Biography
Sarah Catharine Paulson (born December 17, 1974) is an American actress. She 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). She later appeared in comedy films such as What Women Want (2000) and Down with Love (2003), and drama films such as Path to War (2002) and The Notorious Bettie Page (2005). From 2006 to 2007, she starred as Harriet Hayes in the NBC comedy-drama series S...
Known For
Complete Filmography
Garden State - The 20th Anniversary Concert
2025
as Self - Presenter
Be a part of The Garden State 20th Anniversary Concert. This one night only musical event features songs from the iconic Grammy Award-winning soundtra...
Hold Your Breath
2024
as Margaret Bellum
In 1930s Oklahoma amid the region's horrific dust storms, a woman is convinced that a sinister presence is threatening her family.
Hold Your Breath
2024
Executive Producer
In 1930s Oklahoma amid the region's horrific dust storms, a woman is convinced that a sinister presence is threatening her family.
Stand Out: An LGBTQ+ Celebration
2022
A group of LGBTQ+ comedians get together to celebrate a brand of queer comedy. Legends, headliners, and emerging talent all perform at The Greek Theat...
Madame X Presents: Madame Xtra Q&A
2021
as Self
A follow-up special to Madonna's recently released concert documentary film MADAME X. This special features questions from very special guests Ariana ...
Adele One Night Only
2021
as Self
A primetime special with performances from the superstar including Adele’s first new material in six years plus her chart-topping hits. The special wi...
Run
2020
as Mother / Diane
Chloe, a teenager who is confined to a wheelchair, is homeschooled by her mother, Diane. Chloe soon becomes suspicious of her mother and begins to sus...
Coastal Elites
2020
as Clarissa Montgomery
A socially distanced comedic satire that spotlights five characters breaking down and breaking through as they grapple with politics, culture, and the...
Abominable
2019
as Dr. Zara (voice)
A group of misfits encounter a young Yeti named Everest, and they set off to reunite the magical creature with his family on the mountain of his names...
The Goldfinch
2019
as Xandra
A boy in New York is taken in by a wealthy family after his mother is killed in a bombing at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. In a rush of panic, he st...
Glass
2019
as Dr. Ellie Staple
In a series of escalating encounters, former security guard David Dunn uses his supernatural abilities to track Kevin Wendell Crumb, a disturbed man w...
Bird Box
2018
as Jessica
Five years after an ominous unseen presence drives most of society to suicide, a survivor and her two children make a desperate bid to reach safety.
Reimagining The Met Gala
2018
as Self
Director Ross, various cast and crew and members of the Met staff discuss how the film took over the famous museum for its version of the gala. The pr...
Ocean's Team 3.0
2018
as Self
Director Gary Ross and participants from the previous extras discuss the challenge of casting a film where group chemistry is even more important than...
Ocean's Eight
2018
as Tammy
Debbie Ocean, a criminal mastermind, gathers a crew of female thieves to pull off the heist of the century at New York's annual Met Gala.
The Post
2017
as Tony Bradlee
A cover-up that spanned four U.S. Presidents pushed the country's first female newspaper publisher and a hard-driving editor to join an unprecedented ...
Rebel in the Rye
2017
as Dorothy Olding
The life of celebrated but reclusive author J.D. Salinger, who gained worldwide fame with the publication of his novel The Catcher in the Rye.
Blue Jay
2016
as Amanda
Meeting by chance when they return to their tiny California hometown, two former high-school sweethearts reflect on their shared past.
Carol
2015
as Abby Gerhard
In 1950s New York, a department-store clerk who dreams of a better life falls for an older, married woman.
The Runner
2015
as Kate Haber
In the aftermath of the BP oil spill, an idealistic but imperfect New Orleans politician (Nicolas Cage) finds his plans of restoration unraveling as h...
#twitterkills
2014
as Sarah Pendersen
A dark comedy about how a life can be ruined in 140 characters.
12 Years a Slave
2013
as Mary Epps
In the pre-Civil War United States, Solomon Northup, a free black man from upstate New York, is abducted and sold into slavery. Facing cruelty as well...
Mud
2013
as Mary Lee
Two teenage boys find a fugitive hiding out on an island in the Mississippi River and help him reunite with his lover and escape an avenging family an...
Fairhaven
2013
as Kate
Long-time friends reconnect when one returns to their small Massachusetts town for a funeral.
Stars In Shorts
2012
as Woman
Seven short films, all of which feature name actors, including Judi Dench, Kenneth Branagh, Colin Firth, Lily Tomlin, Keira Knightley, Jesse Tyler Fer...
