Those who know Sarah Paulson

Born in the United States on December 17, 1974, Sarah Catharine Paulson is an actress. She got her start on New York City stages, and then she starred in the cancelled series American Gothic (1995–1996) and Jack & Jill (1999–2001). She went on to star in comedies like What Women Want (2000) and Down with Love (2003) and dramas like Path to War (2002) and The Notorious Bettie Page (2005). Her first nomination for a Golden Globe came for her role as Harriet Hayes on the NBC comedy-drama series Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, which aired from 2006–2007. A superhero noir, The Spirit, featured her as Ellen Dolan in 2008.

Paulson's Broadway acting resume includes roles in 2005's The Glass Menagerie and 2010's Collected Stories. Besides ABC's romantic comedy series Cupid (2009), she has starred in a number of smaller films. She went on to star in the indie drama Martha Marcy May Marlene (2011), and her performance as Nicolle Wallace in the HBO film Game Change (2012) earned her nominations for both the Primetime Emmy Award and the Golden Globe. She played Mary Epps in 12 Years a Slave (2013), Abby Gerhard in Carol (2015), and Toni Bradlee in The Post (2017), all critically acclaimed and critically acclaimed films that garnered multiple Academy Award nominations. In addition to 2005's Serenity and 2011's New Year's Eve, 2012's Mud, 2016's Blue Jay, 2018's Ocean's 8 and 2018's Bird Box and 2019's Glass, and 2020's Run, she has starred in a number of critically acclaimed films.

Paulson has been a mainstay of the FX anthology series American Horror Story since the show's debut in 2011, spanning all 10 of its seasons. She was nominated for five Primetime Emmys and took home two Critics' Choice Television Awards for her work on the series. She received widespread acclaim and numerous awards for her portrayal of real-life prosecutor Marcia Clark in the first season of the anthology series American Crime Story, subtitled The People v. O. J. Simpson, which aired in 2016. In 2020, Paulson made an appearance in the FX limited series Mrs. America and began playing Nurse Mildred Ratched in the Netflix psychological thriller series Ratched. For the third and final season of American Crime Story, titled "Impeachment," in 2021, she reprised her role as Linda Tripp. She has won several awards, including a Golden Globe and a Primetime Emmy. 2017 Time magazine named her one of the world's 100 most influential people.

Early life

Sarah Catharine Paulson, the daughter of Catharine Gordon (née Dolcater) and Douglas Lyle Paulson II, was born on December 17, 1974[3] in Tampa, Florida. She grew up in South Tampa until her parents split up when she was five. [1][4] [5] Following the breakup of her parents, she moved to Maine with her mother and sister before finally settling in New York City. Paulson settled in Park Slope after spending time in Queens and Gramercy Park (her mom was a waitress in each of those neighborhoods) During this time, she said, "My mom was 27 years old [when we moved]." In New York, she had zero connections. As a result, she is now employed at Sardi's Restaurant. [ She had a cotillion and a coming-out ball in Tampa, Florida, and she brought her two children to New York City, the greatest city in the world, without knowing a soul. To that extent, my mother is one of my role models. Paulson spent her summers in Florida with her father, an executive at a Tampa door manufacturing company,[6] for the duration of her childhood. She started her education in Brooklyn at P.S. 29 and Berkeley Carroll School[8][9] before transferring to Manhattan's Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School[10][11] and the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. [5]

Career

1994–2007

At the 2006 Drama Desk Awards Paulson

After finishing high school, Paulson dove headfirst into a career in acting. In 1994, she guest starred on an episode of Law & Order and performed in the Horton Foote play Talking Pictures at the Signature Theatre. Paulson starred as the grown-up version of Kathleen Turner's character's daughter in the Hallmark Channel film Friends at Last (1995). [12] She also played the ghost of a murdered woman in the 1995 episode of the short-lived TV series American Gothic.

Paulson made her debut as a leading lady in the independent thriller film Levitation in 1997, playing a woman who finds out she is pregnant following an anonymous sexual encounter. According to Variety critic Leonard Klady, who said Paulson and her co-stars are "not supported by the script," "Levitation is a grim, convoluted saga of identity and belonging." The indie film will struggle at the box office because it is a mishmash of melodrama and magic realism. Paulson appeared as Janice/Nina in the Cracker two-part episode "True Romance," which starred Robert Pastorelli, in 1997. In the fall of 1998, she also made an appearance in an Off-Broadway production of Killer Joe. She then went on to portray Elisa Cronkite in the 1999 season of Jack & Jill, a comedy-drama series on The WB. She played a hostage in the comedy Held Up, starring Jamie Foxx and Juliette Lewis, and a hostage in the drama The Other Sister, starring Juliette Lewis and Diane Keaton, set in San Francisco with a developmentally disabled woman. [16] Both films were released the same year. She had a small supporting role in the Mel Gibson and Helen Hunt comedy What Women Want the following year. [19]

