Goldie Hawn

Goldie Jeanne Hawn is an American actress who achieved fame for her lighthearted comedic roles in film and television across a career spanning six decades. She has received numerous accolades, including an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award, along with nominations for a BAFTA Award and two Primetime Emmy Awards.

Hawn was born on November 21, 1945, in Washington, D.C., to Laura, a shop and dance school owner, and Edward Rutledge Hawn, a musician and conductor. Raised Jewish in Takoma Park, Maryland, she attended Montgomery Blair High School. She began ballet and tap dance lessons at age three, performed in The Nutcracker in 1955, and made her stage debut playing Juliet in Romeo and Juliet in 1964. After dropping out of American University, where she majored in drama, she ran a ballet school and worked professionally as a dancer.

In 1966, Hawn moved to California to dance in stage productions of Pal Joey and How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. She launched her acting career during the 1967–1968 television season on the sitcom Good Morning World. Her major breakthrough arrived as a regular cast member on the sketch comedy program Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In (1968–1970). She made her feature film debut in the 1968 western comedy The One and Only, Genuine, Original Family Band. Hawn gained critical acclaim for her role in Cactus Flower (1969), winning both the Academy Award and Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress.

Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Hawn established herself as a major comedy star. Her early film credits include There's a Girl in My Soup (1970), Butterflies Are Free (1972), The Sugarland Express (1974), Shampoo (1975), Foul Play (1978), and Seems Like Old Times (1980). In 1972, she released a solo country LP titled Goldie. Hawn co-produced and starred in Private Benjamin (1980), earning an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. She subsequently starred in, and executive produced, projects such as Protocol (1984) and Wildcats (1986), and co-starred in Swing Shift (1984) and Overboard (1987).

During the 1990s and early 2000s, Hawn's work included Bird on a Wire (1990), Deceived (1991), Death Becomes Her (1992), Housesitter (1992), The First Wives Club (1996), Everyone Says I Love You (1996), The Out-of-Towners (1999), and The Banger Sisters (2002). She also produced the film Something to Talk About (1995) and made her directorial debut with the television movie Hope (1997). Her autobiography, A Lotus Grows in the Mud, was published in 2005.

After a hiatus from screen acting, Hawn voiced a guest role on Phineas and Ferb in 2013, then returned to feature films co-starring in Snatched (2017). She subsequently portrayed Mrs. Claus in The Christmas Chronicles (2018) and its 2020 sequel. Beyond her entertainment career, she established the Hawn Foundation in 2003, a non-profit organization focused on youth education programs.