Rise to fame (1982–1987) Davis was working as a model when she was cast by director
Sydney Pollack in his film
Tootsie (1982) as a soap opera actor, whom she has described as "someone who's going to be in their underwear a lot of time". It was the second most profitable film of 1982, received ten
Academy Awards nominations and is considered a
classic. She next won the regular part of Wendy Killian in the television series
Buffalo Bill, which aired from June 1983 to March 1984; and had a writing credit in one episode. Despite the series' eleven
Emmy Awards nominations, lukewarm ratings led to its cancellation after two seasons. Davis concurrently guest-starred in
Knight Rider,
Riptide,
Family Ties and
Remington Steele, and followed with a series of her own,
Sara, which lasted 13 episodes. During this period, she also auditioned for the 1984 science fiction/action film
The Terminator, reading for the lead role of
Sarah Connor, which eventually went to
Linda Hamilton. In
Fletch (1985), an action comedy, she appeared with
Chevy Chase as the colleague of a
Los Angeles Times undercover reporter trying to expose drug trafficking on the beaches of Los Angeles. She also starred in the horror comedy
Transylvania 6-5000 as a nymphomaniac vampire alongside future husband
Jeff Goldblum. They also starred in the sci-fi thriller
The Fly (1986), loosely based on
George Langelaan's 1957
short story of the same name, where Davis portrayed a science journalist and an eccentric scientist's love interest. It was a commercial success and helped establish her as an actor. In 1987, she appeared with Goldblum again in the offbeat comedy
Earth Girls Are Easy.
Recognition and praise (1988–1993) in 1989 Director
Tim Burton cast Davis in his horror comedy
Beetlejuice (1988) as one of a recently deceased young couple who become ghosts haunting their former house; it also starred
Alec Baldwin,
Michael Keaton and
Winona Ryder. It made $73.7 million from a budget of $15 million, and Davis's performance and the overall film received mostly positive reviews. Davis took on the role of an animal hospital employee and dog trainer with a sickly son in the romantic drama
The Accidental Tourist (1988), alongside
William Hurt and
Kathleen Turner. Critic
Roger Ebert, who gave the film four stars out of four, wrote: "Davis, as Muriel, brings an unforced wackiness to her role in scenes like the one where she belts out a song while she's doing the dishes. But she is not as simple as she sometimes seems [...]". The film emerged as a critical and commercial success, and Davis' performance earned her the
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. Davis appeared as the girlfriend of a man who, dressed as a clown, robs a bank in midtown Manhattan, in the comedy
Quick Change (1990). Based on a book of the same name by
Jay Cronley, it is a remake of the 1985 French film
Hold-Up starring
Jean-Paul Belmondo. Despite modest box office returns, the
Chicago Tribune found the lead actors "funny and creative while keeping their characters life-size". Davis next starred with
Susan Sarandon in
Ridley Scott's road film
Thelma & Louise (1991), as friends who embark on a road trip with unforeseen consequences. A critical and commercial success, it is considered a classic, as it influenced other films and artistic works and became a landmark
feminist film. Davis' performance in the film earned her nominations for the
Academy Award for Best Actress, the
BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role and the
Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama. In 1992, Davis starred alongside
Madonna and
Tom Hanks in the sports comedy-drama
A League of Their Own as a baseball player on an all-women's team. It reached
number one at the box office, became the tenth highest-grossing film of the year in North America, and earned Davis her first nomination for the
Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy. She played a television reporter in the comedy
Hero (also 1992) alongside
Dustin Hoffman and
Andy Garcia. Although it flopped at the box office, Roger Ebert felt Davis was "bright and convincing as the reporter (her best line, after surviving the plane crash, is shouted through an ambulance door: "This is my story! I did the research!")".
