Biography

Having enjoyed tremendous success as a stage and screen actress, Jane Fonda now focuses much of her time on activism and social change – with much of her work devoted to the program she founded in 1995, the Georgia Campaign for Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention (G-CAPP). Fonda chairs this statewide effort to reduce the high rates of adolescent pregnancy in Georgia through community, youth and family development, training of professionals who work with adolescents, and legislative advocacy.
Fonda has long been known for activism and advocacy on environmental issues, human rights, and the empowerment of women and girls.

Fonda is a member of the Women & Foreign Policy Advisory Committee of the Council on Foreign Relations; The board of Women’s Media Center, which she helped found in 2004 with Gloria Steinem, Robin Morgan, and Jessica Neuwirth; and she sits on the board of V-Day: Until The Violence Stops, a global effort to stop violence against women begun in 1998 by Eve Ensler, author of “The Vagina Monologues.”

At the Emory School of Medicine, Fonda established the Jane Fonda Center for Adolescent Reproductive Health which engages in research, curriculum development and training that broadens the understanding of adolescent development and reproductive health and enhances service delivery to children, youth and families. In addition, Fonda’s gift has endowed a faculty chair in the Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics in Emory University School of Medicine named the Marion Howard Chair in Adolescent Reproductive Health.

In 1994, Fonda was named Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Population Fund. In 2000, Fonda traveled to Nigeria and produced a film, in collaboration with the International Women’s Health Coalition, entitled “Generation 2000: Changing Girls’ Realities.”

Fonda was born in New York City in 1937, the daughter of Henry Fonda and Frances Seymour Fonda. She attended the Emma Willard School in Troy, New York, and Vassar College. In her late teens, Fonda studied with renowned acting coach Lee Strasberg and became a member of the Actors Studio in New York.

Her subsequent work on stage and screen earned numerous nominations and awards, including Oscars (Best Actress in 1971 for “Klute” and in 1978 for “Coming Home”) and an Emmy for her performance in The Dollmaker. Along with starring roles in dozens of highly acclaimed productions, Fonda also took on responsibilities as a film and television producer. Her credits include Coming Home, The China Syndrome, Nine to Five, Rollover, On Golden Pond, The Morning After and The Dollmaker.

Fonda revolutionized the fitness industry with the release of Jane Fonda’s Workout in 1982. She followed with the production of 23 home exercise videos, 13 audio recordings, and five books – selling 16 million copies all together. The original Jane Fonda’s Workout video remains the top grossing home video of all time.

In May 2005, Random House published Fonda’s memoirs, “My Life So Far,” which immediately went to #1 on The New York Times Best Sellers list. That same spring “Monster-in-Law,” her first film in 15 years, also became the #1 box office hit making Fonda the first person to simultaneously have a #1 book and #1 movie. Fonda’s most recent film, Georgia Rule, opened in spring 2007.

Fonda is an avid reader, hiker, fly fisherwoman and yoga enthusiast. She lives in Atlanta, along with her daughter Vanessa Vadim, and her two grandchildren. Her son, Troy Garity, lives in Los Angeles and is an actor.