Jane Fonda comes from a family of actors, but she quickly made a name for herself and became an icon in her own right.
Born in 1937 to Frances Ford Seymour and movie legend Henry Fonda, Jane became interested in acting as a teen after starring alongside her dad in a charity performance in Nebraska. After dropping out of Vassar College, she moved to Paris to study art, then returned to the U.S. and began studying acting in earnest with method pioneer Lee Strasberg.
Jane made her film debut in 1960’s Tall Story and earned her first Oscar nomination in 1970 for her work in They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? before winning two years later for her turn as call girl Bree Daniels in Klute.
After vocally opposing the Vietnam War, she traveled to Hanoi in 1972 to witness the damage herself. During her visit, she was photographed sitting on top of an anti-aircraft gun, leading to speculation that she condoned Vietnamese soldiers shooting down American planes. Critics, meanwhile, began calling her “Hanoi Jane.” The Emmy winner later said she would “regret” the picture until her “dying day,” but she has remained a vocal antiwar activist, speaking out against the Iraq War in 2005.
In her later years, Jane became known for her activism as much as her screen work. The Tony Award nominee moved to Washington, D.C. in 2019 so she could more easily stage protests about the climate crisis in front of the U.S. Capitol. She was arrested multiple times, with one image of her raising her hands in triumph while sticking her tongue out going viral.
Keep scrolling for a look back at Jane’s life in pictures:
