Sarah Paulson on screen and stage

Paulson at the 2015 San Diego Comic-Con

American film, television, and stage actress and director Sarah Paulson began her acting career in New York City stage productions before starring in the short-lived television series American Gothic (1995–1996) and Jack & Jill (1999–2001). Her other television work includes Deadwood (2005), Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip (2006–2007), and Cupid (2009). In 2011, Paulson began starring in the FX anthology series American Horror Story, playing various characters over the show's 10 seasons (2011–present). For her performances in the series, she received five Primetime Emmy Award nominations and won two Critics' Choice Television Awards. In 2016, she portrayed real life prosecutor Marcia Clark in The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story, for which she earned her a Primetime Emmy Award and the Golden Globe Award. In 2020, Paulson appeared in the FX miniseries Mrs. America, and began starring as Nurse Mildred Ratched in the Netflix psychological thriller series Ratched (2020–present).

Paulson's film roles include the romantic comedy films What Women Want with Mel Gibson (2000) and Down with Love with Renee Zellweger (2003), and the drama films Path to War with Michael Gambon (2002) and The Notorious Bettie Page with Gretchen Mol (2005). In 2008, she starred as Ellen Dolan in the superhero noir film The Spirit. She portrayed Mary Epps in the historical drama film 12 Years a Slave (2013), as Abby Gerhard in the romantic drama film Carol (2015), as Toni Bradlee in the political drama film The Post (2017), Jessica Hayes in the post-apocalyptic horror thriller film Bird Box and Ellie Staple in the superhero film Glass (2019).

Film

Paulson at the 2014 San Diego Comic Con International

Paulson in February 2015

Key

†	Denotes films that have not yet been released

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1997	Levitation	Acey Rawlin
1999	The Other Sister	Heather Tate
	Held Up	Mary
2000	What Women Want	Annie
2002	Bug	Eilleen
2003	Down with Love	Vikki Hiller
2005	Swimmers	Merrill
	Serenity	Dr. Caron
	The Notorious Bettie Page	Bunny Yeager
2006	Diggers	Julie
	Griffin and Phoenix	Peri
2008	The Spirit	Ellen Dolan
2011	Martha Marcy May Marlene	Lucy
	New Year's Eve	Grace Schwab
2012	Mud	Mary Lee
	Fairhaven	Kate
	The Time Being	Sarah
	Stars in Shorts	Woman
2013	12 Years a Slave	Mary Epps
2015	Carol	Abby Gerhard
	The Runner	Kate Haber
2016	Blue Jay	Amanda
2017	Rebel in the Rye	Dorothy Olding
	The Post	Tony Bradlee
2018	Ocean's 8	Tammy
	Bird Box	Jessica Hayes
2019	Glass	Ellie Staple
	The Goldfinch	Xandra
	Abominable	Dr. Zara (voice)
2020	Run	Diane Sherman
TBA	Dust †		Filming

Television

Key

†	Denotes series that has not yet aired

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1994	Law & Order	Maggie Conner	Episode: "Family Values"
1995	Friends at Last	Diana	Television film
1995–1996	American Gothic	Merlyn Temple	Main role
1996	Shaughnessy	n/a	Television film
1997	Cracker	Janice	2 episodes
1998	The Long Way Home	Leanne Bossert	Television film
1999–2001	Jack & Jill	Elisa Cronkite	Main role
2001	Touched by an Angel	Zoe	Episode: "Manhunt"
2002	Leap of Faith	Faith Wardwell	Main role
	Path to War	Luci Baines Johnson	Television film
2004	The D.A.	Lisa Patterson	2 episodes
	Nip/Tuck	Agatha Ripp	Episode: "Agatha Ripp"
2005	Deadwood	Miss Isringhausen	Recurring role
2006	A Christmas Wedding	Emily	Television film
2006–2007	Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip	Harriet Hayes	Main role
2007, 2011	Desperate Housewives	Lydia Lindquist	2 episodes
2009	Cupid	Claire McCrae	Main role
2010	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Anne Gillette	Episode: "Shadow"
	Grey's Anatomy	Young Ellis Grey	Episode: "The Time Warp"
	November Christmas	Beth Marks	Television film
2011	American Horror Story: Murder House	Billie Dean Howard	3 episodes
2012	Game Change	Nicolle Wallace	Television film
	Blue	Lavinia	2 episodes
2012–2013	American Horror Story: Asylum	Lana Winters	Main role
2013–2014	American Horror Story: Coven	Cordelia Goode	Main role
2014–2015	American Horror Story: Freak Show	Bette and Dot Tattler	Main role
2015–2016	American Horror Story: Hotel	Sally McKenna	Main role
		Billie Dean Howard	Episode: "Be Our Guest"
2016	The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story	Marcia Clark	Main role
	American Horror Story: Roanoke	Shelby Miller	Main role
		Audrey Tindall	Main role
		Lana Winters	Episode: "Chapter 10"
2017	Feud: Bette and Joan	Geraldine Page	Episode: "And the Winner Is... (The Oscars of 1963)"
2017	American Horror Story: Cult	Ally Mayfair-Richards	Main role
		Susan Atkins	Episode: "Charles (Manson) in Charge"
2018	American Horror Story: Apocalypse	Wilhemina Venable	Main role
		Cordelia Goode	Main role
		Billie Dean Howard	Episode: "Return to Murder House"
2019	Family Guy	Herself, Marcia Clark, costumed woman (voice)	Episode: "You Can't Handle the Booth"
2020	Mrs. America	Alice Macray	Main role
	Coastal Elites	Clarissa Montgomery	Television film
2020–present	Ratched	Mildred Ratched	Main role; also executive producer
2021	American Horror Story: Double Feature	Tuberculosis Karen	Main role; also executive producer
		Mamie Eisenhower	Main role; also executive producer
	Impeachment: American Crime Story	Linda Tripp	Main role; also executive producer

Stage

Year	Title	Role	Venue
1994	Talking Pictures	Vesta Jackson	Signature Theatre
1998–1999	Killer Joe	Dottie Smith	SoHo Playhouse
2005	Colder Than Here	Harriet Bradley	Music Box Theatre
	The Glass Menagerie	Laura Wingfield	Ethel Barrymore Theatre
2008	Crimes of the Heart	Meg Magrath	Laura Pels Theatre
2009	Still Life	Carrie Ann	Lucille Lortel Theatre
2010	Collected Stories	Lisa Morrison	Samuel J. Friedman Theatre
2013	Talley's Folly	Sally Talley	Laura Pels Theatre

Director

Year	Title	Notes
2018	American Horror Story: Apocalypse	Episode: "Return to Murder House"

See also

• List of awards and nominations received by Sarah Paulson

External links

• Sarah Paulson at IMDb