In her early twenties Virginia Elizabeth Davis, at 6 ft tall, was the perfect live department store mannequin, the perfect fashion model, and a pretty good waitress. You may not expect your mannequins and models to have a MENSA IQ (you never know with waitresses, of course), but what Geena Davis had, as well as height and good looks and brains, was a degree in fine arts from Boston University, and a budding career as a conspicuous and arresting actor. Stunning and goofy, awkward and graceful, glittering and earthy, Davis has played sci-fi, horror, action, drama, comedy and romance with equal penance. She debuted in film with a small part in Tootsie (1982), and was cast, that year, in a recurring role in television’s Family Ties. She went on to Buffalo Bill in 1983, and wrote one episode of that cult hit.
In 1985, Davis starred as a single lawyer looking for love in the television series Sara. The show proved to be ten years ahead of its time, but its failure opened big-screen doors. What followed was Fletch (1985), Secret Weapons (1985), Transylvania 6-5000 (1985), The Fly (1986) – and a 1987 to 1990 marriage to her Fly co-star Jeff Goldblum (she had been married briefly, in 1981, to restaurant manager Richard Eminolo) – Earth Girls Are Easy (1988), Beetlejuice (1988), and The Accidental Tourist (1998 – for a Best Supporting Actress Oscar).
It was for Davis’ next film, Thelma and Louise (1991), that fans, critics, and judge panels went mad. Davis (and co-star Susan Sarandon) netted Oscar, Golden Globe, British Academy Award and MTV Movie Award nominations, as well as the Boston Society of Film Critics Award, the National Board of Review Best Actress Award, and the David di Donatello Award. 1992 brought Hero and A League of Their Own (for another Golden Globe nomination and MTV Movie Award nod).
In 1994, Davis tried her hand at producing, also starring in, Speechless, another Golden Globe nominated film. She has since, under the name of her production company, “The Forge,” produced The Politician’s Wife, The Decision, Mistrial and Bigmalion. She was the lead in Angie (1994), and then two films – Cutthroat Island (1995) and The Long Kiss Goodnight (1996) – by director Renny Harlin, to whom she was married from 1993 to 1998. In 1999, Davis was nominated for a Saturn Award for her performance in Stuart Little.
As if all that weren’t enough, Davis is a world-class athlete, ranked 24th of the 28 semi-finalists for the United States Archery Team in 1999. She’s “way down” at number 61 on one list (Empire Magazine’s) of the “Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time.” Oh yes, and she speaks Swedish.
