At a Glance
- Geena Davis marks her 70th birthday on Jan. 21, 2026, with a career spanning over four decades
- The Oscar-winning actress transitioned from film stardom to TV success and gender-equality advocacy
- Davis founded the Institute on Gender in Media in 2004 to address on-screen representation gaps
**Why it matters: Davis’ evolution from Hollywood star to activist reshaped how media portrays women and girls
Geena Davis has carved a singular path through Hollywood, collecting an Academy Award, a Golden Globe, and a legacy that stretches far beyond the screen. From her 1982 debut in Tootsie to founding a research institute that changed how the entertainment industry thinks about gender, Davis’ story is one of reinvention and impact.
From Wareham to Worldwide Fame
Virginia Elizabeth Davis was born on Jan. 21, 1956, in Wareham, Massachusetts, to teacher’s assistant Lucille and engineer William F. Davis. She enrolled at Boston University to study acting but left without graduating due to insufficient credits.
“I loved BU. All of my lifelong friends are from BU. We’re still very close,” she told the university in 2022. “I learned a lot. The only thing I didn’t learn was that if you want to be in movies, you should go to LA.”
After college she signed with New York’s Zoli modeling agency, a move that soon led to her breakout film role.
Breakthrough and Blockbusters
Davis’ first film appearance came in Sydney Pollack’s Tootsie (1982) opposite Dustin Hoffman and Jessica Lange. Television roles on Buffalo Bill, Remington Steele, and Family Ties followed, but it was 1986’s sci-fi thriller The Fly that catapulted her to stardom.
She starred as the love interest of Jeff Goldblum-her future husband-and the pair’s real-life chemistry translated to box-office gold.
“I got cast because Jeff Goldblum was already cast and we had recently become an item, and he recommended me for the female part,” she told Collider. “I was acting with my actual real-life partner, and so we just lived and breathed that movie ever since we got cast.”
Accolades and Iconic Roles
In 1988 Davis secured two career-defining parts: ghost Barbara Maitland in Tim Burton’s horror-comedy Beetlejuice and Muriel Pritchett in The Accidental Tourist. The latter earned her the 1989 Oscar for Best Supporting Actress, and during her acceptance speech she famously thanked her “darling husband” Goldblum as one of her acting coaches.
Two years later she reunited with Susan Sarandon for Thelma & Louise, Ridley Scott’s feminist road movie that earned both leads Best Actress nominations and sealed Davis’ place in pop-culture history.
“Thelma and Louise end up driving off a cliff, and still viewers felt exhilarated by their story,” she told The Hollywood Reporter in 2021. “It made me realize how few opportunities we give women to come out of a movie feeling inspired and empowered by the female characters.”
Marriages, Collaborations, and Hiatus
Davis and Goldblum married in 1987, costarred again in 1988’s Earth Girls Are Easy, and divorced in 1991. She later described their relationship as “a magical chapter.”
In 1993 she wed Finnish director Renny Harlin. The pair teamed on the action films Cutthroat Island and The Long Kiss Goodnight, but when Cutthroat Island bombed at the box office, Davis stepped away from acting for two years. The couple divorced in 1997.
A New Mission: Gender in Media
Becoming a mother in her 40s shifted Davis’ focus. After noticing a dearth of female characters in children’s programming, she founded the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media in 2004.
“When I first saw kids’ shows and movies through my toddler daughter’s eyes, I was stunned by the lack of female characters and diversity,” she writes on the organization’s website. “Back in 2004, only 11 percent of family films had female leads.”
The nonprofit partners with studios to analyze scripts and promote equitable representation. What began as a passion project, Davis told News Of Los Angeles in 2020, became her “life’s mission,” though she “didn’t intend” for it to take over her career.
Television Triumphs and Return to Form
Although Davis’ film roles decreased in the 2000s, she found success on television. She headlined the 2000 sitcom The Geena Davis Show and, in 2005, portrayed the first female U.S. president in ABC’s Commander in Chief. The role won her a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Television Series – Drama.
The show lasted one season, but Davis continued to work steadily, guest-starring on Grey’s Anatomy and leading the first season of The Exorcist. She is set to appear in Netflix’s upcoming sci-fi series The Boroughs, scheduled for release in 2026.
Family Life and Personal Reflections
Davis married surgeon Reza Jarrahy in 2001. The couple welcomed daughter Alizeh in 2002 and twins Kaiis and Kian in 2004. They separated in 2018 after 17 years of marriage; during divorce proceedings the twins’ surname was changed from Davis-Jarrahy to Jarrahy.
On becoming a parent later in life, Davis told ITV’s Loose Talk she was “grateful” she waited.
“I thought, ‘I’ll be more evolved the longer I wait,'” she said. “I didn’t have a lot of self-esteem, but I was really determined that my children would have self-esteem.”
Legacy Beyond the Screen
As Davis approaches her 70th birthday on Jan. 21, 2026, her influence is visible on multiple fronts:
- Acting: An Oscar, a Golden Globe, and roles that redefined female buddy films
- Advocacy: The Institute on Gender in Media has funded dozens of research studies and advised every major studio on inclusive storytelling
- Cultural Impact: Lines from Thelma & Louise and Beetlejuice remain quotable decades later, and her data-driven approach to gender parity is now standard across Hollywood
Whether starring opposite Susan Sarandon, accepting an Academy Award, or lobbying studio executives for better representation, Geena Davis has consistently pushed boundaries-on screen and off.
