Sarah Paulson

Sarah Catharine Paulson (born December 17, 1974) is an American actress known for her extensive performances in television, film, and theater. Over her career, she has received numerous accolades, including a Primetime Emmy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a Tony Award, and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 2017, Time magazine named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world.

Paulson was born in Tampa, Florida, to Catharine Gordon and Douglas Lyle Paulson II. Following her parents' divorce when she was five, she relocated with her mother and sister to Maine and later to New York City, living in Queens, Gramercy Park, and Park Slope. During her childhood, she spent summers in Florida with her father. Paulson attended P.S. 29 and the Berkeley Carroll School in Brooklyn before continuing her education at Manhattan's Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School and the American Academy of Dramatic Arts.

She began acting professionally immediately after high school, making her Broadway debut in 1994 as an understudy in Wendy Wasserstein's play The Sisters Rosensweig. Her early career included roles in television series such as American Gothic, Jack & Jill, Leap of Faith, and Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, the latter earning her a Golden Globe nomination. She made her feature film debut in Levitation (1997) and appeared in films including The Other Sister, What Women Want, Down with Love, and Serenity, while also starring in a 2005 Broadway revival of The Glass Menagerie.

Paulson gained wider fame through her long-standing collaborations with showrunner Ryan Murphy. Between 2011 and 2021, she starred in nine seasons of the FX anthology series American Horror Story, earning five Primetime Emmy Award nominations and making her directorial debut on the series. In 2016, she portrayed prosecutor Marcia Clark in FX's The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story, winning the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Movie, alongside Golden Globe, SAG, Critics' Choice, and TCA awards.

Her television work also includes Emmy-nominated roles in Game Change (2012) and Impeachment: American Crime Story (2021), as well as appearances in Mrs. America and Ratched. In film, Paulson has held leading roles in Blue Jay, Glass, Run, and Hold Your Breath, alongside supporting roles in Martha Marcy May Marlene, Mud, 12 Years a Slave, Carol, The Post, Ocean's 8, and Bird Box. On stage, she acted in Broadway productions of Collected Stories and Appropriate, winning the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for her performance in Appropriate.