Jane Fonda, 2024
American actress and activist
48 x 60 inches
Oil on canvas
“We’re continuing to do the Fire Drill Fridays because we want to build a movement, an army of people who will be able to force the government to do the right thing. Let’s claim our democracy.”
—Jane Fonda
Jane Fonda is the recipient of numerous accolades, including two Academy Awards, two British Academy Film Awards, seven Golden Globe Awards, and a Primetime Emmy Award for her acting work and is considered a film icon. She has also been engaged in political activism since the 1960’s in support of the Civil Rights Movement and in opposition to the Vietnam war. Among many of the activism causes she has been involved in, she is a longtime supporter of feminist issues and ending violence against women. In 2001, she established the Jane Fonda Center for Adolescent Reproductive Health at Emory University in Atlanta to help prevent adolescent pregnancy through training and program development. And in 2005, along with Robin Morgan and Gloria Steinem, she cofounded the Women's Media Center, an organization that works to amplify the voices of women in the media. Fonda has also spoken out for LGBTQ+ rights before it was common to do so. Fonda has been opposed to many issues that harm the environment and that adversely affect Native Americans including pipelines being built without consent on Native American Tribal land. In October 2019, she was arrested three times in consecutive weeks for protesting climate change outside the United States Capitol in Washington. In September 2024, she added her name to an open letter to Governor Gavin Newsom, urging him to sign the Californian AI safety bill.