JANE FONDA

After tremendous success as a stage and screen actress, Jane Fonda now focuses her efforts on community service with much of her work devoted to the program she founded in 1995, the Georgia Campaign for Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention (G-CAPP).  Fonda  chairs this  statewide effort to reduce the high rates of adolescent pregnancy in Georgia through community and youth development, sustainable economic development and legislative advocacy.

Among the scores of community projects she has spearheaded is the Laurel Springs Children’s Camp.  This summer program ran for 15 years at her ranch in Santa Barbara, California, using performing arts to build self-esteem and cooperation among children of all races and socio-economic backgrounds.  When Fonda moved to Atlanta in the early 1990s, this experience provided a natural springboard for creation of the Performing Arts Program for Youth (PAPY) in cooperation with Kenny Leon of Atlanta’s Alliance Theatre and with the Atlanta City Schools.

Fonda also serves as a trustee and Vice President of the Turner Foundation, the private grant-making organization founded by, R. E. Turner, Vice Chairman of Time-Warner, Inc.  The Foundation provides funding for projects, dealing with water quality, prevention and control of toxins, climate, habitat, energy and population.

Fonda is also a trustee of the Carter Center, an advisory council member for Advocates for Youth, a national board member of The Village Foundation of the National Task Force on African-American Men and Boys, a national board member of Girls, Inc., and an advisory board member of the Elton John Aids Foundation.  In 1994, she was named Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Population Fund.

Fonda was born in New York City in 1937, the daughter of Henry Fonda and Frances Seymour Fonda.  She attended the Emma Willard School in Troy, New York and Vassar College.  In her late teens, Fonda studied with renowned acting coach Lee Strasberg and became a member of the Actors Studio in New York.

Her subsequent work on stage and screen earned numerous nominations and awards, including Oscars (Best Actress in 1971 for Klute and in 1978 for Coming Home) and an Emmy for her performance in The Dollmaker.  Along with starring roles in dozens of highly acclaimed productions, Fonda also took on responsibilities as a film and television producer.  Her credits include Coming Home, The China Syndrome, Nine to Five, Rollover, On Golden Pond, The Morning After and The Dollmaker.

Fonda revolutionized the fitness industry with the release of Jane Fonda’s Workout in 1982.  She followed with the production of 23 home exercise videos, 13 audio recordings, and five books selling 16 million copies all together.  The original Jane Fonda’s Workout video remains the top grossing home video of all time.