Sally Margaret Field is an American actress. She has received many awards and nominations, including two Academy Awards, three Primetime Emmy Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, a Screen Actors Guild Award, …
Sally Field is an American actress and director who has been active in the film and television industry since the 1960s. She is best known for her roles in movies such as Norma Rae, Places in the Heart, Steel Magnolias, Forrest Gump, and Lincoln. She has won two Academy Awards, three Emmy Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, and a Screen Actors Guild Award. She has also been nominated for a Tony Award and a Grammy Award. She is regarded as one of the most versatile and respected actresses of her generation.
Sally Field was born on November 6, 1946, in Pasadena, California, to Margaret Field, an actress, and Richard Dryden Field, an army officer. She grew up in a show business family and began acting in school plays at an early age. She made her television debut in 1965 as the titular character in the sitcom Gidget, which was based on a novel by Frederick Kohner. The show was canceled after one season, but Field went on to star in another sitcom, The Flying Nun, from 1967 to 1970. She also appeared in several movies during this period, such as The Way West, Smokey and the Bandit, and Stay Hungry.
In the late 1970s, Field transitioned from playing comedic roles to more dramatic ones. She won her first Academy Award for Best Actress for her portrayal of Norma Rae Webster, a textile worker who leads a unionization effort, in the 1979 film Norma Rae. She won her second Oscar for playing Edna Spalding, a widowed farmer who struggles to survive during the Great Depression, in the 1984 film Places in the Heart. She also received critical acclaim for her performances in Absence of Malice, Kiss Me Goodbye, Murphy’s Romance, Steel Magnolias, and Not Without My Daughter.
In the 1990s and 2000s, Field continued to work in both film and television. She played Tom Hanks’ mother in the blockbuster Forrest Gump, which won six Academy Awards including Best Picture. She also starred in Mrs. Doubtfire, Eye for an Eye, Soapdish, and The Amazing Spider-Man. On television, she won an Emmy Award for her guest role as Abby Lockhart’s mother on ER. She also won two Emmys and a Golden Globe for her role as Nora Walker, the matriarch of a dysfunctional family, on the drama series Brothers & Sisters.
In recent years, Field has focused more on stage and directing work. She made her Broadway debut in 2002 as Amanda Wingfield in The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams. She reprised the role in 2017 at the Old Vic Theatre in London and received a Tony Award nomination. She also directed two films: Beautiful (2000), a comedy-drama about a beauty pageant contestant, and The Christmas Tree (1996), a television movie starring Julie Harris.
Sally Field is also an activist and philanthropist who supports various causes such as women’s rights, LGBTQ+ rights, environmentalism, and mental health awareness. She has been married twice and has three children: Peter Craig, a novelist; Eli Craig, an actor and director; and Samuel Greisman, a writer and producer. She also has five grandchildren.