Geena Davis Reveals How Roles Like ‘Thelma & Louise’ and ‘A League of Their Own’ Helped Shape Her Real-Life Advocacy

At age 3, Geena Davis announced to her parents that she was going to be an actor.

“I had no backup plan whatsoever,” laughs Geena, now 69.

But she didn’t need one! Geena went on to become an inspiration to women in films like “Thelma & Louise,” “A League of Their Own” and her Oscar-winning performance in “The Accidental Tourist.”

Her film debut came in 1982’s “Tootsie,” and Geena says director Sydney Pollack treated her like a “professional peer,” while costar Dustin Hoffman “made sure I knew how to watch dailies. It was an extraordinary experience. I learned a lot.”

Geena loves quirky dog trainer Muriel in Anne Tyler’s romantic 1985 novel “The Accidental Tourist,” and confesses, “I had no idea I was going to get to play Muriel.” Lucky it was Geena, and she won her Best Supporting Oscar. Muriel was “one of the best characters you could possibly play.”

Then in 1991, Geena starred with Susan Sarandon in “Thelma & Louise,” a role that spurred her to found the Geena Davis Institute to create gender balance, foster inclusion and reduce negative stereotyping in the entertainment industry.

“Susan modeled something I hadn’t been exposed to too much until then: a woman who says what she thinks with no qualifiers,” she reveals. “It changed my perspective.”

Geena had another chance to inspire women as fiery catcher Dottie Hinson in 1992’s “A League of Their Own.” She says she still gets “the same number of young women telling me, ‘I play sports because of you,’ as I get women now telling me, ‘It was the first one!’”