Virginia Elizabeth "Geena"Davis (born January 21, 1956) is an American actor.[a] She is the recipient of various accolades, including anAcademy Award and aGolden Globe Award.
Virginia Elizabeth Davis was born on January 21, 1956, inWareham, Massachusetts.[2] Her mother, Lucille (née Cook) (1919–2001), was a teacher's assistant, and her father, William F. Davis (1913–2009), was a civil engineer and churchdeacon. Both were from small towns in Vermont.[3] Davis has an older brother, Danforth ("Dan").[4]
She became interested in music at an early age. She learned piano andflute and playedorgan well enough as a teenager to be organist at herCongregational church in Wareham. Davis was also a cheerleader and was cheer captain her senior year of high school.[5][6] She attendedWareham High School and was an exchange student inSandviken, Sweden, where she became fluent in Swedish and got engaged to classmate Mats Dahlsköld, with whom she still corresponds by letter.[7] She wanted to study acting atBoston University but missed the required audition during her year in Sweden, so she began her college education atNew England College before transferring to Boston University; she did not earn enough credits to graduate, having received an incomplete in at least one class and an F in movement class.[8] Her first post-university work was as a model for windowmannequins atAnn Taylor; she then signed with New York'sZoli modeling agency.[9] Davis is a member ofMensa.[10]
In her 2022 memoir, she states that her brother came up with the nickname Geena shortly after her birth to differentiate her from her Aunt Virginia, who went by the nickname Ginny.[11][12]
Davis was working as a model when she was cast by directorSydney Pollack in his filmTootsie (1982) as a soap opera actor, whom she has described as "someone who's going to be in their underwear a lot of time".[5][13] It was the second most profitable film of 1982,[14] received tenAcademy Awards nominations[15] and is considered aclassic.[16] She next won the regular part of Wendy Killian in the television seriesBuffalo Bill, which aired from June 1983 to March 1984; and had a writing credit in one episode. Despite the series' elevenEmmy Awards nominations, lukewarm ratings led to its cancellation after two seasons. Davis concurrently guest-starred inKnight Rider,Riptide,Family Ties andRemington Steele, and followed with a series of her own,Sara, which lasted 13 episodes. During this period, she also auditioned for the 1984 science fiction/action filmThe Terminator, reading for the lead role ofSarah Connor, which eventually went toLinda Hamilton. InFletch (1985), an action comedy, she appeared withChevy Chase as the colleague of aLos Angeles Times undercover reporter trying to expose drug trafficking on the beaches of Los Angeles.[17] She also starred in the horror comedyTransylvania 6-5000 as a nymphomaniac vampire alongside future husbandJeff Goldblum.[18] They also starred in the sci-fi thrillerThe Fly (1986), loosely based onGeorge Langelaan's 1957short story of the same name, where Davis portrayed a science journalist and an eccentric scientist's love interest. It was a commercial success and helped establish her as an actor.[19] In 1987 she appeared with Goldblum again in the offbeat comedyEarth Girls Are Easy.[20]
DirectorTim Burton cast Davis in his horror comedyBeetlejuice (1988)[21] as one of a recently deceased young couple who become ghosts haunting their former house; it also starredAlec Baldwin,Michael Keaton andWinona Ryder. It made $73.7 million from a budget of $15 million, and Davis's performance and the overall film received mostly positive reviews.[22]
Davis took on the role of an animal hospital employee and dog trainer with a sickly son in the romantic dramaThe Accidental Tourist (1988), alongsideWilliam Hurt andKathleen Turner. CriticRoger Ebert, who gave the film four stars out of four, wrote: "Davis, as Muriel, brings an unforced wackiness to her role in scenes like the one where she belts out a song while she's doing the dishes. But she is not as simple as she sometimes seems [...]".[23] The film emerged as a critical and commercial success, and Davis' performance earned her theAcademy Award for Best Supporting Actress.
