Early life
Davis was born to William and Lucille Davis (a civil engineer and a teacher's assistant). One of the first signs of her interest and skill in the performing arts was her budding talent in music. She learned piano, flute and drums, and she also played organ well enough even as a teenager to serve as an organist at her church in Wareham. Enrolling at New England College, Davis eventually graduated with a bachelor's degree in drama from Boston University in 1979. While an exchange student in Sandviken, Sweden, Davis became fluent in Swedish.
Career
After graduating, Davis signed with New York's Zoli modelling agency and served as a window mannequin for Ann Taylor. With a height of six feet and a shoe size of 9(US)/40(EUR), Davis was a striking model cast from a different mold. She was working as a model when director Sydney Pollack spotted her and cast her in Tootsie (1982) as a soap opera actress. She followed this up with roles in the short-lived television series Buffalo Bill (1983-1984), for which she also wrote an episode, and Sara (1985). Davis made a breakthrough with The Fly and Beetlejuice. She received an Oscar 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). Davis replaced Debra Winger for the lead in A League of Their Own. Her first starring vehicle Hero was a box office flop. Following this, Davis teamed up with then husband Renny Harlin for the box office disasters Cutthroat Island and The Long Kiss Goodnight. She and Harlin produced the films.
Davis starred in the short-lived sitcom The Geena Davis Show (2000-2001). In early 2004, she guest-starred as Grace Adler's sister Janet on the NBC sitcom Will & Grace. She most recently starred in the ABC television series Commander in Chief as the first female President of the United States. This role garnered her a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Drama Series in 2006, and she also was nominated for a SAG Award for Outstanding Female Actor in a Drama Series and an Emmy Award. However, almost from its premiere, the show was managed poorly by ABC[citation needed]. This led to two extended breaks and a substantial loss of viewers from its premiere (early in the fall, the series was the season's most-watched new show)[citation needed], resulting in its cancellation during the May 2006 sweeps period.
Personal life
Davis has been married four times, including her current marriage. Her ex-husbands are Richard Emmolo (25 March 1982 - 26 February 1983), divorced; Jeff Goldblum (with whom she co-starred in three films, including The Fly and Earth Girls Are Easy) from 1987 to 1990 and Renny Harlin (who directed her in Cutthroat Island as well as The Long Kiss Goodnight) from 1993 to 1998. She has been married to Iranian-American Dr. Reza Jarrahy since September 1, 2001, and they have three children: daughter Alizeh Keshvar (born April 10, 2002) and fraternal twins Kian William Jarrahy and Kaiis Steven Jarrahy (delivered by Caesarean section on May 9, 2004). In 1999, Davis was a semi-finalist in trials for the United States' Olympic Archery team. She was placed twenty-fourth out of twenty-eight.
Davis is a member of American Mensa with an IQ of 140.
Activism
Davis is fronting the Women's Sports Foundation campaign Geena Takes Aim in support of Title IX — an Act of Congress focusing on equality in sports opportunities and eventually expanded to prohibit gender discrimination in United States' educational institutions.
Davis is also the founder of SeeJane, a program to dramatically increase the percentages of female characters — and to reduce gender stereotyping — in media made for children eleven and under. SeeJane is a program of the national nonprofit Dads and Daughters, where Davis serves as an honorary Board member. Dads and Daughters works to make the world safer and fairer for daughters.
