Jane Fonda

Jane Fonda was born in New York City in 1937. She attended the Emma Willard School in Troy, New York, and Vassar College. Fonda later studied with renowned acting coach Lee Strasberg and became a member of the Actors Studio in New York. Her subsequent work on stage and screen earned numerous honors, including two Best Actress Academy Awards--Klute (1971) and Coming Home (1978)--and an Emmy Award for her performance in The Dollmaker. Fonda was also a successful producer, whose credits include The China Syndrome, Nine to Five, On Golden Pond, and The Morning After.

Fonda revolutionized the fitness industry with the release of Jane Fonda's Workout in 1982, which remains the top-grossing home video of all time. She then produced twenty-three home exercise videos, thirteen audio recordings, and five bestselling books. She now focuses her time on activism and philanthropy, in such areas as adolescent reproductive health, pregnancy prevention, school reform through arts, and building resiliency in girls and boys by addressing destructive gender stereotypes. In 1995 she founded the Georgia Campaign for Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention (G-CAPP), which she chairs. In 2002, she opened the Jane Fonda Center for Adolescent Reproductive Health at Emory University's School of Medicine. She lives in Atlanta.

Taking on the Bosses of the Real Nine to Five

by Jane Fonda

More than 25 years ago I made what turned out to be a classic "Bad Boss" movie - 9 to 5. I still laugh when I think of how Lily Tomlin, Dolly Parton and I (well, our characters) plotted to get even with our "sexist, egotistical, lying, hypocritical bigot" of a boss and take over the office. We took matters into our own hands, revamped corporate policies and improved working conditions.

Not a bad idea, then - 9 to 5 was a record-breaking box-office hit - or now. When I read the entries to the "My Bad Boss Contest," it's clear that the days of the bad boss are not over. Just look at the employee whose boss forced her to dig through a dumpster, or the one whose boss called her every morning for daily briefings - from the bathroom. I bet the people who wrote in those stories would do things differently if they were in charge.

9 to 5 wasn't conceived as a comedy at first. What's funny about working twelve-hour days with no overtime? Being on call for your boss but not getting a break when you have an emergency? Not being able to attend your father's funeral? Being told, "It's not a good time for you to have cancer"? But sometimes you have to be able to laugh at a problem in order to take it on.

Lily, Dolly and I had a lot of fun making 9 to 5, but it was about real problems. I may be an actress, but I know that you solve problems by organizing for change. That's why Working America is doing so well today. With more than 1.6 million members, they show that there is indeed strength in numbers.

9 to 5 showed that maybe you could run a business without a boss, but you certainly couldn't run it without workers.

Life shows that when workers unite they can change the way business is done.

You have my Blessings.