Jane Fonda is urging Hollywood to fight these fraught times with empathy.
“What we, actors, create is empathy. Our job is to understand another human being so profoundly that we can touch their souls,” said Fonda, who was honored on Sunday night with SAG’s life achievement award. “And make no mistake, empathy is not weak or woke. By the way, woke just means you give a damn about other people.”
A six-decade Hollywood veteran, Fonda’s career spans film, television and theater with credits ranging from “Klute,” “Coming Home,” “9 to 5,” “Monster-In-Law,” “Grace & Frankie,” “Book Club” and “80 for Brady.” From those acclaimed works and others, the 87-year-old Fonda has won two Oscars, an Emmy and seven Golden Globes — and so many nominations — as well as life achievement awards from organizations including AFI and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association’s Cecil B. DeMille Award.
“I’ve had a really weird career — totally unstrategic,” Fonda said. “I retired for 15 years and came back at 65, which is not usual. I made one of my most successful movies in my 80s and probably in my 90s, I’ll be doing my own stunts in an action movie.”
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Fonda, who referred to herself as a late bloomer, said she became an actor because she grew up in the ’40s and ’50s when “women weren’t supposed to have opinions and get angry.”
“Acting gave me a chance to play angry women with opinions, which, you know, is a bit of a stretch for me,” she cracked.
In addition to her endeavors on stage and screen, Fonda is well-known for her activism in civil rights, gender equality and the anti-war movement. She’s also been vocal in raising awareness around the global climate crisis. In October 2019, Fonda was arrested five times — and brought famous friends like Ted Danson, Catherine Keener and Rosanna Arquette along with her — for protesting outside the United States Capitol for reduction in the use of fossil fuels.
SAG-AFTRA bestows the life achievement award to “an actor who fosters the finest ideals of the acting profession.” Fonda is the 60th recipient, with past honorees including Barbra Streisand, Sally Field and Helen Mirren.
More to come…