Jane Fonda

Oscar winning actress and high profile activist Jane Fonda was born on December 21, 1937, in New York City, New York. When Fonda was just twelve years old, her mother committed suicide while in hospital for psychiatric treatment. As the daughter of actor Henry Fonda, Jane did not show an interest in acting until her late teens when she performed in a 1954 Community Theatre production of The Country Girl with her father.

 Fonda studied art at Vassar University and in Europe before returning to the U.S. to model, where she graced covers of Vogue magazine. Meanwhile, Fonda continued to study acting at Lee Strasberg's Actors' Studio, which led to a role on Broadway in Tall Story, as well as her film debut in its 1960 film adaptation.

In 1964, Fonda appeared nude in French film La Ronde, directed by her future husband, Roger Vadim. Vadim went on to cast Fonda as a sex-symbol in a series of films, including Barbarella in 1968. Around this time, Fonda was also becoming involved in Vietnam anti-war protests, which led her to visit North Vietnam in 1972. Fonda came with the agenda of filming evidence of the Nixon Administration's plan to blow up dikes in Vietnam; however, it was the photographs of Fonda seated on Vietnamese anti-aircraft battery which earned her the nickname Hanoi Jane and still angers many war veterans to this day. During a book signing in 2005 to promote her best-selling autobiography, My Life So Far, a man still harboring resentment toward Fonda’s acts of treason in Hanoi waited in line just to spit in Fonda’s face. The man was arrested, and Fonda calmly carried on with her signing.

Throughout the 70s, Fonda continued to balance activism with acting, appearing in such films as Klute in 1971 and Coming Home in 1978, which each earned the actress Academy Awards. In 1980, Fonda teamed up with Lily Tomlin and Dolly Parton to star in the office comedy Nine to Five. One year later, Fonda starred with her father and Katharine Hepburn in On Golden Pond . At this time, Fonda was married to former peace activist, Tom Hayden; close with famous friend, Michael Jackson; and an American aerobic icon, with a series of self-titled exercise videos.

In the mid-80s, Fonda won an Emmy for her performance in made-for-TV movie The Dollmaker; however, her film roles began to dwindle by the late 80s. In 1990, following her performance with Robert De Niro in Stanley & Iris, Fonda announced her retirement from acting. At this time, Fonda was married founding father of CNN, Ted Turner, and began working on the opposite side of the lens, producing documentaries on the history of Native Americans. In 2005, Fonda returned to the big screen to portray a maddening mother-in-law in the romantic comedy Monster In-Law, with Jennifer Lopez.

Fonda, who announced in 2001 that she had become a Christian, has lent her voice and high profile to the Civil Rights movement; various feminist causes, including the oppression of Afghan women under the Taliban and genital mutilation in Kenya; as well as to speaking out against the Iraq war.

YUDDY