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Jane Fonda

Acting

Born December 21, 1937 · New York City, New York, USA

Also known as Jane Seymour Fonda

Biography

Jane Seymour Fonda (born December 21, 1937) is an American actress, activist, and former fashion model. She is the recipient of various accolades including two Academy Awards, two British Academy Film Awards, seven Golden Globe Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, the AFI Life Achievement Award, the Golden Lion Honorary Award, the Honorary Palme d'Or, and the Cecil B. DeMille Award. Born to socialite Frances Ford Seymour and actor Henry Fonda, Fonda made her acting debut with the 1960 Broadway play There Was a Little Girl, for which she received a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play, and made her screen debut later the same year with the romantic comedy Tall Story. She rose to prominence during the 1960s with the comedies Period of Adjustment (1962), Sunday in New York (1963), Cat Ballou (1965), Barefoot in the Park (1967), and Barbarella (1968). Her first husband was Barbarella director Roger Vadim. A seven-time Academy Award nominee, she received her first nomination for They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (1969), and went on to win the Academy Award for Best Actress twice in the 1970s, for Klute (1971) and Coming Home (1978). Her other nominations were for Julia (1977), The China Syndrome (1979), On Golden Pond (1981), and The Morning After (1986). Consecutive hits Fun with Dick and Jane (1977), California Suite (1978), The Electric Horseman (1979), and 9 to 5 (1980) sustained Fonda's box-office drawing power, and she won a Primetime Emmy Award for her performance in the TV film The Dollmaker (1984). In 1982, she released her first exercise video, Jane Fonda's Workout, which became the highest-selling VHS of the 20th century. It would be the first of 22 such videos over the next 13 years, which would collectively sell over 17 million copies. Divorced from her second husband Tom Hayden, she married billionaire media mogul Ted Turner in 1991 and retired from acting, following a row of commercially unsuccessful films concluded by Stanley & Iris (1990). Fonda divorced Turner in 2001 and returned to the screen with the hit Monster-in-Law (2005). Although Georgia Rule (2007) was her only other movie during the 2000s, in the early 2010s she fully re-launched her career. Subsequent films have included The Butler (2013), This Is Where I Leave You (2014), Youth (2015), Our Souls at Night (2017), and Book Club (2018). In 2009, she returned to Broadway after a 49-year absence from the stage, in the play 33 Variations which earned her a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play, while her major recurring role in the HBO drama series The Newsroom (2012–14) earned her two Primetime Emmy Award nominations. She also released another five exercise videos between 2009 and 2012. Fonda currently stars as Grace Hanson in the Netflix comedy series Grace and Frankie, which debuted in 2015 and has earned her nominations for a Primetime Emmy Award and three Screen Actors Guild Awards.

Awards & recognition

  • Jane Fonda Humanitarian Award · 2021
  • BBC 100 Women · 2020
  • Producers Guild Stanley Kramer Award · 2019
  • AFI Life Achievement Award · 2014
  • California Hall of Fame · 2008
Show all 25 awards →
  • Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres · 1994
  • Primetime Emmy AwardOutstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie · 1984
  • Crystal Award · 1981
  • Academy AwardBest Actress · 1979
  • Academy AwardBest Actress · 1972
  • Hasty Pudding Woman of the Year · 1961
  • Theatre World Award · 1960
  • BAFTA AwardBest Actress in a Leading Role
  • Emmy Award
  • Golden Globe Awards
  • Tony AwardBest Actress in a Play · 2009 · nominated
  • Golden Raspberry AwardWorst Actress · 1990 · nominated
  • Academy AwardBest Actress · 1987 · nominated
  • Academy AwardBest Supporting Actress · 1982 · nominated
  • Academy AwardBest Actress · 1980 · nominated
  • Academy AwardBest Actress · 1979 · nominated
  • Academy AwardBest Actress · 1978 · nominated
  • Academy AwardBest Actress · 1972 · nominated
  • Academy AwardBest Actress · 1970 · nominated
  • Tony AwardBest Featured Actress in a Play · 1960 · nominated

Filmography50+ titles

Still Working 9 to 5

2022as Self

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire

2020as Self - Contestant

Thriller 40

2023as Self (archive footage)

The Kardashians

2022as Self

We Are the World: The Story Behind the Song

1985as Self - Host

Norm Macdonald Has a Show

2018as Self - Guest

The Newsroom

2012as Leona Lansing

The Simpsons

1989as Maxine Lombard (voice)

Nationtime

1972Producer

Citizen Jane Fonda

2020as Self

Sally

2025as Self (archive footage)

Luck

2022as Dragon (voice)

Grace and Frankie

2015as Grace Hanson

The Dollmaker

1984as Gertie Nevels

The Masked Singer

2019as Special Message (via video)

Explained

2018as Self (archive footage)

Feminists: What Were They Thinking?

2018as Self

HyperNormalisation

2016as Self (archive footage)

Dominick Dunne: After the Party

2008as Self (archive footage)

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson

1962as Self

The Comeback

2005as Jane Fonda

Dolly Parton: Here I Am

2019as Self

The Butler

2013as Nancy Reagan

On Golden Pond

1981as Chelsea Thayer Wayne

Ruby Gillman: Teenage Kraken

2023as Grandmamah (voice)

Somebody Feed Phil

2018as Self

The Graham Norton Show

2007as Self

Letter to Jane: An Investigation About a Still

1974as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)

History 101

2020as Self (archive footage)

Jane Fonda in Five Acts

2018as Self - (archive footage)

Fathers & Daughters

2015as Theodora

The China Syndrome

1979as Kimberly Wells

Barefoot in the Park

1967as Corie Bratter

The Chase

1966as Anna Reeves

Robert Scheer: Above the Fold

2019as Self

Women Make Film: A New Road Movie Through Cinema

2018as Narrator (voice)

What's My Line?

1950as Self - Mystery Guest

Call Me Ted

as self

Youth

2015as Brenda Morel

Miss Representation

2011as Self

The Colbert Report

2005as Self - Guest

9 to 5

1980as Judy Bernly

Saturday Night Live

1975as Self - Cameo (uncredited)

And the Oscar Goes To...

2014as Self - Interviewee

Sir! No Sir!

2005as Self

Klute

1971as Bree Daniels

The Dick Cavett Show

1968as Self - Guest

Sunday in New York

1963as Eileen Tyler

Our Souls at Night

2017as Addie Moore

Gregory Peck: His Own Man

1988as Self