Davis appeared as the girlfriend of a man who, dressed as a clown, robs a bank in midtown Manhattan, in the comedyQuick Change (1990). Based on a book of the same name byJay Cronley, it is a remake of the 1985 French filmHold-Up starringJean-Paul Belmondo. Despite modest box office returns,[24] theChicago Tribune found the lead actors "funny and creative while keeping their characters life-size".[25] Davis next starred withSusan Sarandon inRidley Scott's road filmThelma & Louise (1991), as friends who embark on a road trip with unforeseen consequences. A critical and commercial success, it is considered a classic, as it influenced other films and artistic works and became a landmarkfeminist film. Davis' performance in the film earned her nominations for theAcademy Award for Best Actress, theBAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role and theGolden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama.[5] It also featuredBrad Pitt in his breakout role as a drifter; in his 2020 Oscar acceptance speech for Best Supporting Actor, Pitt thanked director Ridley Scott and Davis for "giving me my first shot."[26]
In 1992, Davis starred alongsideMadonna andTom Hanks in the sports comedy-dramaA League of Their Own as a baseball player on an all-women's team. It reachednumber one at the box office, became the tenth highest-grossing film of the year in North America,[27] and earned Davis her first nomination for theGolden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy.[28] She played a television reporter in the comedyHero (also 1992) alongsideDustin Hoffman andAndy Garcia. Although it flopped at the box office, Roger Ebert felt Davis was "bright and convincing as the reporter (her best line, after surviving the plane crash, is shouted through an ambulance door: "This is my story! I did the research!")".[29]
In 1994'sAngie, Davis played an office worker who lives in theBensonhurst section ofBrooklyn and dreams of a better life. The film received mixed reviews from critics, despite much praise for Davis,[30] and was a commercial failure. In her other 1994 release, the romantic comedySpeechless, Davis reunited with Michael Keaton to play insomniac writers who fall in love until they realize that both are writing speeches for rival candidates in aNew Mexico election. Despite negative reviews and modest box office returns, she earned her second nomination for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy for her performance.
Davis in 2004
Davis teamed up with her then-husband, directorRenny Harlin, for the filmsCutthroat Island (1995) andThe Long Kiss Goodnight (1996), with Harlin hoping that they would turn her into an action star. WhileThe Long Kiss Goodnight managed to become a moderate success,Cutthroat Island flopped critically and commercially and was once listed as having the "largest box office loss" byGuinness World Records.[31] The film is credited to be a contributing factor in the demise of Davis as abankable star. By the mid and late 1990s, Davis's film career had become less noteworthy as she divorced Harlin in 1998 and took an "unusually long" two years off to reflect on her career, according toThe New York Times.[32] In a 2016 interview withVulture, she recalled: "Film roles really did start to dry up when I got into my 40s. If you look atIMDb, up until that age, I made roughly one film a year. In my entire 40s, I made one movie,Stuart Little. I was getting offers, but for nothing meaty or interesting like in my 30s. I'd been completely ruined and spoiled. I mean, I got to play a pirate captain! I got to do every type of role, even if the movie failed."[33] Davis was in talks to playQueen Beryl in alive-action adaption ofSailor Moon in 1997,[34] produced byDisney, but the project was scrapped very early on. She appeared as Eleanor Little in the well-received family comedyStuart Little (1999), a role she reprised inStuart Little 2 (2002) and again inStuart Little 3: Call of the Wild (2005).
Davis was the only American actor to be cast in the Australian-produced filmAccidents Happen (2009), portraying a foul-mouthed and strict mother. She stated that it was the most fun she had ever had on a film set, and felt a deep friendship and connection to both of the actors who played her sons.[38] Written byBrian Carbee and based on his own childhood and adolescence, the film received a limited theatrical release and mixed reviews from critics.Variety found it to be "led by a valiant Geena Davis", despite a "script that mistakes abuse for wit".[39]
Following a long period of intermittent work, Davis often ventured into television acting, and through her organization, theGeena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, saw her career expand during the 2010s. In 2012, she starred as a psychiatrist in the miniseriesComa, based on the 1977 novelComa byRobin Cook and the subsequent1978 film. She played a powerful female movie executive in the comedyIn a World... (2013), the directorial debut ofLake Bell.[40] Bell found her only dialogue to be her favorite in the film and called it her "soapbox moment".[40]
In 2014, Davis provided her voice for the English version of theStudio Ghibli animated filmWhen Marnie Was There, as she was drawn to the film's abundant stories and strong use of female characters.[41] She played the recurring role of Dr. Nicole Herman, an attending fetal surgeon with a life-threatening brain tumor, during the 11th season ofGrey's Anatomy (2014–2015). In 2015, Davis launched an annual film festival to be held inBentonville, Arkansas, to highlight diversity in film, accepting films that prominently feature minorities and women in the cast and crew. The firstBentonville Film Festival took place from May 5–9, 2015.[42] Davis appeared as the mother of a semi-famous television star in the comedyMe Him Her (2016).
