Sally Field

American actress

Written and fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Last Updated: Nov 2, 2024 • Article History

Quick Facts

Born:: November 6, 1946, Pasadena, California, U.S. (age 78)

Also Known As:: Sally Margaret Field

Awards And Honors:: Academy Award (1985); Academy Award (1980); Emmy Award (1977); Academy Award (1985): Actress in a Leading Role; Academy Award (1980): Actress in a Leading Role; Emmy Award (2007): Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series; Emmy Award (2001): Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series; Emmy Award (1977): Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama or Comedy Special; Golden Globe Award (1985): Best Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama; Golden Globe Award (1980): Best Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama

Married To:: Alan Greisman (1984–1994); Steven Craig (1968–1975)

Movies/Tv Shows (Acted In):: "Dispatches from Elsewhere" (2020); "National Theatre Live: All My Sons" (2019); "Maniac" (2018); "Little Evil" (2017); "Hello, My Name Is Doris" (2015); "The Amazing Spider-Man 2" (2014); "Lincoln" (2012); "The Amazing Spider-Man" (2012); "Brothers & Sisters" (2006–2011); "Two Weeks" (2006); "ER" (2000–2006); "Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde" (2003); "The Court" (2002); "Say It Isn't So" (2001); "Where the Heart Is" (2000); "From the Earth to the Moon" (1998); "Murphy Brown" (1998); "King of the Hill" (1997); "Homeward Bound II: Lost in San Francisco" (1996); "Eye for an Eye" (1996); "A Woman of Independent Means" (1995); "Forrest Gump" (1994); "Mrs. Doubtfire" (1993); "Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey" (1993); "Soapdish" (1991); "Not Without My Daughter" (1991); "Steel Magnolias" (1989); "Punchline" (1988); "Surrender" (1987); "Murphy's Romance" (1985); "Places in the Heart" (1984); "Kiss Me Goodbye" (1982); "Absence of Malice" (1981); "Back Roads" (1981); "Smokey and the Bandit II" (1980); "Beyond the Poseidon Adventure" (1979); "Norma Rae" (1979); "Hooper" (1978); "The End" (1978); "Heroes" (1977); "Smokey and the Bandit" (1977); "Sybil" (1976); "Stay Hungry" (1976); "The Girl with Something Extra" (1973–1974); "Night Gallery" (1973); "Alias Smith and Jones" (1971–1972); "Marcus Welby, M.D." (1971); "Bracken's World" (1970); "The Flying Nun" (1967–1970); "The Way West" (1967); "Hey, Landlord" (1967); "Occasional Wife" (1966); "Gidget" (1965–1966)

Sally Field (born November 6, 1946, Pasadena, California, U.S.) is an American actress known for playing firebrands and steely matriarchs.

Field played lighthearted television roles in Gidget (1965–66) and The Flying Nun (1967–70) before developing her talent at the Actors Studio (1973–75), from which she emerged as a dramatic actress. After she starred in the television movie Sybil (1977, Emmy Award), Hollywood finally rewarded her with strong roles. In Norma Rae (1979) she portrayed a union organizer, and for her performance Field won an Academy Award. In 1981 she was cast as a journalist who wrongly implicates a businessman (Paul Newman) for murder in Absence of Malice. Field received her second Oscar for the Depression-era drama Places in the Heart (1984), in which she played a mother struggling to keep her farming family intact. During her acceptance speech, Field exclaimed, “You like me, you really like me,” a phrase that quickly entered the canon of familiar pop-culture quotations. She played another strong-willed matriarch in Steel Magnolias (1989).

*Eye for an Eye*Kiefer Sutherland and Sally Field in *Eye for an Eye* (1996), directed by John Schlesinger.

Field’s later films included the comedies Soapdish (1991), Mrs. Doubtfire (1993), Forrest Gump (1994), and Two Weeks (2006). In Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln (2012), she portrayed Mary Todd Lincoln. She subsequently was cast in The Amazing Spider-Man (2012), The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014), and Hello, My Name Is Doris (2015). In the sports comedy 80 for Brady (2023), she costarred with Jane Fonda, Rita Moreno, and Lily Tomlin.

Publicity still with Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman from the motion picture film "Casablanca" (1942); directed by Michael Curtiz. (cinema, movies)

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Field also continued to appear on television. She had a recurring role on ER from 2000 to 2006, and she starred in the drama series Brothers & Sisters (2006–11); she earned Emmy Awards (2001 and 2007) for her work on both shows. Field later appeared in the Netflix series Maniac (2018), portraying the mother of a mad scientist. In 2020 she starred in Dispatches from Elsewhere, a series inspired by an alternate-reality game. She also appeared in the HBO series Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty (2022– ), about the famed NBA team.

During this time, Field also appeared on the stage. In 2002 she made her Broadway debut in the first staging of Edward Albee’s The Goat; or, Who Is Sylvia?. She returned to the stage in 2017 for a revival of Tennessee Williams’s The Glass Menagerie, and her performance as the domineering matriarch Amanda Wingfield earned Field a Tony Award nomination. Her memoir, In Pieces (2018), revealed a traumatic childhood in which she was sexually abused by her stepfather.

The Editors of Encyclopaedia BritannicaThis article was most recently revised and updated by Encyclopaedia Britannica.