In 1977, she moved to New York City and worked as a window mannequin, sales clerk, and waitress while building her modeling career. That effort paid off when she signed with the Zoli Agency and appeared in the famous Victoria’s Secret catalog—an opportunity that ultimately opened a path into Hollywood.
“I knew I wanted to be in movies, as opposed to theater,” she told NPR.
“I decided that I would try becoming a model first because, at that time, Christie Brinkley and Lauren Hutton were being offered parts in movies. And I thought, OK, well, I’ll just become a model, and then they’ll just offer me parts because obviously, it’s so much easier to become a supermodel.
It ultimately all worked out for me, but the likelihood of becoming a famous model was actually pretty slim, and I didn’t. I did get work, and it was through my model agency that I got my first acting job.”
Her breakthrough arrived when legendary director Sydney Pollack noticed her in the catalog and cast her in the 1982 film Tootsie, launching the kind of career that would help define an era. Acting alongside Dustin Hoffman, she earned strong reviews and soon moved to Los Angeles, where her momentum grew rapidly.
From that point on, more filmmakers sought her out, and her name became increasingly familiar to the public.
Her name? Geena Davis.
In 1983, she starred in the critically praised TV series Buffalo Bill, followed by her own series, Sara, in 1985. After that show was canceled, she pivoted more fully to film. She appeared in the 1985 movie Transylvania 6-5000 with Jeff Goldblum, though it struggled at the box office.
Thelma & Louise
A year later, the two reunited for the now-classic 1986 horror film The Fly, a major turning point in her career.
Her rise continued with a standout part in Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice in 1988. The next year, she starred in The Accidental Tourist, a film that earned four Academy Award nominations. Her performance won her the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress, cementing her status as one of Hollywood’s leading talents.
Still, her most famous role remains Thelma & Louise. Directed by Ridley Scott, the groundbreaking feminist film also led to a defining friendship that helped Davis learn to speak up for herself. Her bond with co-star Susan Sarandon—her on-screen partner-in-crime—proved especially influential.
Davis has described Sarandon as someone who “very simply and clearly said what she thought.” After Thelma & Louise, Davis took on A League of Their Own, strengthening her reputation as a defining figure in women-centered cinema.
She said the reaction to those films was so “surprising and significant” that it highlighted how uncommon it still was to see movies made by women, for women.
At the peak of her fame, she was praised not only for her beauty, but also for the intelligence and depth she brought to every role.
“People always ask, ‘Do you think you’re beautiful?’ What am I going to say?” she told Vogue in 1992, adding, “But when I see myself in a movie, I sometimes think, Oh, that’s really nice. I look good.”
One part of Hollywood she openly enjoyed was dressing up for major events. Not long after Thelma & Louise, she made an unforgettable Oscars appearance in a dramatic Bo-Peep–inspired gown with a long train.
“I’m just from this small town, and I’m actually going to the Oscars. Of course I want to wear something glamorous,” Davis said, noting how distant that world felt from the one she grew up in. She also remembered that her parents lived simply—and that “the only makeup my mother wore was red lipstick.”
But as she approached 40, a familiar shift many actors face began to unfold.
“I fell off the cliff,” she told The Guardian in 2020.
“The great roles were incredibly scarce. It was a big difference.”
Married four times
Even if the industry allowed a major talent to drift from the spotlight, her influence remained. And as her career stopped moving in a straight upward line, other parts of her life became far more important.
Davis has been married four times, including to her The Fly co-star Jeff Goldblum. She became a mother for the first time at 46. Now 69, she is the mother of three: daughter Alizeh, 23, and fraternal twin sons, Kaiis and Kian, 19.
With her fourth husband, plastic surgeon Reza Jarrahy, Davis fulfilled her dream of becoming a mother. They met at a party and became friends, though Davis hesitated to pursue a relationship with him because he was 27 at the time—15 years younger than she was. She admitted:
“At first, to be honest, I was just approaching it like something that would be fun. I wasn’t thinking too far ahead of the game.”
As they spent more time together, she fell in love with Jarrahy, who became her fourth husband and the father of her children. They married in 2001 and welcomed their first child, Alizeh, in 2002.
Mom in mid-forties