Award-winning actress Paulson has built an impressive list of credits in film, television and on stage.
Paulson's Emmy® win for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or Movie was earned for her portrayal of attorney Marcia Clark in the critically acclaimed miniseries The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story on FX. Paulson also received a Golden Globe® Award, Screen Actors Guild Award, Critics’ Choice Award and a Television Critics Association Award for this role.
Paulson most recently starred in the Netflix series Ratched where she played the title role and served as executive producer. The series, which centers on the early life of “Mildred Ratched” from the 1962 Ken Kesey novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, debuted at number one across 50 countries worldwide and earned Paulson a Golden Globe nomination for Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series – Drama.
On the small screen, Paulson was last seen in FX on Hulu’s Emmy-nominated limited series Mrs. America opposite Cate Blanchett, which tells the true story of the movement to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment, and in HBO’s Coastal Elites alongside Bette Midler, Dan Levy, Kaitlyn Dever and Issa Rae. She previously starred in the eighth installment of Ryan’s Murphy’s award-winning television series American Horror Story for FX. In addition to starring as multiple characters that season, she also made her directorial debut with the 78-minute crossover episode, “Return to Murder House.” Paulson has received five Emmy nominations for her roles in the franchise: “Ally Mayfair-Richards” in Cult, “Sally” in Hotel, conjoined twins “Bette Tattler” and “Dot Tattler” in Freak Show, “Cordelia Foxx” in Coven and “Lana Winters” in Asylum. She has also earned two Critics’ Choice Awards for her roles in the anthology.
Paulson received her first Emmy nomination and second Golden Globe nomination for her role as Nicolle Wallace in HBO's critically acclaimed telefilm Game Change. Directed by Jay Roach, the film follows John McCain's 2008 presidential campaign. Her first Golden Globe nomination was for her performance in Aaron Sorkin's Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, in which she starred opposite Matthew Perry, Amanda Peet, Bradley Whitford and Steven Weber.
Paulson’s other film credits include Todd Haynes’ critically acclaimed Carol alongside Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara, Steve McQueen's 12 Years a Slave, which received an Academy Award® for Best Picture, and Jeff Nichols' Mud alongside Reese Witherspoon and Matthew McConaughey, for which the cast received the Robert Altman Award at the Film Independent Spirit Awards. She has also appeared in Steven Spielberg’s The Post opposite Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep, Aneesh Chaganty’s Run for Hulu, M. Night Shyamalan's thriller Glass for Universal, Netflix’s Bird Box opposite Sandra Bullock, Warner Bros. Ocean’s 8, which opened at number one in the US and topped the opening-weekend figures of each of the previous Ocean’s films, DreamWorks Animations’ Abominable, Fox Searchlight’s Martha Marcy May Marlene alongside Elizabeth Olsen, Down with Love with Renée Zellweger, Ewan McGregor and David Hyde Pierce, What Women Want opposite Mel Gibson and Helen Hunt and The Other Sister directed by Gary Marshall and starring Diane Keaton and Juliette Lewis.
On stage, Paulson last appeared in the Roundabout Theatre Company’s production of Lanford Wilson’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play Talley’s Folly. She previously starred on Broadway in the two-hander Collected Stories opposite Linda Lavin, as “Laura Wingfield” in The Glass Menagerie alongside Jessica Lange, The Cherry Orchard alongside Alfred Molina and Annette Bening and in Tracy Letts’ critically acclaimed Killer Joe.
