Sarah Paulson

Acting

Sarah Paulson

Born 1974-12-17 · Tampa, Florida, USA

Sarah Catharine Paulson (born December 17, 1974) is an American actress. She began her acting career in New York City stage productions before starring in the short-lived television series American Gothic (1995–1996) and Jack & Jill (1999–2001). She later appeared in comedy films such as What Women Want (2000) and Down with Love (2003), and drama films such as Path to War (2002) and The Notorious Bettie Page (2005). From 2006 to 2007, she starred as Harriet Hayes in the NBC comedy-drama series Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, for which she received her first Golden Globe Award nomination. In 2008, she starred as Ellen Dolan in the superhero noir film The Spirit. Paulson has appeared on Broadway in the plays The Glass Menagerie in 2005 and Collected Stories in 2010. She also starred in a number of independent films and had a leading role in the ABC comedy series Cupid (2009). She later starred in the independent drama film Martha Marcy May Marlene (2011) and received Primetime Emmy Award and Golden Globe Award nominations for her portrayal of Nicolle Wallace in the HBO film Game Change (2012). She was featured as Mary Epps in the 2013 historical drama film 12 Years a Slave, as Abby Gerhard in the 2015 romantic drama film Carol, and as Toni Bradlee in the 2017 political drama film The Post, all of which were nominated for multiple Academy Awards. Her other films include Serenity (2005), New Year's Eve (2011), Mud (2012), Blue Jay (2016), Ocean's 8 (2018), Bird Box (2018), Glass (2019), and Run (2020). In 2011, Paulson began starring in the FX anthology series American Horror Story, playing different characters in many of the show's 10 seasons. For her performances in the series, she received five Primetime Emmy Award nominations and won two Critics' Choice Television Awards. In 2016, she portrayed real-life prosecutor Marcia Clark in the first season of the anthology series American Crime Story, subtitled The People v. O. J. Simpson, for which she garnered critical acclaim and numerous accolades, including the Primetime Emmy Award and the Golden Globe Award. In 2020, Paulson appeared in the FX limited series Mrs. America, and began starring as Nurse Mildred Ratched in the Netflix psychological thriller series Ratched. In 2021, she returned to American Crime Story to portray Linda Tripp in the third season of the show, subtitled Impeachment.

Acting credits

Glass poster
6.7

In a series of escalating encounters, former security guard David Dunn uses his supernatural abilities to track Kevin Wendell Crumb, a disturbed man who has twenty-four personalities. Meanwhile, the shadowy presence of Elijah Price emerges as an orchestrator who holds secrets critical to both men.

Glass

2019

12 Years a Slave poster
7.9

In the pre-Civil War United States, Solomon Northup, a free black man from upstate New York, is abducted and sold into slavery. Facing cruelty as well as unexpected kindnesses Solomon struggles not only to stay alive, but to retain his dignity. In the twelfth year of his unforgettable odyssey, Solomon’s chance meeting with a Canadian abolitionist will forever alter his life.

12 Years a Slave

2013

Ocean's Eight poster
6.9

Debbie Ocean, a criminal mastermind, gathers a crew of female thieves to pull off the heist of the century at New York's annual Met Gala.

Ocean's Eight

2018

Bird Box poster
6.8

Five years after an ominous unseen presence drives most of society to suicide, a survivor and her two children make a desperate bid to reach safety.

Bird Box

2018

The Post poster
7.0

A cover-up that spanned four U.S. Presidents pushed the country's first female newspaper publisher and a hard-driving editor to join an unprecedented battle between journalist and government. Inspired by true events.

The Post

2017

What Women Want poster
6.5

Advertising executive Nick Marshall is as cocky as they come, but what happens to a chauvinistic guy when he can suddenly hear what women are thinking? Nick gets passed over for a promotion, but after an accident enables him to hear women's thoughts, he puts his newfound talent to work against Darcy, his new boss, who seems to be infatuated with him.

What Women Want

2000

Serenity poster
7.4

A group of rebels travel the outskirts of space evading the sinister Alliance regime. Their lives of smuggling and cargo-running are interrupted by a psychic passenger who harbours a dangerous secret. Soon, the crew find themselves being pursued by an Alliance agent who will stop at nothing to find them.

