Virginia Elizabeth “Geena” Davis was born January 21, 1956, in Wareham, Massachusetts. She did well in school, excelled in voice and flute lessons, and was selected to attend school in Sweden as a Foreign Exchange student at age 17. The same year she started acting in a local theater production in Agawam Hall, East Wareham.

She began her studies at New England College in New Hampshire, then transferred to the School for the Arts at Boston University. She acted in student productions and helped pay for college by working as a projectionist for BU’s Media Services and as a saleswoman at Ann Taylor. In 1979, she graduated with a bachelor’s degree in drama. She was working as a model for the Zoli Agency when director Sydney Pollack spotted her, and cast her in Tootsie (1982) as a soap opera actress. She then went on to play in the acclaimed TV-series “Buffalo Bill” (opposite Tootsie co-actor Dabney Coleman).

She received an Academy Award as Best Supporting Actress for her role in The Accidental Tourist (1988) and a Best Actress nomination for her role in Thelma and Louise (1991). In 2006 she received the Golden Globe award for Best Actress in a Drama Series, earned by her lead role as female president in the tv-series Commander in Chief.

September 1, 2001, Geena married Iranian-American Dr. Reza Jarrahy. They have three children; their daughter Alizeh (born April 10, 2002) and the twins Kian William Jarrahy and Kaiis Steven Jarrahy (born May 6, 2004). Geena has also been married to Richard Emmolo (1982-83), Jeff Goldblum (1987-90), and Renny Harlin (1993-98).

Geena is not only a talented actress, she’s a person of many talents and strong beliefs. She’s the founder of See Jane, later reorganized and named The Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media (GDIGM). The aim of GDIGM is to increase the amount of female characters in media made for children aged 0-11 years, and to reduce gender stereotyping. In 1999, Davis was a semi-finalist in tryouts for the United States’ Olympic Archery team, placing twenty-fourth out of twenty-eight. Since then, she has been fronting the campaign Geena Takes Aim, in support of Title IX - the portion of the Education Amendments of 1972 that prohibits sex discrimination in educational institutions that receive any federal funds.