Award-winning actress Sally Field was born on November 6, 1946 in Pasadena, California. Her career—which spans almost four decades, numerous awards and many memorable roles—started with the comedy series Gidget, which premiered in 1966. She played the title character, a boy-crazed teenager living the surfer’s life. Despite enjoying her work in the series, Gidget was cancelled due to low ratings, and she was given the lead role in another sitcom, The Flying Nun, in 1967. Because of her mostly comedic roles—she was also a regular in the fantasy sitcom The Girl with Something Extra—she struggled to get dramatic roles. After training with Lee Strasburg, she starred in the television movie Sybil, which aired in 1976. Her role as a shy graduate student suffering from dissociative identity disorder earned her critical acclaim, and led to her first Emmy award.
Field’s reputation as a dramatic actress was furthered by her portrayal of the title role in the 1979 film Norma Rae. Her role as a minimum-wage worker who sought the unionization of the cotton mill she works for has earned her numerous accolades, including Best Actress awards from the Golden Globes, the Oscars and that year’s Cannes Film Festival. She won more awards for her portrayal of a Southern widow trying to keep her farm together in the 1984 drama Places in the Heart; she earned an Oscar and a Golden Globe, both for Best Actress. Fully established as a reputable actress, she appeared in a variety of films—Steel Magnolias, Mrs. Doubtfire, Forrest Gump and Where the Heart Is, among others.
Field has continued to reap acclaim even in her more recent roles. Her portrayal of Maggie Lockhart, the mother of doctor Abby (Maura Tierney) who suffers from bipolar disorder, in ER earned her a second Emmy for Best Guest Drama Actress. She the joined the cast of the drama series Brothers & Sisters—a late addition, as her character, family matriarch Nora Walker, was played by Betty Buckley in the pilot. Her portrayal of the beleaguered family head getting to grips with her husband’s (Tom Skerritt) death and the many discoveries it triggered led to her third Emmy, for Best Drama Actress, in 2007.