76 In-spire
LS
These days Geena Davis (Born Virginia Elizabeth
Davis in January 21st 1956) is at the forefront of
the Women's Sports Foundation, campaigning for
equality in sports opportunities, and to a wider
extent, the prohibition of gender discrimination
across the board in the United States.
But where was she prior to taking a leading interest
in activism?
Coming from a small town in Massachusetts and
born to professional, devout parents, Virginia
graduated from college with a BA in Drama. She is
also a fluent speaker of Swedish having spent time as
an exchange student in the 70's. Having dabbled in
modelling, Ms Davis set about auditioning for parts
in Film and TV, just missing out on the iconic role
of Sarah Connor in The Terminator. However, soon
after she landed a small part in the smash Dustin
Hoffman led Tootsie and from there her acting
career really flourished.
Geena Davis then honed her acting skills further
by taking parts in a number of TV series including
Knight Rider, Family Ties and Remington Steele.
Yet, it was her own series entitled Sara that really
raised her profile and moved her to the forefront
of Directors and Producers minds in Hollywood.
Eventually in 1985, she was given the chance to team
up with Saturday Night Live star comedian Chevy
Chase in the detective comedy FLETCH which
proved to be an international box office hit.
With two comedy films under her belt, a quick
succession of comedy hits soon came after, with
Beetlejuice, Earth Girls are Easy and Quick Change.
All popular movies (with the exception of the latter)
but very much comedy based.
So, perhaps pigeon holed as a comedic foil; it is
slightly surprising but not entirely so to find that Ms
Davis was picked to star in the critically acclaimed
The Accidental Tourist and within the world wide
hit buddy flick Thelma & Louise in 1988 and 1991
Women in Film
g
eena
d
avis
In-spire LS
Movie Matters
Words by Ian Birthwright @BrooklynFlyer