Below is a compiled list of the most interesting facts about Geena Davis. Check it out!
As a child, Geena dreamed of being an actress. While in high school, she felt left out and had low self-esteem because, at 6 feet, she was the tallest girl in school. After high school graduation, Geena entered New England College in New Hampshire and then transferred the next year to Boston University, where she majored in drama. In 1977, she graduated and moved to New York to start her career. Her career consisted of sales clerk and waitress. She worked at Ann Taylor, where she eventually rose to Saturday window mannequin while trying to get a job with a modeling agency. Eventually signed by the Zoli Agency, she wound up as a model in the Victoria Secret’s Catalogue. Ever vigilant, Sydney Pollack was looking for new talent in the catalog when he spotted Geena and cast her in Tootsie (1982). With good reviews, Geena moved to Los Angeles where she was cast as Wendy in the short-lived but critically acclaimed television series Buffalo Bill (1983) with Dabney Coleman. A starter marriage to restaurant manager Richard Emmolo dissolved around this time. Her next appearance on television was in her own series Sara (1985), which was also good, but soon canceled. Geena then returned to the big screen in the below-average Transylvania 6-5000 (1985) followed by the successful Chevy Chase movie Fletch (1985). From there on, she was on a roll with second husband Jeff Goldblum in the horror remake The Fly (1986). More successful were Tim Burton’s dark comedy Beetlejuice (1988) and The Accidental Tourist (1988). For the last film, she was the surprise winner of the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress. More fun movies followed with the flying-saucer-in-the-pool Earth Girls Are Easy (1988) and everyone-loves-a-clown Quick Change (1990) with Bill Murray. The very successful Thelma & Louise (1991), directed by Ridley Scott, again garnered nominations for the Academy Award and Golden Globe. A League of Their Own (1992), with Tom Hanks and directed by Penny Marshall, was the turning point as her next film, Accidental Hero (1992), was only average. Then she married director Renny Harlin and they set up a production and development company called “The Forge”. Their first film was Speechless (1994), which flopped at the box office. Undeterred, Renny decided to film the big-budget Cutthroat Island (1995), starring Geena as pirate leader Morgan, which also flopped. Geena has since starred in the thriller The Long Kiss Goodnight (1996) and played Eleanor Little in Stuart Little (1999) and Stuart Little 2 (2002). She’s also returned to TV, headlining The Geena Davis Show (2000) and Commander in Chief (2005). Both shows were canceled after one season each, but she won a Golden Globe for the latter. Since 2001 she has been married to her fourth husband, neurosurgeon Reza Jarrahy, and they have three children. In 2008, after being missed from the big screen for some years, Geena ventured to Sydney, Australia, playing the foul-mouthed mother of Harry Cook and Harrison Gilbertson to shoot the dark comedy Accidents Happen (2009).
Interesting Facts about Geena Davis
- Two of her ex-husbands have also been romantically involved with Laura Dern: Renny Harlin and Jeff Goldblum.
- Though actually the leading female protagonist in The Accidental Tourist (1988), she was nominated in the supporting-actress category at The 61st Annual Academy Awards (1989), ostensibly to make winning easier.
- Graduate of Wareham High School (Wareham, Massachusetts) Class of 1974 who voted her “Most Talented”.
- After graduating from Boston U. she worked as a window mannequin.
- Appeared alongside ex-husband Jeff Goldblum in three films: Transylvania 6-5000 (1985), The Fly (1986) and Earth Girls Are Easy (1988).
- Was a model on Betsey Johnson Fall Fashion Show in 1981.
- Auditioned for a regular cast member spot on Saturday Night Live (1975) in 1982.
- Met her first husband, Manhattan restaurateur Richard Emmolo, in December 1977 while working at Ann Taylor. They started living together in January 1978.
- Placed 24th out of 28 semi-finalists for Olympic Archery team. [August 1999]
- Ranked #61 in Empire (UK) magazine’s Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time list. [October 1997]
- Said that Accidents Happen (2009) was the most fun she had ever had on a movie, and that her co-stars and on-screen sons Harry Cook and Harrison Gilbertson looked very much like her two twin boys in real life and felt a great friendship and connection to the both of them.
- Born to Lucille Cook (1919-2001) and William F. Davis (1913-2009). Geena’s father was a civil engineer and church deacon; her mother worked as a teacher’s aide. Her brother Danforth (b. 1953) is a geotechnical engineer and lives in Las Vegas with his wife Marilyn. Their parents also had a stillborn son named Joel Henry.
Personal Quotes by Geena Davis
The motto of my institute has always been, ‘If they can see it, they can be it.’ And it’s literally true. If we show something on-screen, it will change what happens in real life.
Geena Davis
Somebody warned me early on to be very careful about brushing up against the chocolate.
Geena Davis
My parents are both from Vermont, very old-fashioned New England. We heated our house with wood my father chopped. My mom grew all of our food. We were very underexposed to everything.
Geena Davis
Women are half the population of the world, and yet there are so few female characters on-screen.
Geena Davis