Paulson appeared in an episode of the FX series Nip/Tuck and had a small recurring role on the HBO series Deadwood (2005-2006)[20]. In the NBC show Leap of Faith, she played the lead role. She then landed a major part in the 2003 period comedy Down with Love, playing the editor and friend of a writer (Renee Zellweger). [21]

She appeared on the ABC series The D as a supporting cast member in 2004. A only lasted for four episodes before being axed Jessica Lange, who would later become her co-star on American Horror Story, co-starred with Paulson in a Broadway revival of The Glass Menagerie in the spring of 2005. Production "misdirected and miscast," according to Ben Brantley of The New York Times [23].   In this surreal, hazy production, reality never makes an appearance. Later that year, Paulson co-starred with her future American Horror Story co-star Lily Rabe in an Off-Broadway production of Colder Than Here; the production premiered on December 23. "Rabe speaks in an affected monotone while Sarah Paulson has the measured, upward-inflected delivery of a children's TV presenter," Variety critic Dave Rooney wrote of the production.   The lack of emotion in response to this mannered, sad play is problematic for a piece about death. "[24]

Paulson also appeared in the 2005 Joss Whedon film Serenity, albeit in a minor role. During the 2006–2007 television season, Paulson co-starred on NBC's Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip as Harriet Hayes, one of the stars of the show within the show. She was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress in a Series, Miniseries, or Television Film for her work in this. Paulson played an updated version of Ellen Dolan in the 2008 film adaptation of Will Eisner's comic book The Spirit. [26]

2008–2015

In the presence of Paulson at the 2011 TIFF

The ABC pilot Cupid starring Paulson was picked up for a full season in 2008. The original series aired in 1998 with stars Jeremy Piven and Paula Marshall, and this was a remake of that show. Paulson and Bobby Cannavale both had roles in the updated version. After premiering on ABC in late March 2009, the show was canceled on May 19, 2009, just six episodes in. On the ABC medical drama Grey's Anatomy, [28] Paulson made her first appearance as Meredith Grey's mother in a flashback sequence in an episode from season six, set in 1982, in February 2010. [29] After that, in 2012, she portrayed Nicolle Wallace in the HBO film Game Change, which was inspired by the events of the 2008 U.S. presidential election campaign. Both the Primetime Emmy Award and the Golden Globe Award were considered for her performance.

She made her Broadway debut in the spring of 2010 opposite Linda Lavin in Donald Margulies' Collected Stories. Paulson starred as the wealthy sister of an escaped cult member opposite Elizabeth Olsen and Hugh Dancy in the independent drama Martha Marcy May Marlene, shot the same year. The movie premiered in theaters in the late 2011 autumn [[32]]. Concurrently, Paulson appeared as medium Billie Dean Howard in three episodes of the FX anthology series American Horror Story. Season 2 of American Horror Story, entitled Asylum, featured Paulson in a new role as Lana Winters, a writer who is locked up in an asylum for being a lesbian. During this time, she also appeared as Mary Lee in the 2012 drama film Mud, co-starring Matthew McConaughey, for which she received critical acclaim. [35]

In March of 2013, Paulson made her return to the stage by co-starring with Danny Burstein in an Off-Broadway production of Talley's Folly. She went on to star as Cordelia Foxx, a witch and head of a school for young witches, in the third season of American Horror Story (2013), which was titled Coven. In the same year, she also appeared in the film 12 Years a Slave, in which she played the role of Mary Epps, a cruel slave owner. The film was well received by critics and audiences alike [38]. [39]

In the fourth season of American Horror Story, which was titled Freak Show and aired in 2014, Paulson played the roles of conjoined twin sisters Bette and Dot Tattler, who were performers in a circus freak show. [40] She came back for the fifth season (titled "Hotel") as Hypodermic Sally, the specter of a drug addict who died in a Hollywood hotel. [41] She also made a crossover appearance as Billie Dean Howard, a character she previously played, in the season finale. [42] Around the same time, Paulson played Cate Blanchett's best friend Abby Gerhard in the period romantic drama Carol (2015), directed by Todd Haynes. [43]

2016–present

At the upcoming TIFF (Toronto Film Festival), Paulson will be a featured guest.

During the first season of the true crime anthology series American Crime Story, titled The People v. O.J. Simpson, which premiered in February 2016, Paulson portrayed prosecutor Marcia Clark. She won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Movie, the TCA Award for Individual Achievement in Drama, and the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Miniseries or Television Film for her work in the show. [45]

The Human Rights Campaign released a video in June 2016 honoring the victims of the Orlando nightclub shooting, in which Paulson and others recounted the lives of the victims. She played both British actress Audrey Tindall and tortured wife and yoga instructor Shelby Miller in the sixth season of American Horror Story, titled Roanoke, which premiered in the fall of 2016. My Roanoke Nightmare, a documentary within the series, features Tindall as the latter. Additionally, she made a crossover appearance as Lana Winters in the series finale of Roanoke, in which she was previously portrayed by this actress. [48]

