Sarah Paulson

• 1. Introduction

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  Sarah Paulson once described her mother's first days in New York City in a few blunt lines. "My mom was 27 years old when we moved. She didn't know a single person in New York City. She got a job at Sardi's Restaurant." The girl who followed her mother into that city would become an American actress known for ghosts, witches, prosecutors and villains.

  How does a child of divorce, whose mother waited tables, end up playing real figures from recent American history? Why did so many of her early television shows end after only a handful of episodes? And how did a career built on supporting parts and understudy work reach the biggest prizes in American acting? The answers start with a childhood spread across Florida, Maine and several corners of New York.

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• 2. Tampa To Park Slope

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  Sarah Catharine Paulson was born in Tampa, Florida, on the 17th of December 1974. Her parents were Catharine Gordon, born Dolcater, and Douglas Lyle Paulson II. She lived in South Tampa until she was five, when her parents divorced.

  After the divorce, Paulson, her sister and her mother moved first to Maine and then to New York City. In New York the family lived in Queens and in Gramercy Park before finally settling in Park Slope.

  Every summer of her childhood, Paulson went back to Florida to stay with her father. Douglas Paulson was an executive at a Tampa company that made doors.

  Her schooling was scattered across the city. She attended P.S. 29 and the Berkeley Carroll School in Brooklyn, then Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School in Manhattan, and finally the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. Paid work followed immediately after high school, and it began with an understudy's job.

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• 3. Early Credits And Cancellations

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  In 1994, Paulson made her Broadway debut as a replacement understudy in The Sisters Rosensweig, a Wendy Wasserstein play at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre. She covered the role of Tessin, which Amy Ryan played. That year she also appeared in the Horton Foote play Talking Pictures at the Signature Theatre, and in an episode of Law & Order.

  The Hallmark television film Friends at Last arrived in 1995 with Kathleen Turner in the lead. Paulson played the grown-up version of Turner's character's daughter. The same year she starred in the short-lived series American Gothic, as the ghost of a murdered woman.

  Her feature film debut came in 1997 in the independent thriller Levitation. She played a woman who learns she is pregnant after an anonymous sexual encounter. Leonard Klady of Variety wrote that the cast was "not supported by the script" and called the film "a grim, convoluted saga of identity and belonging." That same year she also played Janice and Nina in the two-part Cracker episode "True Romance", starring Robert Pastorelli. In 1998 she returned to the stage in the Off-Broadway production of Killer Joe.

  The year 1999 brought the WB series Jack & Jill, where she played Elisa Cronkite. It also brought The Other Sister, opposite Juliette Lewis and Diane Keaton. There she played the lesbian sister of a developmentally-disabled woman in San Francisco. She was also a hostage in the comedy Held Up, opposite Jamie Foxx, and in 2000 she took a small part in the Nancy Meyers romantic comedy What Women Want.

  In 2002 she played Luci Baines Johnson in the HBO film Path to War, starring Michael Gambon, Donald Sutherland and Alec Baldwin. That year NBC also gave her Leap of Faith, in which she led as Faith Wardwell, an advertising executive. Phil Gallo compared the show unfavorably to Sex and the City. In 2003 she played the friend and editor of Renee Zellweger's writer character in the romantic comedy Down with Love.

  The ABC series The D.A. in 2004 was cancelled after only four episodes. That same year she was a focal character in an episode of the FX series Nip/Tuck. In 2005 she took a minor recurring role in the HBO series Deadwood.

  The 2006-07 television season gave her Harriet Hayes, one of the stars of the show-within-a-show in Aaron Sorkin's NBC comedy-drama Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. The role earned her a Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actress in a series, miniseries or television film. In December 2008 she appeared in the screen adaptation of Will Eisner's comic book The Spirit, as an updated version of Ellen Dolan.

  In 2008, ABC cast her in the pilot Cupid, a remake of a 1998 series that starred Jeremy Piven and Paula Marshall. Paulson starred opposite Bobby Cannavale. It debuted in late March 2009 and was cancelled on the 19th of May 2009 after six episodes. In February 2010, she appeared in a flashback in a season-six episode of Grey's Anatomy, as the circa 1982 mother of Meredith Grey.

