Geena Davis

Season 6, Episode 602

Original Airdate: April 9, 2000

She holds the esoteric distinction of being the only Oscar winner to also qualify as a U.S. Olympic Team semi-finalist. She's also 6 feet tall, a member of MENSA, and a cartoonist. She can play the organ, piano, flute and drums, and speak Swedish. There's no mistaking Geena Davis for anybody else in Hollywood.

Geena (real name: Virginia) began her career as a Saturday window mannequin for Ann Taylor in New York. She eventually signed with the Zoli Agency at the age of 23 - ancient in the modeling world. She worked as a model for the Victoria's Secret catalogue where she was spotted by Sydney Pollack and cast in Tootsie (1982). She moved to Los Angeles and hit the small screen in television shows such as Buffalo Bill (1983) and Sara (1984) and made guest appearances on Family Ties. She even wrote an episode of Buffalo Bill.

When Davis returned to the silver screen it was in the less than memorable Transylvania 6-5000 (1985). In 1986, she teamed with future husband Jeff Goldblum in David Cronenberg's horror remake of The Fly. They teamed up again in Earth Girls Are Easy (1988) which also starred a little known comedian named Jim Carrey. Her star really started to rise when she appeared in Tim Burton's Beetlejuice (1988) and Lawrence Kasadan's The Accidental Tourist (1988) for which she won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar. She garnered a Best Actress Academy Award nomination for Thelma and Louise (1991). She teamed up with Tom Hanks and Penny Marshall for A League Of Their Own (1992) as her career was riding high.

After the disappointing success of her next film Hero (1992), Geena set up a production and development company with her third husband, director Renny Harlin. Their first film was Speechless (1994), followed by their second Cutthroat Island (1995)a notorious flop. Since then Geena has been seen in the quick-witted action film The Long Kiss Goodbye (1996) (directed by Harlin again) and as Mrs. Little in 1999's Stuart Little. In addition to practicing her archery skills, she starred in her own ABC series, The Geena Davis Show, and will be reprising her role as Mrs. Little in a sequel.