Geena Davis

Virginia Elizabeth "Geena" Davis (born January 21, 1956) is an American actor. She is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award.

Davis made her acting debut in Tootsie (1982), a satirical romantic comedy, and starred in the science-fiction horror The Fly (1986), one of her first box office hits. While the fantasy comedy Beetlejuice (1988) brought her to prominence, the romantic drama The Accidental Tourist (1988) earned her the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. She established herself as a leading lady with the road film Thelma & Louise (1991), for which she received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress, and the sports film A League of Their Own (1992), garnering a Golden Globe Award nomination. However, Davis' role in the box office failure Cutthroat Island (1995), directed by her husband, Renny Harlin, preceded a lengthy break and downturn in her film career.

Davis starred as the adoptive mother of the title character in the Stuart Little franchise (1999–2005) and as the first female president of the United States in the television series Commander in Chief (2005–2006), winning the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Drama for her role in the latter. Her later films include Accidents Happen (2009) and Marjorie Prime (2017). She has portrayed the recurring role of Dr. Nicole Herman in Grey's Anatomy (2014–2015, 2018) and that of Regan MacNeil/Angela Rance in the first season of the horror television series The Exorcist (2016). In 2026, she starred in the Netflix sci-fi series The Boroughs.

In 2004, Davis launched the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media (now the Geena Davis Institute), which works collaboratively with the entertainment industry to increase the presence of female characters in media. Through the organization, she launched the annual Bentonville Film Festival in 2015, and executive produced the documentary This Changes Everything in 2018. Davis received the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award in 2019 and the Governors Award in 2022.