• Faith: Christian
• Career: Actress
• Birthday:  December 21, 1937

Jane Fonda is an activist and actress. As a film icon, she’s received various accolades, including two Academy Awards, seven Golden Globes, and the AFI Lifetime Achievement Award. Fonda made her acting debut in the 1960 Broadway play There Was a Little Girl, which earned her a Tony nomination for Best Featured Actress in a Play. Later that same year, she made her screen debut with the romantic comedy “Tall Story.”

Fonda rose to prominence during the 1960s with the comedies “Period of Adjustment,” “Sunday in New York,” “Cat Ballou,” and “Barefoot in the Park.” Then, she established herself as one of the most acclaimed actresses of her generation, winning the Academy Award for Best Actress in the 1970s for “Klute” and “Coming Home.” Her other nominations are for “Julia,” “China Syndrome,” and “The Morning After.” Consecutive hits “Fun with Dick and Jane” and “California Suite” sustained Fonda’s box-office drawing power.

In 1982, Fonda released her first exercise video, “Jane Fonda’s Workout,” which became the highest-selling videotape of its time. It was the first of 22 such videos over the next 13 years, which collectively sold over 17 million copies. After starring in “Stanley & Iris,” Fonda took a hiatus from acting and returned with the comedy “Monster-in-Law” in 2005. She also returned to Broadway in the play 33 Variations, earning a Tony nomination for Best Actress in a Play. She’s since starred in independent films like “Youth” and on Netflix’s comedy series “Grace and Frankie,” which earned her a Primetime Emmy nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series.

Fonda was a political activist in the counterculture era during the Vietnam War. She was photographed sitting on a North Vietnamese anti-aircraft gun on a 1972 visit to Hanoi, during which she gained the nickname “Hanoi Jane.” During this time, she was essentially blacklisted in Hollywood. Fonda also protested the Iraq War and violence against women, describing herself as an environmental activist and feminist. In 2005, with Gloria Steinem and Robin Morgan, she co-founded the Women’s Media Center, an organization that works to amplify the voices of women in the media through advocacy, media and leadership training, and the creation of original content. She serves on the board of the organization.

What religion is Jane Fonda?

Jane Fonda was born in 1937. Her parents were Canadian-born socialite Frances Ford Seymour and actor Henry Fonda. She grew up an atheist but turned to Christianity in the early 2000s. She describes her beliefs as being “outside of established religion” with a more feminist slant and sees God as something that “lives within each of us as Spirit or soul.” The actress once refused to say “Jesus Christ” in “Grace and Frankie” and requested a script change.

On her choice to embrace Christianity, Fonda said, “I began looking for a container to house this fledgling feeling of reverence. Having grown up an atheist, I had almost no experience of church and had never read the Bible, but I had dear friends in my home state of Georgia who found comfort and inspiration in their church community, and they offered to open this world to me and ‘bring me to Christ.’ Perhaps this would be the container I was seeking.”