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• 4. The Ryan Murphy Seasons

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  Billie Dean Howard, a medium, was Paulson's way into American Horror Story in 2011. She guest-starred in just three episodes of the FX anthology that year. Ryan Murphy was the showrunner behind it, and their partnership would stretch across nine seasons between 2011 and 2021. Those seasons earned her five Primetime Emmy nominations.

  The following year the series returned as Asylum, and Paulson played a new character, Lana Winters. Lana was a writer committed to an asylum for being a lesbian. The performance brought a nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or Movie at the 65th Primetime Emmy Awards.

  Coven, in 2013, cast her as Cordelia Foxx, a witch who runs an academy for young witches. In 2014, Freak Show gave her two roles at once. She played the conjoined twin sisters Bette and Dot Tattler, members of a circus freak show.

  Hypodermic Sally was her part in the fifth season, Hotel. Sally was the ghost of a drug addict trapped in a Hollywood hotel. Her work in Freak Show and Hotel brought Emmy nominations in 2014 and 2016, in the supporting actress category for limited or anthology series. Billie Dean Howard also returned in a crossover appearance in the last episode of that season.

  Roanoke, in the fall of 2016, split her between two characters. Audrey Tindall was a British actress, and Shelby Miller was a tortured wife and yoga instructor. In My Roanoke Nightmare, a documentary within the series, Tindall's character portrays Shelby. Lana Winters made a crossover appearance in the final episode.

  Cult, in 2017, gave her Ally Mayfair-Richards, a restaurant owner, and also Susan Atkins in the tenth episode. The eighth season, Apocalypse, premiered on the 12th of September 2018. She brought back both of her earlier roles, Billie Dean Howard from Murder House and Cordelia Foxx from Coven. She also played the villainous Miss Wilhemina Venable. In addition, she directed one episode of the season, which marked her directorial debut.

  Paulson was absent from the ninth season. She returned for the tenth in 2021 as Tuberculosis Karen and as a fictional version of former First Lady Mamie Eisenhower.

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• 5. Playing Real People

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  Nicolle Wallace was the role Paulson played in the 2012 HBO film Game Change. The film drew on events of the 2008 U.S. presidential election campaign. Her performance earned Primetime Emmy and Golden Globe nominations.

  Starting in February 2016, Paulson played prosecutor Marcia Clark in The People v. O.J. Simpson, the first season of the true crime anthology American Crime Story. Maureen Ryan of Variety praised "the simmering, quietly controlled anger that Sarah Paulson brought to the role." Critics were widely admiring. The role won her the Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Movie. It also brought the Screen Actors Guild Award, the Golden Globe, the Critics' Choice Television Award and the TCA Award.

  In 2017 she appeared in one episode of the first season of Feud, as Geraldine Page. That series chronicles the turbulent working relationship between the actresses Bette Davis and Joan Crawford.

  Mrs. America, in 2020, cast her as Alice Macray in a story about the unsuccessful political movement to pass the Equal Rights Amendment. Her co-stars included Cate Blanchett, Rose Byrne, Uzo Aduba, Melanie Lynskey and Margo Martindale.

  In 2021 she played Linda Tripp in the third season of American Crime Story, subtitled Impeachment. That performance brought another Primetime Emmy nomination.

  In February 2022, it was announced that she would portray the author Glennon Doyle in a television series based on Doyle's memoir, Untamed.

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• 6. Film And Streaming Roles

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  Martha Marcy May Marlene, filmed in 2010, put Paulson opposite Elizabeth Olsen and Hugh Dancy. She played the wealthy sister of a woman who has escaped a cult. The film reached audiences in the fall of 2011.

  In 2012 she took the supporting role of Mary Lee in Mud, a Jeff Nichols drama starring Matthew McConaughey. In 2013 she played Mary Epps, an abusive slave-owner, in Steve McQueen's historical drama 12 Years a Slave. She was nominated with the ensemble for the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture.

