• Faith: Christian
• Career: Actress
• Birthday:  February 27, 1930

Joanne Gignilliat Trimmier Woodward is a retired American actress who rose to fame in the 1950s and was active in her profession from 1950 to 2013. One of her best-known roles came in the 1957 film The Three Faces of Eve. She played a woman with dissociative identity disorder, or multiple personality disorder, who had three distinct personalities with three distinctive voices, behaviors and mannerisms. It was a complex role in which she excelled. The personalities were a shy housewife who sought help from a psychiatrist, a fun-loving wild girl, and a normal woman.

Woodward's portrayal garnered her an Academy Award for Best Actress and a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama. She also received a British Academy Film Award, three Primetime Emmys, a Screen Actors Guild Award and two additional Golden Globes for other roles in her long career.

In addition to her film work, Woodward appeared in numerous television series in the 1950s, including episodes of Goodyear Playhouse, The Ford Television Theatre, Robert Montgomery Presents and Armstrong Circle Theatre. She signed a long-term contract with the 20th Century Fox film studio in 1956, a year during which she also briefly returned to the Broadway stage.

By the mid-to-late 1950s, Woodward was receiving top billing in major films such as The Sound and the Fury (1959) with Yul Brynner and From the Terrace (1960) with her husband, Paul Newman. She later starred in A Fine Madness with Sean Connery and Rachel, Rachel, which Newman produced and directed. She was recognized with an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress in the latter film. During the 1980s, she starred in several films in which Newman worked behind the camera or as her co-star.

The actress was born Joanne Gignilliat Trimmier Woodward in Thomasville, GA, on February 27, 1930, to Elinor Trimmier Woodward and Wade Woodward Sr. She inherited an interest in acting from her film-loving mother, who named her after actress Joan Crawford. By her high school years, Woodward had moved with her family to Marietta, GA, and then to Greenville, S.C. She majored in drama at Louisiana State University before moving to New York to continue her studies and begin her acting career.

Woodward met her future husband in their agent's office in 1953, when both were understudies in the play Picnic. They married in 1958 following Newman's divorce from his wife, Jackie Witte, with whom he had three children.

Joanne Woodward remained married to Newman until his death in 2008. During their 50-year marriage, the couple had three daughters—Nell, Melissa and Claire Olivia Newman. Newman was a sex symbol for much of his career, and Woodward acknowledged he was a very attractive man. But she also said that when the initial attraction wears off, it is important to share laughter.

The award-winning actress had several interests beyond acting. She began ballet lessons in her thirties to stay fit and eventually mastered the en pointe technique, which involves dancing on the tips of the toes. In later life, she also completed her bachelor's degree, earning a degree in drama from Sarah Lawrence College in 1990. Her husband delivered the commencement address, and one of her fellow graduates was the couple's daughter, Clea Newman. In 1992, Woodward and Newman received lifetime achievement awards from the Kennedy Center.

Newman died of lung cancer in 2008, and Woodward continued to live in their long-time Connecticut home for several years. Following her diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease, she relocated to Santa Monica, CA, to live near her daughters.

Woodward and Newman supported several philanthropic causes. Two of their major partnerships were Newman's Own Foundation, which grew out of Newman's salad dressing recipe and continues to donate 100 percent of the after-tax profits to charity, and the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp. The free summer camp and year-round center help children cope with serious illnesses.

Is Joanne Woodward Religious?

Joanne Woodward grew up in a Protestant home and attended Christ Episcopal Church during her high school years. She identifies as Protestant but typically has declined interviews about her private life, including her faith.

She was married to a Jewish man for half a century, and the two respected and supported each other as their faith journeys evolved.

Yet, faith helped shape her life and values. In a 1984 interview, Woodward spoke about her anti-nuclear stance but said the Bible did not say peace on earth would ever become a reality. Even so, she was hopeful. She also supported civil rights and women's rights, opposed the Vietnam War, and supported several philanthropic causes with her husband.

Woodward's last public appearance took place in 2013.