Sherry Lansing

Sherry Lansing (born 1944) came of age when a woman in Hollywood could only aspire to be an actor or a secretary. She had been an actor—as well as a model and math teacher—when she decided to learn more about the industry. She became one of the most powerful women in Hollywood.
As a screenplay reader at MGM Studios, she worked on successful films including The China Syndrome and Kramer vs. Kramer. In 1980, she became president of 20th Century Fox—and the first woman to lead a major studio. Lansing was also CEO of Paramount Pictures' Motion Picture Group, which produced the hits Forrest Gump and Titanic during her tenure.