tal Tourist, went on to star in female-led films like
Thelma & Louise and A League of Their Own and
was excited to continue. “The reaction to Thelma
& Louise was mind-blowing,” she says. “All the
press said, ‘This changes everything—now we’re
going to see so many movies with women.’ With A
League of Their Own, they said the same thing—
that we’re going to see so many more female sports
movies. And none of that happened. In fact, the
ratio of male to female characters onscreen in
films has been exactly the same since 1946.”She used to think sexism was
the norm.
“You unfortunately sort of expect it,”
Davis says. “It never occurred to me
to be upset that the man was making
more money than I was. And there
were little indignities: not being real-
ly listened to when you have an idea
that you think is important, beingput in uncomfortable situations,
the little chipping away at your
self-esteem.” Now, in an effort to
prove women actors should be
treated like their male counter-
parts, each year she and actress
friends such as Meg Ryan gather
for public table reads. “It’s called
Geena and Friends,” she says.
“We read scenes from films that
were all men originally. We did
Reservoir Dogs, M*A*S*H and City Slickers, and it’s
always packed. People love it because it’s funny and
entertaining, but it’s also interesting to see how
great some of these projects are when it’s women
playing the roles—women are equally funny, equal-
ly raunchy, equally interesting. It’s fun.”She loves a challenge—like becoming
an elite archer.
“I take everything too far,” Davis says with a laugh.
“You should see my kids’ birthday cakes!” She de-
cided to take up archery on a whim. “I had learned
sports for a number of movies, and I never thought
of myself as athletic, but I was actually really good
at everything. So I thought, ‘I want to take up a sport
in a real-life way.’ I was watching the
Atlanta Olympics, and I just thought
casually, ‘I wonder if I’d be good at
that?’ ” I found a coach and became ut-
terly obsessed. I took it up at 41, and it
became my life for a couple of years. I
still keep up, but just for fun now.” She
narrowly missed qualifying for the
2000 Olympics. Then, when she played
the President on the series Commander
in Chief, she started rowing. “It turned out I was
good at it too,” she says. “I’m wondering, how old is
too old to get into the Olympics for rowing?”She still feels like the same ‘goofy girl’ she’s
always been.
Davis says that despite her success, she’s the same
person she was growing up in the small town of
Wareham, Mass. “When I was a freshman in high
school, I saw the seniors as gods. I thought, ‘They’re
so popular and attractive and I’m going to be a se-
nior someday. I can’t wait!’ Then when I was a se-
nior I was like, ‘Well, I’m still me.’ I didn’t turn into
some fabulous person. I had an image of who I
would be on New Year’s Eve, 1999, that I was going
to be in an evening gown having a cocktail and I’d be
this fabulous, sophisticated person. And the same
thing happened: still me. I didn’t turn into some-
body else. But you do change and grow, and it’s al-
ways my goal to try to evolve.” •A League of Their Own, 1992
“From when it first came out, to now,
28 years later, I’ve had lots of girls and
young women saying that they play sports
because of the movie,” Davis says.Glow, 2019
Davis plays an ex-showgirl turned Vegas
hotel manager on Netflix’s comedy. “I’ve
always been fascinated by showgirls, with
those big headdresses,” she says.‘Women
are equally
funny, equally
raunchy,
equally
interesting ’Scan this
QR code with
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People Features:
Geena Davis on
PeopleTV.
Proud Mom
“They’ll watch TV and point out there are not enough
girls in a scene, so they are very aware,” Davis says of
daughter Alizeh and twin sons Kian and Kaiis.CLOCKWISE FROM TOP RIGHT: JIM SMEAL/SHUTTERSTOCK; ALI GOLDSTEIN/NETFLIX/KOBAL/SHUTTERSTOCK; SNAP/SHUTTERSTOCK; METRO-GOLDWYN-MAYER/GETTY IMAGES; EVERETT(2); BRIAN TO/FILMMAGIC March 30, 2020 47P13DAV4C.indd 47 FINAL 3/16/20 11:00 PM