After wrapping on Roanoke, Paulson guest starred on the seventh season of Cult (2017) as restaurant owner Ally Mayfair-Richards[49] and as Susan Atkins in the tenth episode of the season. In addition, she played Geraldine Page in an episode of the first season of the drama anthology series Feud (2017), which focuses on the tense professional relationship between Bette Davis and Joan Crawford. [50][51] Following this, Paulson joined the cast of Ocean's 8 (2018), a heist film in which she stars alongside Cate Blanchett, Sandra Bullock, Anne Hathaway, Mindy Kaling, Awkwafina, and Rihanna. Nearly $300 million was made from the film, making it a financial success.   million at the international ticket booths A member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences invited her to join in 2017 [53]. [54]

Paulson came back for the premiere of American Horror Story: Apocalypse on September 12, 2018. Paulson played the villainous Miss Wilhemina Venable in Apocalypse, in addition to reprising her roles as Billie Dean Howard and Cordelia Foxx from Murder House and Coven, respectively. Paulson not only made her directorial debut with this season, but also appeared in three episodes as different characters. In the Netflix drama/horror film Bird Box, starring Sandra Bullock, she played Bullock's character's sister, Jessica.

Paulson played Dr. Quinn Medici in the upcoming film Xandra in The Goldfinch, Ellie Staple in the superhero thriller Glass, and Dr. Zara in the Abominable animated action-adventure After that, in April of 2020, Paulson starred as Alice Macray on Mrs. America, a one-hour drama on FX. [56] She also played the lead role of Clarissa Montgomery in the 2020 September premiere of the HBO satirical comedy television film Coastal Elites. [57] In September 2017, it was announced that Paulson would star as a younger version of Nurse Mildred Ratched, the villain of the novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and its acclaimed 1975 film adaptation, in the Netflix drama series Ratched, a prequel to the novel which would portray the character's origins On September 18, 2020, the first season of [58] premiered. [59]

Paulson co-starred with Kiera Allen in the November 2020 suspense film Run. In the end, it surpassed all expectations and became Hulu's #1 original film ever. [60][61]

The third season of the true crime anthology series American Crime Story, titled Impeachment, premiered in 2021, and she played the role of Linda Tripp. After missing out on Season 9 of American Horror Story, she made her return in 2021 for Season 10. [63]

Paulson was cast as author Glennon Doyle in a TV series based on Doyle's memoir Untamed in February 2022. [64]

For those who have been following the news

Paulson was recognized as one of the world's 100 most influential people by Time magazine in 2017. [65]

As of the year 2018, Paulson was considered by Net-a-Porter to be one of the best dressed women in the world. [66]

Conversations about the personal

Currently, Paulson calls Los Angeles home. She is a Democrat party supporter [67]. When she was 25, a melanoma was discovered on her back; the growth was removed, however, and the cancer did not spread. [69]

Paulson has been candid about her sexuality, describing it as "a fluid situation"[70] and adding, "If my life choices had to be predicated based on what was expected of me from a community on either side, that's going to make me feel really straitjacketed, and I don't want to feel that." [7] From 2004 to 2009, she dated actress Cherry Jones. Before this, she had only dated men, including her ex-fiancé, the playwright Tracy Letts. They've been dating since the beginning of 2015, [7] and she's a big fan of actress Holland Taylor. [72]

Filmography

Paulson appeared in such films as What Women Want (2000), Down with Love (2003), Serenity (2005), The Notorious Bettie Page (2005), The Spirit (2008), Martha Marcy May Marlene (2011), New Year's Eve (2011), Mud (2012), Game Change (2012), 12 Years a Slave (2013), Carol (2015), Blue Jay (2016), The Post (2017), Ocean's 8 (2018), Bird Box (2018), Glass (2019), Abominable (2019), and Run (2020)

Paulson's extensive television career includes roles in series such as American Gothic (1995–1996), Jack & Jill (1999–2001), Deadwood (2006), Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip (2006–2007), Cupid (2009), American Horror Story (2011–present), American Crime Story (2016–present), Mrs. America (2020), and Ratched (2020–present).

Plays in which Paulson has appeared include Crimes of the Heart (2008) and Talley's Folly (2013), both of which were performed off-Broadway, in addition to The Glass Menagerie (2005) and Collected Stories (2010) on Broadway.

Nominations and honors

Paulson has received seven Primetime Emmy Award nominations, five Golden Globe Award nominations, and two Screen Actors Guild Award nominations, winning one of each for her performance in the limited series The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story. In addition to her nomination for American Horror Story, she received nods for her roles in the comedy-drama series Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, the political-drama film Game Change, and the horror anthology series. She was nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture for her work in the Oscar-winning period drama 12 Years a Slave.

References

Notes

Bibliography

• "Erickson, Hal" (2010) Television shows about the law, both fictional and nonfictional, from 1948 to 2008 Publication information: McFarland, Jefferson, North Carolina ISBN 978-0-786-45452-5
• Author: Muir, J. K. Terror on American TV: Series Airing from 1970 to 1999 McFarland & Co., Inc., of Jefferson, North Carolina ISBN 978-0-786-40890-0

Web Resources