine / Charly Baltimore
| also producer Nominated — Saturn Award for Best Actress
|
1999
| Stuart Little
| Mrs. Eleanor Little
| Nominated — Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress
|
2002
| Stuart Little 2
| Mrs. Eleanor Little
|
|
2006
| Stuart Little 3: Call of the Wild
| Mrs. Eleanor Little
| voice
|
2009
| Accidents Happen
| Gloria Conway
|
|
Television work
Year
| Film
| Role
| Notes
|
1983-1984
| Buffalo Bill
| Wendy Killian
|
|
1983
| Knight Rider
| Grace Fallon
| Guest star, "K.I.T.T. The Cat" (Season 2, Episode 6)
|
1984
| Family Ties
| Karen Nicholson
| Guest star, two episodes
|
1985
| Sara
| Sara McKenna
| Cancelled after a few months
|
Secret Weapons
| Tamara Reshevsky/Brenda
|
|
Remington Steele
| Sandy Dalrymple
| "Steele in the Chips" (Season 3, Episode 20)
|
2000-2001
| The Geena Davis Show
| Teddie Cochran
|
|
2003
| Will & Grace
| Grace's Sister
|
|
2005-2006
| Commander in Chief
| President Mackenzie Allen
| Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Drama Nominated — Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress – Drama Series
|
2008-present
| Link's Future
| Mrs. Diane Bolton
| Season 3-present
|
References
- http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/olympics/news/1999/08/05/davis_archery_ap/
- ''Geena Davis biography''. Film Reference.com
- They're Accomplished, They're Famous, and They're MENSANS
- http://www.bates.edu/x202708.xml
- [1]
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