Serenity

2005

Mud poster
7.1

Two teenage boys find a fugitive hiding out on an island in the Mississippi River and help him reunite with his lover and escape an avenging family and their armed posse.

Mud

2013

Carol poster
7.5

In 1950s New York, a department-store clerk who dreams of a better life falls for an older, married woman.

Carol

2015

Down with Love poster
6.1

In 1962 New York City, love blossoms between a playboy journalist and a feminist advice author.

Down with Love

2003

The Goldfinch poster
7.1

A boy in New York is taken in by a wealthy family after his mother is killed in a bombing at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. In a rush of panic, he steals 'The Goldfinch', a painting that eventually draws him into a world of crime.

The Goldfinch

2019

Abominable poster
7.5

A group of misfits encounter a young Yeti named Everest, and they set off to reunite the magical creature with his family on the mountain of his namesake.

Abominable

2019

Game Change poster
6.9

During the Republican run of the 2008 Presidential election, candidate John McCain picks a relative unknown, Alaskan governor Sarah Palin, to be his running mate. As the campaign kicks into high gear, her lack of experience, in both political and media savvy, becomes a drain upon McCain and his strategists.

Game Change

2012

Run poster
7.2

Chloe, a teenager who is confined to a wheelchair, is homeschooled by her mother, Diane. Chloe soon becomes suspicious of her mother and begins to suspect that she may be harboring a dark secret.

Run

2020

Martha Marcy May Marlene poster
6.6

After several years of living with a cult, Martha finally escapes and calls her estranged sister, Lucy, for help. Martha finds herself at the quiet Connecticut home Lucy shares with her new husband, Ted, but the memories of what she experienced in the cult make peace hard to find. As flashbacks continue to torment her, Martha fails to shake a terrible sense of dread, especially in regard to the cult's manipulative leader.

Martha Marcy May Marlene

2011

No artwork available
NR

A celebrated actress's life begins to unravel on the eve of her greatest performance. When her sister April arrives in New York after a 30-year estrangement, the stage is set for a tense family confrontation.

Closing Night

2026

New Year's Eve poster
5.9

The lives of several couples and singles in New York intertwine over the course of New Year's Eve.

New Year's Eve

2011

The Spirit poster
4.8

Rookie cop Denny Colt returns from the beyond as The Spirit, a hero whose mission is to fight against the bad forces from the shadows of Central City. The Octopus, who kills anyone unfortunate enough to see his face, has other plans:g to wipe out the entire city.

The Spirit

2008

Hold Your Breath poster
5.9

In 1930s Oklahoma amid the region's horrific dust storms, a woman is convinced that a sinister presence is threatening her family.

Hold Your Breath

2024

Path to War poster
6.7

A powerful drama of soaring ambition and shattered dreams that takes a provocative insider's look at the way the USA goes to war—as seen from inside the LBJ White House leading up to and during the Vietnam War.

Path to War

2003

Bug poster
7.1

A small boy squashing an insect sets in motion a series of events, large and small, that include a lost restaurant reservation, a drunken fender-bender, disruption of basic cable television service, and more than one relationship falling apart. One person's disaster becomes another's boon, and vice versa--because a man loses his job, a young girl becomes the lead ballerina in the school play, which in turn causes the death of a pet pig. These characters weave around Los Angeles and each other as seemingly mundane events fall into place, putting them on a collision course with a common fate and one heroic act of competence.

Bug

2002

The Runner poster
4.9

In the aftermath of the BP oil spill, an idealistic but imperfect New Orleans politician (Nicolas Cage) finds his plans of restoration unraveling as his own life becomes contaminated with corruption, scandal and deceit.

The Runner

2015

The Notorious Bettie Page poster
6.3

Bettie Page grew up in a conservative religious family in Tennessee and became a photo model sensation in 1950s New York. Bettie's legendary pin-up photos made her the target of a Senate investigation into pornography, and transformed her into an erotic icon who continues to enthrall fans to this day.

The Notorious Bettie Page

2006

The Other Sister poster
6.4

A mentally challenged girl proves herself to be every bit as capable as her "perfect" sister when she moves into an apartment and begins going to college.

The Other Sister

1999