Geena Davis Reveals Which Film Role She Landed Because Her Height Made Her a “Sight Gag”

TOOTSIE, l-r: Geena Davis, George Gaynes, 1982 — ©Columbia Pictures/courtesy Everett Collection

At 69, Geena Davis is known for everything from her Academy Award-winning turn in 1988’s The Accidental Tourist, to her beloved role as Dottie Hinson in the 1992 comedy A League of Their Own. But while Davis is famous for her warmth and comedic timing today, when she was beginning her career in the early ’80s, she snagged her first big break due to another factor entirely: her six-foot frame.

On the April 29, 2025 episode of Today, where Davis chatted with Tina Fey and Jenna Bush Hager about her new children’s book, The Girl Who Was Too Big for the Page, she revealed that she landed her first film role, in 1982’s Tootsie, because she stood seven inches taller than the 5’5″ star, Dustin Hoffman.

“My first role, I got because I was tall. My first job was in Tootsie — you can imagine how lucky [I was],” Davis recalled. “And it was because they wanted someone who would look like a sight gag with Dustin Hoffman, tower overhead, cause [Davis and Hoffman’s characters] share a dressing room … and so that’s how I got the part.”

Davis played the small role of soap opera actress April in Tootsie, but she quickly moved up — just four years later, she co-starred in The Fly, alongside one-time husband Jeff Goldblum, and in 1988, she became a superstar, appearing both as quirky animal trainer Muriel in The Accidental Tourist and wholesome ghost Barbara Maitland in the supernatural family classic Beetlejuice.

Most recently, Davis had a supporting role in the 2024 horror thriller Blink Twice, the directing debut from Zoe Kravitz; she will also star in the 2026 Netflix series The Boroughs, where she, Bill Pullman, Clarke Peters and others will play residents of a retirement home who must stop an otherworldly invasion. Her children’s picture book, The Girl Who Was Too Big for the Page, which she both wrote and illustrated, follows the adventures of a young girl who experiences a growth spurt that leaves her too large for the pages of her own book.

Watch the full interview here.