  Abby Gerhard, the close friend of Cate Blanchett's character, was her part in the 2015 period piece Carol, directed by Todd Haynes. Ocean's 8, in 2018, placed her beside Cate Blanchett, Sandra Bullock, Anne Hathaway, Mindy Kaling, Awkwafina and Rihanna. The heist film grossed nearly $300 million worldwide. In December 2018, Netflix released Bird Box, in which she played Jessica, the sister of Sandra Bullock's character.

  In 2019 she appeared as Dr. Ellie Staple in the superhero thriller Glass. She was Xandra in the drama The Goldfinch and Dr. Zara in the animated adventure Abominable.

  Paulson led the Netflix romantic drama Blue Jay in 2016, opposite Mark Duplass. It premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. Jon Frosch of The Hollywood Reporter wrote that she "gives Amanda an inner life far beyond what's written for her."

  In September 2017, it was announced that Paulson would play a younger Mildred Ratched in Netflix's Ratched. The series is a prequel to the novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and its acclaimed 1975 film adaptation. It was released on the 18th of September 2020 and earned her a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress in a television drama. In September 2020 she also played Clarissa Montgomery in the HBO satirical comedy film Coastal Elites.

  In November 2020, the psychological thriller Run paired her with Kiera Allen. It became the most watched original film on the streaming platform Hulu. In 2023 she guest-starred on the Hulu series The Bear as Michelle Berzatto, in the episode "Fishes". Hold Your Breath, in 2024, is another of her leading film roles.

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• 7. Honors And Private Life

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  In 2017, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences invited Paulson to join its membership. That same year Time named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world. In 2018, the fashion website Net-a-Porter ranked her among the best dressed women. A star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame also carries her name.

  Her record of nominations stands at seven Primetime Emmy Awards, five Golden Globe Awards and two Actor Awards. In June 2016, the Human Rights Campaign released a video tribute to the victims of the Orlando nightclub shooting. Paulson and others in the video told the stories of the people killed there.

  Carla Gallo, also an actress, has been her friend since childhood. Paulson lives in Los Angeles and supports the Democratic Party. At 25 she was diagnosed with melanoma on her back. The growth was removed before the cancer could spread.

  Asked about her sexuality, Paulson called it "a fluid situation". She has said that living by the expectations of a community on either side would leave her feeling "really straitjacketed". From 2004 to 2009 she dated the actress Cherry Jones. Before that relationship she had dated only men, including her former fiance, the playwright Tracy Letts.

  In March 2016, Paulson confirmed in an interview that she had been dating the actress Holland Taylor since early 2015. The two had met at a dinner party approximately in 2006.

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• 8. Appropriate And The Stage

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  In the spring of 2005, Paulson starred in a Broadway revival of Tennessee Williams's The Glass Menagerie, opposite Jessica Lange. Ben Brantley of The New York Times called the production "misdirected and miscast". Later that year, in the Off-Broadway play Colder Than Here, she appeared with Lily Rabe, her future American Horror Story co-star. Dave Rooney of Variety said she had "the measured, upward-inflected delivery of a children's TV presenter".

  In 2008 she acted in the Off-Broadway production of Crimes of the Heart. In the spring of 2010 she starred opposite Linda Lavin in the Donald Margulies play Collected Stories, at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre on Broadway. In March 2013, she appeared Off-Broadway in Lanford Wilson's Talley's Folly, opposite Danny Burstein.

  Broadway called her back in 2023 for Appropriate, a play by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins. Her castmates included Corey Stoll, Natalie Gold, Elle Fanning and Michael Esper. She played Toni, the eldest sibling, who tries to reconnect with her brother and sisters after their father's death. At his home in rural Arkansas, they all discover his shocking past.

  Adrian Horton of The Guardian declared Paulson "the top reason among many to see this play". She added that part of the delight lay in relishing "some truly scathing burns". For the role, Paulson won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play.

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