Downturn, hiatus and television roles (1994–2009) In 1994's
Angie, Davis played an office worker who lives in the
Bensonhurst section of
Brooklyn and dreams of a better life. The film received mixed reviews from critics, despite much praise for Davis, and was a commercial failure. In her other 1994 release, the romantic comedy
Speechless, Davis reunited with Michael Keaton to play insomniac writers who fall in love until they realize that both are writing speeches for rival candidates in a
New Mexico election. Despite negative reviews and modest box office returns, she earned her second nomination for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy for her performance. Davis teamed up with her then-husband, director
Renny Harlin, for the films
Cutthroat Island (1995) and
The Long Kiss Goodnight (1996), with Harlin hoping that they would turn her into an action star. While
The Long Kiss Goodnight managed to become a moderate success,
Cutthroat Island flopped critically and commercially and was once listed as having the "largest box office loss" by
Guinness World Records. The film is credited to be a contributing factor in the demise of Davis as a
bankable star. By the mid and late 1990s, Davis's film career had become less noteworthy as she divorced Harlin in 1998 and took an "unusually long" two years off to reflect on her career, according to
The New York Times. In a 2016 interview with
Vulture, she recalled: "Film roles really did start to dry up when I got into my 40s. If you look at
IMDb, up until that age, I made roughly one film a year. In my entire 40s, I made one movie,
Stuart Little. I was getting offers, but for nothing meaty or interesting like in my 30s. I'd been completely ruined and spoiled. I mean, I got to play a pirate captain! I got to do every type of role, even if the movie failed." Davis was in talks to play
Queen Beryl in a
live-action adaption of
Sailor Moon in 1997, produced by
Disney, but the project was scrapped very early on. She appeared as Eleanor Little in the well-received family comedy
Stuart Little (1999), a role she reprised in
Stuart Little 2 (2002) and again in
Stuart Little 3: Call of the Wild (2005). Davis starred in the sitcom
The Geena Davis Show, which aired for one season on
ABC during the
2000–01 U.S. television season. She went on to star in the
ABC television series
Commander in Chief, portraying the first female president of the United States. While this role garnered her a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Drama Series in 2006, the series was cancelled after its first season; Davis admitted she was "devastated" by its cancellation in a 2016 interview. "I still haven't gotten over it. I really wanted it to work. It was on Tuesday nights opposite
House, which wasn't ideal. But we were the best new show that fall. Then, in January, we were opposite
American Idol. They said, 'The ratings are going to suffer, so we should take you off the air for the entire run of
Idol, and bring it back in May. I put a lot of time and effort into getting it on another network, too, but it didn't work". Davis was the only American actor to be cast in the Australian-produced film
Accidents Happen (2009), portraying a foul-mouthed and strict mother. She stated that it was the most fun she had ever had on a film set, and felt a deep friendship and connection to both of the actors who played her sons. Written by
Brian Carbee and based on his own childhood and adolescence, the film received a limited theatrical release and mixed reviews from critics.
Variety found it to be "led by a valiant Geena Davis", despite a "script that mistakes abuse for wit".
Professional expansion (2010–present) Following a long period of intermittent work, Davis often ventured into television acting, and through her organization, the
Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, saw her career expand during the 2010s. In 2012, she starred as a psychiatrist in the miniseries
Coma, based on the 1977 novel
Coma by
Robin Cook and the subsequent
1978 film. She played a powerful female movie executive in the comedy
In a World... (2013), the directorial debut of
Lake Bell. Bell found her only dialogue to be her favorite in the film and called it her "soapbox moment". She played the recurring role of Dr. Nicole Herman, an attending fetal surgeon with a life-threatening brain tumor, during the 11th season of ''
Grey's Anatomy (2014–2015). In 2015, Davis launched an annual film festival to be held in Bentonville, Arkansas, to highlight diversity in film, accepting films that prominently feature minorities and women in the cast and crew. The first Bentonville Film Festival took place from May 5–9, 2015. Davis appeared as the mother of a semi-famous television star in the comedy Me Him Her'' (2016). In the television series
The Exorcist (2016), based on
the 1973 film of the same name, Davis took on the role of grown-up
Regan MacNeil, who has renamed herself Angela Rance to find peace and anonymity from her ordeal as a child.
The Exorcist was a success with critics and audiences. In 2017, Davis starred in the film adaptation
Marjorie Prime, alongside
Jon Hamm, playing the daughter of an 85-year old experiencing the first symptoms of
Alzheimer's disease, and appeared as the imaginary god of a heavyset 13-year-old girl in the comedy ''
Don't Talk to Irene. Vanity Fair wrote that she stole "every scene" in Marjorie Prime
, while Variety
, on her role in Don't Talk to Irene'', remarked: "There's no arguing the preternatural coolness of Geena Davis, a fact celebrated in self-conscious fashion by ''Don't Talk to Irene'', a familiar type of coming-of-age film whose most distinguishing feature is the presence of the actress". In 2018, Davis returned to ''Grey's Anatomy'', reprising the role of Dr. Nicole Herman in the show's
14th season, and executive produced the documentary
This Changes Everything, in which she was also interviewed about her experiences in the industry. The film premiered at the
Toronto International Film Festival, where it was named first runner-up for the
People's Choice Award: Documentaries. In 2019, she joined the voice cast of
She-Ra and the Princesses of Power as Huntara, and executive produced
CBS educational show
Mission Unstoppable through
her organization. In 2022, Davis' likeness was used for the character of
Poison Ivy in the
DC Entertainment comic book series ''
Batman '89, set between the events of Batman Returns (1992) and The Flash'' (2023). Davis has been a frequent guest narrator at
Disney's Candlelight Processional, appearing at Disneyland in 2015 and Disney World in 2011, 2012, and 2019. In October 2022,
HarperOne published Davis's
Dying of Politeness: A Memoir of her journey from childhood conventional New England femininity and trauma to feminist "badassery", one role at a time, on screen and in the real world. In 2025,
Penguin Books published
The Girl Who Was Too Big for the Page, a children's picture book written and illustrated by Davis. Davis has been cast in the upcoming
Netflix science fiction television series,
The Boroughs, produced by
The Duffer Brothers. It will premiere in 2026. ==Personal life==