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Geena Davis is an American actress, film producer, writer, former fashion model, and former archer. Here are 40 interesting facts about the actress:
- She received a great advice from a great actor Dustin Hoffman in her very first movie “Tootsie”. He said “You should not sleep with your costar. It’s a very bad idea. So here’s what to say. When they hit at you, say, I would love to, but it would ruin the sexual tension between us onscreen.” She used it against Jack Nicholson when he hit on her.
- She won Oscar for Best Supporting actor in 1989 for the movie “The Accidental Tourist” in 1988. She played the character Muriel Prichett for which Jessica Lange, Laura Dern and Ellen Barkin were considered initially.
- She had read the story of “The Accidental Tourist” two years prior without even knowing that she would be cast in it. During the filming of “The Fly” in 1986 she was reading a novel based on this movie.
- In “The accidental Tourist” she had a significant leading role bigger than her costar Kathleen Turner. However she was only nominated for Best Supporting Actor rather than Best Actor and she was billed behind Turner in the movie.
- She was born as Virginia Elizabeth “Geena” Davis on 21 January 1956 in Wareham, Massachusetts. She was born to Lucille Cool, an assistant teacher and William F. Davis, a civil engineer.
- She was good at playing piano, flute and organ at an early age. During her teen she was the organist at her Congregationalist church.
- She went to Wareham High school and finished her bachelor’s degree in drama from Boston University in 1979.
- She is a proud member of Mensa. This group is known to have members who have high IQ level and belong to top 2% of intelligence.
- She received her first movie offer when she was working in New York’s Zoli modeling agency in 1982. She was offered the role of a soap opera actress in the movie “Tootsie” by director Sydney Pollack.
- She was married to Richard Emmolo for a year before getting divorce on 26 February 1983.
- She later married actor Jeff Goldblum in 1987. She starred with him in “Transylvania 6-5000”, “The Fly” and “Earth Girls Are Easy.” They got divorced in 1990.
- She was married to director Renny Harlin from 1993 to 1998. He had directed her in “Cutthroat Island” and “The Long Kiss Goodnight”.
- In 2001 she married Reza Jarrahy, who is a plastic surgeon. They have a daughter Alizeh Keshvar Jarrahy and twin sons, Kian William Jarrahy and Kaiis Steven Jarahy.
- She finished at 24 among the 300 women who were trying for a place in the US Olympic archery team to participate in 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney.
- She was a wild card entry in the International Golden Arrow competition held in Sydney in the year 2000. She started practicing archery only in 1997.
- In 2007 she launched “The Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media” which aims to increase the female presence in media and eradicate the stereotyping of females.
- She was awarded with honorary Doctor of Fine Arts from Bates College in 2009 for her work towards reducing gender bias in the media and entertainment.
- She also started a campaign “Geena Takes Aim” that focuses on the equality of women in sports. It also works towards prohibition of gender discrimination in US educational institutional.
- She also funded the research project at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Southern California. The result showed that there were 3 males for every 1 female in all kinds of movies.
- She was part of the awareness campaign that joined hands with USAID and FWD campaign to help people affected by drought in East Africa. She was joined by Uma Thurman, Chanel Iman and Josh Hartnett.
- She launched a film festival in 2015 in Bentonville, Arkansas that accepts only movies featuring minorities and women in the cast and crew.
- She was cast as a lead in the TV series “Sara” in 1985. Kate McNeil was considered initially but they opted for Davis in the last moment. It was re-aired in 1988 when her movie “Beetlejuice” became hit in the same year.
- When approached for the movie “Beetlejuice” she said yes without hesitating. He costars Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder, Catherine O’Hara and Sylvia Sydney had said no at least once before the director Tim Burton convinced them personally.
- One of the famous taglines “Be afraid, Be very afraid” was spoken by the character Veronica Quaife played by Davis in the movie “The Fly” in 1986.
- She was rumored to be part of another fly movie to be directed by her then husband Renny Harlin in 1990 titled “Flies”. The script did not materialize.
- Ina scene from “Thelma & Louise” in 1991, Louise played by Susan Sarandon takes off the headphones off Thelma played by Davis and scares her. It wasn’t planed as volume was too high on headphone and Davis didn’t hear her.
- Director Ridley Scott wanted to catch the genuine reactions of the lead actors when the tank explodes in “Thelma & Louise”. He had to reshoot the scene as they were too shocked to react.
- Both Sarandon and Davis were nominated for Best Actor for “Thelma & Louise” but lost out to Jodie Foster for “The Silence of the Lambs”.
- She joined the production of “A League of their Own” in 1992 as a late replacement and mastered the game in a short time. She beat all the crew members who have been practicing the game for months.
- None of the performers in “A League of their Own” wanted a stunt double. They all did their own baseball stunts, except Davis who had to use a stunt double in a split catch and slide scene.
- She was nominated for the Best Actress at the Golden Globe Awards for her performance as Dottie Hinson in “A League of their Own”. The role was initially given to Debra Winger who turned it down due to injury.
- Her second and the last movie with actor Hoffman were in 1992 titled “Hero”. The name was later changed to “The Accidental Hero” for the latest movie Davis acted was “The Accidental Tourist” and she won Best Actress in a Supporting Role for that.
- Davis was cast in the movie “Cutthroat Island” in 1995 due to the director Harlin who was her husband at that time. They both married just before the production began and called the movie their honeymoon.
- For a water torture scene in the movie “The Long Kiss Goodnight”, the director husband Harlin checked how long Davis could hold her breath under water in their bathtub.
- She was pregnant with her daughter Alizeh when she was cast in Stuart Little 2 in 2002.
- She was nominated for Saturn award for her performance as Samantha in “The Long Kiss Goodnight” and Eleanor Little “Stuart Little”.
- Davis and Rod Lurie were shocked to hear the news of cancellation of the TV series “Commander in Chief” at the award ceremony at the United Nations. She was being felicitated for her portrayal of first female president of the United States in the same TV series.
- She received a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Drama Series in 2006 for “Commander in Chief”. She was also nominated for SAG and Emmy award for Out Standing Female Actor in Drama.
- Women in Film organization honored Davis with women in Film Lucy Award in 2006. This award is given to honor women in communication and media.
- She returned to television with the eleventh season of “Grey’s Anatomy” portraying Dr. Nicole Herman who has a brain tumor. She had signed for the show without much about her character. She found out about the tumor only in the fifth episode.
