Sarah Paulson on screen and stage

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 many of the show's 12 seasons. 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 a Primetime Emmy Award and a 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. In 2021, she returned to American Crime Story to portray Linda Tripp in the third season of the series, subtitled Impeachment.

Paulson at the 2015 San Diego Comic-Con

Paulson's film roles include the romantic comedies What Women Want (2000) and Down with Love (2003), and the dramas Path to War (2002) and The Notorious Bettie Page (2005). In 2008, she starred as Ellen Dolan in the superhero noir film The Spirit. She starred as Lucy in the independent drama film Martha Marcy May Marlene (2011), Nicolle Wallace in the political drama film Game Change (2012), Mary Epps in the historical drama film 12 Years a Slave (2013), Abby Gerhard in the romantic drama film Carol (2015), Toni Bradlee in the political drama film The Post (2017), Tammy in the heist comedy film Ocean's 8 (2018), Jessica Hayes in the post-apocalyptic thriller film Bird Box (2018), Ellie Staple in the superhero film Glass (2019), and Diane Sherman in the psychological thriller film Run (2020).

Film

Paulson at the 2014 San Diego Comic-Con

Paulson in February 2015

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref.
1997	Levitation	Acey Rawlin		[1]
1999	The Other Sister	Heather Tate		[2]
	Held Up	Mary		[3]
2000	What Women Want	Annie		[4]
2002	Bug	Eilleen
2003	Down with Love	Vikki Hiller		[4]
2005	Swimmers	Merrill
	Serenity	Dr. Caron		[4]
	The Notorious Bettie Page	Bunny Yeager
2006	Diggers	Julie
	Griffin and Phoenix	Peri
2008	The Spirit	Ellen Dolan		[4]
2011	Martha Marcy May Marlene	Lucy
	New Year's Eve	Grace Schwab
2012	Mud	Mary Lee		[4]
	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 Terrell
	Abominable	Dr. Zara (voice)
2020	Run	Diane Sherman
2024	Hold Your Breath	Margaret Bellum		[5]

Key

†	Denotes film or TV productions that have not yet been released

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref.
1994	Law & Order	Maggie Conner	Episode: "Family Values" [6]
1995	Friends at Last	Diana	Television film
1995–1996	American Gothic	Merlyn Temple	Main role	[4]
1996	Shaughnessy	—	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"	[4]
2005	Deadwood	Miss Alice Isringhausen	Recurring role	[4]
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	[4]
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"	[4]
	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
2014–2015	American Horror Story: Freak Show	Bette and Dot Tattler
2015–2016	American Horror Story: Hotel	Sally McKenna
		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 / Audrey Tindall
		Lana Winters	Episode: "Chapter 10"
2017	Feud	Geraldine Page	Episode: "And the Winner Is... (The Oscars of 1963)"
	American Horror Story: Cult	Ally Mayfair-Richards	Main role
		Susan Atkins	Episode: "Charles (Manson) in Charge"
2018	American Horror Story: Apocalypse	Wilhemina Venable / Cordelia Goode	Main role
		Billie Dean Howard	Episode: "Return to Murder House"
2019	Family Guy	Herself / Marcia Clark	Voice; Episode: "You Can't Handle the Booth"
2020	Mrs. America	Alice Macray	Main role
	Coastal Elites	Clarissa Montgomery	Television film
	Ratched	Mildred Ratched	Main role; also executive producer
2021	American Horror Story: Double Feature	Tuberculosis Karen	Also executive producer
		Mamie Eisenhower
	Impeachment: American Crime Story	Linda Tripp	Main role; also executive producer
2023	Saturday Night Live	Ms. Jenny	Episode: "Pedro Pascal / Coldplay"
2023–2025	The Bear	Michelle Berzatto	2 episodes
2024	Mr. & Mrs. Smith	Therapist	Episode: "Couples Therapy (Naked & Afraid)"
2025	All's Fair	Carrington Lane	Main role; upcoming series; Also executive producer	[7]

Theatre

Year	Title	Role	Venue	Ref.
1994	The Sisters Rosensweig	Tess Goode (understudy)	Ethel Barrymore Theatre, Broadway	[8]
	Talking Pictures	Vesta Jackson	Signature Theatre, Off-Broadway	[9]
1998–1999	Killer Joe	Dottie Smith	SoHo Playhouse, Off-Broadway	[10]
2005	Colder Than Here	Harriet Bradley	Music Box Theatre, Broadway	[11]
	The Glass Menagerie	Laura Wingfield	Ethel Barrymore Theatre, Broadway	[12]
2006	The Cherry Orchard	Varya	Mark Taper Forum, regional	[13]
2007	Crimes of the Heart	Meg Magrath	Williamstown Theatre Festival, regional	[14]
2008			Laura Pels Theatre, Off-Broadway	[15]
2009	The Gingerbread House	Stacey	Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, Off-Broadway	[16]
	Still Life	Carrie Ann	Lucille Lortel Theatre, Off-Broadway	[17]
2010	Collected Stories	Lisa Morrison	Samuel J. Friedman Theatre, Broadway	[18]
2013	Talley's Folly	Sally Talley	Laura Pels Theatre, Off-Broadway	[19]
2014	Conviction	Leigh	Bay Street Theater, regional	[20]
2023–2024	Appropriate	Toni Lafayette	Hayes Theater, Broadway & Belasco Theatre, Broadway	[21]

Director

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

See also

• List of awards and nominations received by Sarah Paulson