Sarah Paulson

Sarah Paulson has been in a relationship with actress Holland Taylor since 2015. She previously dated actress Cherry Jones from 2004 to 2009 and had dated men before that relationship, including playwright Tracy Letts, to whom she was engaged in her 20s.

Paulson is a supporter of the Democratic Party. She was diagnosed with melanoma on her back at age 25, and the growth was removed before the cancer spread. She has described her sexuality as fluid.

Paulson spent her early childhood in Tampa, Florida, before moving with her mother and sister to New York City following her parents' divorce. She attended Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts and the American Academy of Dramatic Arts.

She began working professionally soon after high school, making her Broadway debut as an understudy in Wendy Wasserstein's The Sisters Rosensweig in 1994. Her early screen work included an episode of Law & Order, the television film Friends at Last, and the television series American Gothic. She made her feature-film debut in the independent thriller Levitation in 1997.

Paulson became a regular on Jack & Jill and later starred in the television series Leap of Faith. Her early film roles included The Other Sister, Held Up, What Women Want, Down with Love, and The Notorious Bettie Page. She also portrayed Luci Baines Johnson in the HBO film Path to War.

Paulson first worked with Ryan Murphy on an episode of Nip/Tuck in 2004. She later joined his FX anthology series American Horror Story, appearing in its first season as the medium Billie Dean Howard. Across subsequent seasons, she played characters including Lana Winters, Cordelia Foxx, Bette and Dot Tattler, Sally McKenna, Ally Mayfair-Richards, and Tuberculosis Karen. She also directed an episode of American Horror Story: Apocalypse in 2018.

Her collaboration with Murphy continued with American Crime Story. In The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story, she portrayed prosecutor Marcia Clark and won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Movie, the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Limited Series or Television Film, and several additional television acting awards.

Paulson later played Linda Tripp in Impeachment: American Crime Story and starred as Nurse Mildred Ratched in the Netflix series Ratched. She also appeared as Alice Macray in Mrs. America, a limited series about the conservative campaign against the Equal Rights Amendment.

Alongside her anthology-series work, Paulson has taken prominent roles in films including Martha Marcy May Marlene, Mud, 12 Years a Slave, Carol, The Post, Ocean's 8, Bird Box, Glass, The Goldfinch, and Run. In 12 Years a Slave, she played Mary Epps, and in Carol she portrayed Abby Gerhard. She played Sandra Bullock's character's sister in Bird Box and Dr. Ellie Staple in Glass.

Her television roles have included Harriet Hayes in Aaron Sorkin's Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, Nicolle Wallace in Game Change, and Clarissa Montgomery in Coastal Elites. She appeared in The Bear as Michelle Berzatto and also had a role in the series Mr. & Mrs. Smith.

For Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip and Game Change, Paulson received Golden Globe nominations. Her performance as Linda Tripp in Impeachment: American Crime Story also earned a Primetime Emmy nomination.

Paulson has maintained a stage career alongside her film and television work. Her Broadway appearances include the 2005 revival of Tennessee Williams's The Glass Menagerie, in which she acted opposite Jessica Lange, and Donald Margulies's Collected Stories in 2010.

After a 10-year absence from Broadway, she returned in 2023 in Branden Jacobs-Jenkins's play Appropriate. Paulson played Toni, the eldest sibling in a family confronting the disturbing history of their late father's home. Her performance earned the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play in 2024.