Sarah Paulson

Sarah Catharine Paulson (born December 17, 1974) is an American actress.

She is the recipient of numerous accolades, including a Primetime Emmy Award and a Golden Globe Award.

Sarah Catharine Paulson was born in Tampa, Florida, on December 17, 1974, the daughter of Catharine Gordon (née Dolcater) and Douglas Lyle Paulson II.

She spent her early life in South Tampa until her parents' divorce when she was five.

After her parents' separation, she relocated with her mother and sister to Maine, then to New York City.

Her mother worked as a waitress, and Paulson lived in Queens and Gramercy Park before settling in Park Slope.

She recalled of this period, "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."

Throughout her childhood, Paulson spent her summers in Florida with her father, who was an executive at a Tampa door manufacturing company.

She attended P.S. 29 and Berkeley Carroll School in Brooklyn before attending Manhattan's Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School and the American Academy of Dramatic Arts.

Paulson began working as an actress right out of high school.

In 1994, she made her Broadway debut as a replacement understudy for the role of Tess (played by Amy Ryan) in Wendy Wasserstein's The Sisters Rosensweig.

She appeared in the Horton Foote play Talking Pictures at the Signature Theatre, and in an episode of Law & Order in 1994.

Paulson began her acting career starring in the television series American Gothic (1995–1996) and Jack & Jill (1999–2001).

The next year, Paulson appeared in the Hallmark television film Friends at Last (1995) opposite Kathleen Turner, playing the adult version of Turner's character's daughter.

She also starred in the short-lived television series American Gothic (also 1995), playing the ghost of a murdered woman.

In 1997, Paulson made her feature film debut in the independent thriller film Levitation, playing a woman who discovers she is pregnant after an anonymous sexual encounter.

Leonard Klady of Variety noted that Paulson and her co-stars are "not supported by the script", concluding: "Levitation is a grim, convoluted saga of identity and belonging. An ill-fitting combination of melodrama and magic realism, the indie effort will have a decidedly difficult time in the theatrical arena."

In 1997, Paulson was a featured actress (Janice/Nina) in the two-part episode "True Romance" of Cracker, which starred Robert Pastorelli.

She also appeared Off-Broadway in a fall 1998 production of Killer Joe.

Paulson's other television roles include Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999), in which she portrayed the manipulative Anne Gillette in the 2010 episode "Shadow", Game Change (2012), in which she played Nicolle Wallace, and Mrs. America (2020).

She subsequently played Elisa Cronkite in The WB comedy-drama series Jack & Jill (1999).

The same year, she was also cast opposite Juliette Lewis and Diane Keaton in the drama The Other Sister, playing the lesbian sister of a developmentally-disabled woman in San Francisco, and in a supporting part playing a hostage in the comedy Held Up, opposite Jamie Foxx.

The following year, she had a small supporting role in the comedy What Women Want, starring Mel Gibson and Helen Hunt.

She was then cast in the period comedy Down with Love (2003) in a central role, portraying the friend and editor of a writer (portrayed by Renee Zellweger).

In 2004, she had a supporting role in the ABC series The D.A., which was cancelled after only four episodes.

On Broadway, she appeared in a revival of Tennessee Williams' play The Glass Menagerie in 2005, and originated the role of Lisa Morrison in Donald Margulies's play Collected Stories in 2010.

Paulson gained fame for her collaborations with showrunner Ryan Murphy in several television series.

Paulson had a minor recurring role in the HBO series Deadwood (2005–2006), and was a focal character in an episode of the FX series Nip/Tuck.

She starred as the main character in the NBC series Leap of Faith.

In the spring of 2005, Paulson starred in a revival of The Glass Menagerie on Broadway, opposite future American Horror Story co-star Jessica Lange.

Ben Brantley of The New York Times deemed the production as "misdirected and miscast... reality never makes an appearance in this surreally blurred production."

Later that year, Paulson appeared Off-Broadway in a production of Colder Than Here, opposite Lily Rabe (also her future co-star on American Horror Story).

The production received an unfavorable review from Variety, with critic Dave Rooney writing: "Rabe speaks in an affected monotone while Sarah Paulson has the measured, upward-inflected delivery of a children's TV presenter... this mannered, melancholy play elicits a mainly impassive response, which is no small obstruction in a work dealing with loss."

She played Harriet Hayes in the comedy-drama series Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip (2006–2007), and supporting roles in such films as What Women Want (2000), Down with Love (2003), and The Spirit (2008).

She starred in nine seasons of his anthology series American Horror Story from 2011 to 2021, earning five Primetime Emmy Award nominations.

Her other film roles were in Martha Marcy May Marlene (2011), Mud (2012), 12 Years a Slave (2013), Carol (2015), The Post (2017), Blue Jay (2016), Ocean's 8 (2018), Bird Box (2018), Glass (2019), and Run (2020).

Paulson returned to Broadway in the play Appropriate (2023).

For her portrayal of Marcia Clark in the courtroom drama The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story (2016), she won the Golden Globe and Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress.

In 2017, Time magazine named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world.

She also portrayed Nurse Ratched in Ratched (2020) and Linda Tripp in Impeachment: American Crime Story (2021).