Sarah Catherine Paulson couldn’t resist the stage.
Her mother, an aspiring writer, moved her and her sister into a tiny Queens, NY,
apartment when she was 5 years old, leaving their father behind in Tampa, Florida.
She spent the next few years bouncing between the homes of her
mother, father, and grandparents,
In high school, a teacher in her school’s theater department recommended that
Sarah take advantage of her burgeoning acting talents and
audition for the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts,
which is just a long-winded way of referring to the ‘Fame’ school from the 1980 classic.
Sarah got in, and although students were discouraged from taking on
acting work while enrolled, she got an agent in her sophomore year.
After graduation, she picked up the singular non-acting job of her life—
waitressing at Circle Pizza—
Apparently, she called her mother from the restaurant four times to
to confirm her terrible spelling of the word “parmesan” and realized that
maybe that wasn’t the best fit.
Shortly after, she got a gig as an understudy for Amy Ryan in
Broadway’s ‘The Sisters Rosensweig.’ The first time she had to take Amy’s
place on stage, Sarah has said she felt the temperature change when the curtain went up.
It’s a feeling that stuck with her.
In 1994, Sarah made her TV debut in the 5th season of ‘Law and Order’
as a 17-year-old supposedly having an affair with her stepfather.
You said that you would never hurt me.
You stupid little–
Steve, shut up.
Having now dipped her toe in the world of television, Sarah became determined to
While still feeding her theatrical upbringing with roles on and off Broadway,
Sarah could be found on screen throughout the late ‘90s/ early 2000s in shows such as
CBS’ ‘American Gothic,’ The WB’s ‘Jack and Jill,’ and a short-lived stint on HBO’s ‘Deadwood.’
It was around this time that she began dating actress Cherry Jones, whom she acknowledges
The two were together for 7 years before making an 'amicable' split.
However, 2004 was a big year for Sarah in more ways than one.
While filming an appearance on FX’s ‘Nip/Tuck,’
she met screenwriter, director, and producer Ryan Murphy and embarked on
According to Sarah and Ryan’s collective memory, it was upon Jessica Lange’s suggestion
that Ryan ‘found something for Paulson’ in the American Horror Story universe.
He remembered being amazed by her ability to disappear into a character,
noting her talent for dead-on impersonations.
Oh, listen Jimmy, believe me, I know all about Slip N' Slides. I've walked that long,
lonely crocodile mile and it always ends the same way.
You run, you slide, you hit the bump and you take a dive.
And didn’t need much persuading. He wrote her into season 1 for three
episodes as a medium, and she’s been a staple in the frighteningly addicting
anthology series ever since, making her one of only two actors to have
been involved in every season.
A child born of human and spirit will usher in the end of times.
The Holy Ghost merely whispered in the Virgin Mary's ear and she begat the son of God.
If the Devil is going to use a human womb for his spawn,
He's going to want a little more bang for his buck.
In 'AHS: Freak Show,' Sarah played conjoined twins Bette and Dot Tattler
who may or may not have killed their mother.
so that she could act from the perspective of both twins.
In 2014, Sarah fell in love with actress Holland Taylor, who is 31 years her senior.
Although she refuses to define her sexuality with any hard labels,
their relationship has been met with widespread support.
Sarah has also held roles in the 2014 Oscar pick for Best Picture ‘12 Years a Slave’
and the Cate Blanchett led ‘Carol,’ which received 6 Oscar nominations in 2016.
But her deeply affecting portrayal of Marcia Clark, the lead prosecutor in the O.J. Simpson murder trial,
People make the case, defense responds.
You don't get to override that because you have witness problems.
Her transformation into Marcia was so complete that she found out what perfume
the prosecutor wore during the 1995 trial— Lancôme’s Magie Noire—and wore it during
even though she couldn’t stand the scent.
She received an Emmy, a Golden Globe, and a Screen Actors Guild Award for her performance.
‘Ocean’s 8,’ which reunited Sarah with Cate Blanchett and also starred Sandra Bullock,
Rihanna, Mindy Kaling, Anne Hathaway, Helena Bonham Carter, and Awkwafina,
That makes this female-led film the highest earning of the heist franchise
initiated with Steven Soderbergh’s ‘Ocean’s Eleven’ in 2001.
Upcoming, Sarah will portray Dr. Anna Pou in the third season of Ryan Murphy’s
‘American Crime Story,’ which will reportedly explore a case that emerged from New Orleans’
Memorial Medical Center during the devastation that followed Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
She’ll portray another medical professional in Netflix’s ‘Ratched,’ an origin series about Nurse Ratched
from Ken Kesey's 1962 novel ‘One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,’
also led by her favorite collaborator.
Sarah Paulson has been relentlessly booking gig after gig for the past two decades,
and her recent successes only further demonstrate her boundless acting range
and overwhelming dedication to her craft. Her involvement has become a marker of
TV success, and