She's Making Media: Geena Davis

Academy Award–winning actor Geena Davis has limned strong female characters in films like Thelma & Louise and A League of Their Own and broke ground with her portrayal of the country’s first woman president on television’s Commander in Chief, but her advocacy for women and girls doesn’t end on screen. Six years ago, while watching children's television shows and videos with her young daughter, Davis was struck by the paucity of female characters, inspiring her to create the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, which focuses on boosting the presence of female characters in movies, TV, and other media aimed at young children, battling stereotypes, and functioning as a research resource on gender issues for the entertainment industry as a whole. Paley Center’s President and CEO, Pat Mitchell, talks with Davis about her work on and off screen.