The Time Being
2012
as Sarah
A struggling young artist accepts a series of bizarre commissions from an eccentric, dying millionaire who may be trying to either help further his ca...
Game Change
2012
as Nicolle Wallace
During the Republican run of the 2008 Presidential election, candidate John McCain picks a relative unknown, Alaskan governor Sarah Palin, to be his r...
New Year's Eve
2011
as Grace Schwab
The lives of several couples and singles in New York intertwine over the course of New Year's Eve.
Martha Marcy May Marlene
2011
as Lucy
After several years of living with a cult, Martha finally escapes and calls her estranged sister, Lucy, for help. Martha finds herself at the quiet Co...
After-School Special
2011
as Woman
A man and a woman have an awkward encounter at an indoor playground.
November Christmas
2011
as Beth Marks
A young father asks for pumpkins at the local farm stand. "In August? No." the farmer replies. The farmer ruminates on the odd request and gets involv...
Whose Dog Is It Anyway?
2009
as Emma
A charming and comic New York tale about Emma, single, successful, and not a dog person, who gets stuck with a dog because her younger married sister ...
The Spirit
2008
as Ellen Dolan
A Rookie cop named Denny Colt returns from the beyond as The Spirit, a hero whose mission is to fight against the bad forces from the shadows of Centr...
A Christmas Wedding
2006
as Emily
Emily (Sarah Paulson) and Ben (Eric Mabius) find their plans to marry on Christmas day coming apart at the seams when Ben is left to plan the wedding ...
Griffin & Phoenix
2006
as Peri
A terminally ill man falls in love with a woman who has a secret that threatens their time spent together.
Diggers
2006
as Julie
Diggers is a coming-of-age story directed by Katherine Dieckmann. It portrays four working-class friends who grow up in The Hamptons, on the South Sho...
Serenity
2005
as Dr. Caron
When the renegade crew of Serenity agrees to hide a fugitive on their ship, they find themselves in an action-packed battle between the relentless mil...
The Notorious Bettie Page
2005
as Bunny Yeager
Bettie Page grew up in a conservative religious family in Tennessee and became a photo model sensation in 1950s New York. Bettie's legendary pin-up ph...
Swimmers
2005
as Merrill
After an accident in a small Maryland fishing town, 11-year-old Emma begins to question the nature of the adults around her.
Path to War
2003
as Luci Baines Johnson
A powerful drama of soaring ambition and shattered dreams that takes a provocative insider's look at the way the USA goes to war—as seen from inside t...
Down with Love
2003
as Vikki Hiller
In 1962 New York City, love blossoms between a playboy journalist and a feminist advice author.
Bug
2002
as Eilleen
A small boy squashing an insect sets in motion a series of events, large and small, that include a lost restaurant reservation, a drunken fender-bende...
What Women Want
2000
as Annie
Advertising executive Nick Marshall is as cocky as they come, but what happens to a chauvinistic guy when he can suddenly hear what women are thinking...
Held Up
1999
as Mary
What should have been a romantic getaway turns into one hilarious debacle after another when Michael's woman dumps him in the desert where he gets car...
The Other Sister
1999
as Heather Tate
A mentally challenged girl proves herself to be every bit as capable as her "perfect" sister when she moves into an apartment and begins going to coll...
The Long Way Home
1998
as Leanne Bossert
A retired widower wanders away from his daughter's home, hooks up with a free-spirited young woman, and goes on a cross-country odyssey to look up an ...
Levitation
1997
as Acey
Sarah Paulson stars as a pregnant teenager who searches for her biological mother, with the help of a guardian angel.
Shaughnessy: The Iron Marshal
1996
Irish immigrant Tommy Shaughnessy leaves 19th-century New York City for Kansas and becomes a small-town sheriff.
Friends at Last
1995
as Diana - Age 21
Some time after her messy divorce, Fanny Connelyn realises her ex-husband is becoming her best friend.
I Am Sybil
N/A
as Connie Wilbur
Explores the gripping true story behind the best-selling book and cultural-sensation case of Sybil, one of the first mainstream cases of dissociative ...
Clybourne Park
N/A
Follows events in 1959 and then 50 years later in 2009. The subject of the play is Clybourne Park, a sleepy, “status quo” suburb of Chicago, which is ...
Talley's Folly
N/A
as Sally Talley
The interior worlds and sufferings of both Matt Friedman and Sally Talley are revealed as they find themselves drawn together in an intense romance.
Ethel
N/A
Based on the untold true story of Ethel Stark and her Montreal Women’s Symphony Orchestra, who together demolished class and racial barriers and shatt...
Mother Courage
N/A
as Sandra Bloom
Estranged sisters whose reunion sets off an emotionally volatile chain of events