Portrait of Geena Davis

Birthday profile

Geena Davis

American actress (born 1956)

Born
January 21, 1956
Age in 2026
70
Zodiac sign
Aquarius
Birth year
1956

About Geena Davis

Virginia Elizabeth "Geena" Davis (born January 21, 1956) is an American actor. She is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award. Davis made her acting debut in Tootsie (1982), a satirical romantic comedy, and starred in the science-fiction horror The Fly (1986), one of her first box office hits. While the fantasy comedy Beetlejuice (1988) brought her to prominence, the romantic drama The Accidental Tourist (1988) earned her the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. She established herself as a leading lady with the road film Thelma & Louise (1991), for which she received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress, and the sports film A League of Their Own (1992), garnering a Golden Globe Award nomination. However, Davis' role in the box office failure Cutthroat Island (1995), directed by her husband, Renny Harlin, preceded a lengthy break and downturn in her film career. Davis starred as the adoptive mother of the title character in the Stuart Little franchise (1999–2005) and as the first female president of the United States in the television series Commander in Chief (2005–2006), winning the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Drama for her role in the latter. Her later films include Accidents Happen (2009) and Marjorie Prime (2017). She has portrayed the recurring role of Dr. Nicole Herman in Grey's Anatomy (2014–2015, 2018) and that of Regan MacNeil/Angela Rance in the first season of the horror television series The Exorcist (2016). In 2026, she starred in the Netflix sci-fi series The Boroughs. In 2004, Davis launched the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media (now the Geena Davis Institute), which works collaboratively with the entertainment industry to increase the presence of female characters in media. Through the organization, she launched the annual Bentonville Film Festival in 2015, and executive produced the documentary This Changes Everything in 2018. Davis received the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award in 2019 and the Governors Award in 2022. Davis made her acting debut in the satirical romantic comedy Tootsie (1982) and starred in the science-fiction horror The Fly (1986), one of her first box office hits.

Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.

The world when Geena Davis was born

Geena Davis was born in 1956. The year snapshot below places that birthday in its cultural and historical setting: the music and films people were following, the headlines shaping public life, and the everyday prices families encountered.

Culture in 1956

  • #1 song"Heartbreak Hotel" – Elvis Presley
  • Top movieAround the World in 80 Days
  • Top TV showI Love Lucy
  • Best-selling bookPeyton Place – Grace Metalious

Headlines and milestones

  • Major sports momentDon Larsen pitches a perfect game in the World Series
  • Top headlineElvis Presley takes America by storm
  • Technology milestoneFirst transatlantic telephone cable (TAT-1)
  • Defining fadElvis Presley mania
  • Notable inventionHard disk drive (IBM)
  • World population2.82 billion

United States snapshot

  • U.S. leaderDwight D. Eisenhower
  • Sports championNew York Yankees (World Series)
  • Also wonPhiladelphia Warriors (NBA)
  • U.S. population168.1M

1956 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in Geena Davis's birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure19562026
Gas$0.30$3.45/gal
Average home$11,700$435,000
Average income$6,500$67,500
Minimum wage$1.00$7.25/hr (federal)
Movie ticket$0.50$11.95
Postage stamp$0.03$0.73
Population168.1M341 million

Sources and editorial standards

This profile combines a biographical source with structured birthday and historical context. Sources recorded for this profile: Wikipedia, IMDb. See our editorial policy for sourcing, corrections, and review standards.

Read the source biography on Wikipedia. Wikipedia text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.