Currently serving as the first female President of the United States on NBC’s “Commander in Chief”, the gorgeous, 6-foot-tall Geena Davis has commanded the attention of movie lovers since her debut in the Dustin Hoffman classic “Tootsie”.
Unlike many of her contemporaries, Davis didn’t rush into acting when she reached adulthood. Born January 21, 1956 in Wareham, MA, Davis was a talented musician during her childhood, even serving as an assistant organist at her church. Though she knew that acting was in her future, Davis decided to continue her education and enrolled at New England College after graduating from high school, but ultimately she transferred to Boston University where she received a B.A. in Drama in 1979. The statuesque actress then relocated to New York City, where she signed with the Zoli modeling agency, leading to her work as an Ann Taylor window model. Soon after, in a mythical turn of events, legendary director Sydney Pollack spotted her in a lingerie catalogue and offered her a role in his 1982 film “Tootsie”, which sparked her acting career.
Davis spent the next several years working in television, appearing in shows as diverse as “Knight Rider”, “Buffalo Bill”, and “Family Ties”. She also headlined the short-lived series “Sara” and played a small but noticeable role in the hit Chevy Chase comedy “Fletch” in 1985. Her big break came in 1986 with her role in David Cronenberg’s fantastic update of “The Fly”, in which Davis starred alongside her future husband Jeff Goldblum. An even greater success for the actress was Tim Burton’s “Beetle Juice” (1988), which she followed with her surprise Oscar-winning performance in Lawrence Kasdan’s “The Accidental Tourist”. Davis was unstoppable during this period, and in 1991 she scored a major hit with Ridley Scott’s grandiose road movie “Thelma & Louise”, which earned her and co-star Susan Sarandon Oscar nominations for Best Actress in the same year. She followed with another colossal hit in 1992, the women’s baseball drama “A League of Their Own”, which also starred Tom Hanks and Madonna.
The actress then starred in a string of high-profile flops, including “Hero” and “Angie”. After her divorce from Jeff Goldblum in 1990, Davis married director Renny Harlin, and the pair collaborated on a notorious string of big-budget bombs: “Speechless” (1994), “The Long Kiss Goodnight” (1996), and most notably the tongue-in-cheek adventure “Cutthroat Island” (1995). Despite the film’s pedigree and huge budget it was a complete failure at the box office, and is considered the final death knell for its overly ambitious producer, Carolco Pictures.
Ignoring her role in the 1999 kidpic “Stuart Little”, Davis hasn’t had a hit in 14 years. Few movie stars can say the same thing while still being beloved and popular performers. Her current comeback with “Commander in Chief” (she recently received a Golden Globe for the series) and the continuing popularity of her previous work makes it clear that Davis’s recent lack of box office success isn’t related to her talent and undying likeability.