In the television seriesThe Exorcist (2016), based onthe 1973 film of the same name, Davis took on the role of grown-upRegan MacNeil, who has renamed herself Angela Rance to find peace and anonymity from her ordeal as a child.The Exorcist was a success with critics and audiences. In 2017, Davis starred in the film adaptationMarjorie Prime, alongsideJon Hamm, playing the daughter of an 85-year old experiencing the first symptoms ofAlzheimer's disease,[43] and appeared as the imaginary god of a heavyset 13-year-old girl in the comedyDon't Talk to Irene.Vanity Fair wrote that she stole "every scene" inMarjorie Prime,[44] whileVariety, on her role inDon't Talk to Irene, remarked: "There's no arguing the preternatural coolness of Geena Davis, a fact celebrated in self-conscious fashion byDon't Talk to Irene, a familiar type of coming-of-age film whose most distinguishing feature is the presence of the actress".[45]
In October 2022,HarperOne published Davis'sDying of Politeness: A Memoir of her journey from childhood conventional New England femininity and trauma to feminist "badassery", one role at a time, on screen and in the real world.[53][54] In 2025Penguin Books publishedThe Girl Who Was Too Big for the Page, a children's picture book written and illustrated by Davis.[55]Davis has been cast in the upcomingNetflix science fiction television series,The Boroughs, produced byThe Duffer Brothers. It will premiere in 2026.[56]
Davis began dating restaurateur Richard Emmolo in December 1978 and moved in with him a month later.[57] The two married on March 25, 1981, but separated in February 1983 and divorced on June 27, 1984.[58] She then dated futureThelma & Louise co-starChristopher McDonald, to whom she was briefly engaged.[59]
In 1985, she met her second husband, actorJeff Goldblum, on the set ofTransylvania 6-5000. The couple married on November 1, 1987, and appeared together in two more films:The Fly andEarth Girls Are Easy. Davis filed for divorce in October 1990,[60] and it was finalized the following year.[61] In 2022, Davis toldPeople that her relationship with him "was a magical chapter in my life" and that she liked being wed to a fellow actor because he understood what she was going through and "was not in competition" with her.[62]
Security expertGavin de Becker was Davis' boyfriend during the early 1990s.[63] She also had a liaison withBrad Pitt around that time.[64] After a five-month courtship, she married filmmakerRenny Harlin on September 18, 1993. He directed her inCutthroat Island andThe Long Kiss Goodnight. Davis filed for divorce on August 26, 1997, a day after her personal assistant Tiffany Bowne[65] gave birth to a son fathered by Harlin.[66] The divorce became final in June 1998, with Davis being romanced by fitness trainer Keith Cubba in the interim.[67]
In 1998, Davis started dating Iranian-Americancraniofacial plastic surgeon Reza Jarrahy,[68] and allegedly[69] married him on September 1, 2001. They have three children: daughter Alizeh (born April 10, 2002) and fraternal twin sons Kaiis and Kian (born May 6, 2004).[70][71] In May 2018, Jarrahy filed for divorce from Davis, listing their date of separation as November 15, 2017.[72] Davis responded by filing a petition in which she claimed that she and Jarrahy were never legally married.[69] Their divorce became final in December 2021. They agreed to change the last names of their two sons from "Davis-Jarrahy" to "Jarrahy".[73]
In 2004, while watching children's television programs and videos with her daughter, Davis noticed an imbalance in the ratio of male to female characters. She went on to sponsor the largest-ever research project on gender in children's entertainment (resulting in four discrete studies, including one on children's television) at theAnnenberg School for Communication at theUniversity of Southern California. The study, directed by Stacy Smith, showed that there were nearly three male characters to every female one in the nearly 400 G, PG, PG-13, and R-rated movies analyzed.[76] In 2005, Davis teamed up with the non-profit groupDads and Daughters to launch a venture dedicated to balancing the number of male and female characters in children's television and movie programming.[77]
Davis launched theGeena Davis Institute on Gender in Media in 2004,[78] which works collaboratively with the entertainment industry to increase the presence of female characters in media aimed at children, and to reduceinequality in Hollywood and the stereotyping of females by the male-dominated industry.[79] For her work in this field she received an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree fromBates College in May 2009;[80] and an honorary Oscar, the Academy'sJean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, in 2019.[81]
In 2011, Davis became one of a handful of celebrities attached toUSAID andAd Council'sFWD campaign, an awareness initiative tied to that year's East Africa drought. She joinedUma Thurman,Chanel Iman andJosh Hartnett in television and internet ads to "forward the facts" about the crisis.[82]
In July 1999, Davis was one of 300 women who vied for a semifinals berth in the U.S. Olympicarchery team to participate in the Sydney2000 Summer Olympics.[83][5] She placed 24th and did not qualify for the team, but participated as a wild-card entry in the Sydney International Golden Arrow competition.[84] In August 1999, she stated that she was not an athlete growing up and that she entered archery in 1997, two years before her tryouts.[83]
^"United States: US Senators Make New Effort to Ratify Women's Treaty".Asia News Monitor. Bangkok. November 19, 2010. RetrievedJanuary 21, 2021.Geena Davis brought some media attention to Thursday's proceedings. First, she explained she should be called an actor, rather than an actress. 'The dictionary definition of actor is a person who acts, so we do not actually needactress. It is going to sound soon as quaint asdoctoress, orpoetess, orauthoress.'
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