Sherry Lansing (born Sherry Lee Duhl; July 31, 1944) is an American former film studio executive serving as chairwoman of Universal Music Group's board of directors and as a director on the board of Paramount Skydance Corporation. She previously served as chairwoman and CEO of Paramount Pictures and president of production at 20th Century Fox before retiring. From 1999 to 2022, she was on the University of California Board of Regents.
In 2005, she became the first female film studio head to place hand and footprints at the Grauman's Chinese Theater. In 2001, she was named one of the 30 most powerful women in the US by Ladies' Home Journal, and The Hollywood Reporter named her number 1 on its Power 100 list numerous times.
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Early life and education
Lansing was born Sherry Lee Duhl in Chicago, Illinois, to Margaret Heimann and real estate investor David Duhl. Her mother fled from Nazi Germany in 1937, at the age of 17. After her father died when Lansing was nine, her mother remarried Norton S. Lansing. Her close-knit, well-to-do family is of German-Jewish descent.
Lansing attended the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools and graduated in 1962. In 1966, she earned a Bachelor of Science degree at Northwestern University and graduated cum laude. She was a member of Sigma Delta Tau sorority.
About
Career
Lansing briefly dabbled in acting in 1970, appearing as Susan in the rom-com Loving, starring Eva Marie Saint and George Segal, and Amelita in Academy Award-winning director Howard Hawks' last film Rio Lobo, starring John Wayne. Lansing also appeared in several television shows and documentaries about films, and the actors, and actresses, starring in them. Dissatisfied with her own acting skills, she decided to learn more about the film industry from the ground up.
Lansing took a job with MGM as head script reader. She then became VP of Production at Columbia Pictures and oversaw two highly successful films, The China Syndrome and Kramer vs. Kramer, both released in 1979. Her work at Columbia Pictures eventually led to an appointment with 20th Century Fox in 1980, at age 35, as the first female production president of a major studio. She resigned in December 1982 and became a partner with Stanley R. Jaffe (with whom she shares a birthday) to form Jaffe-Lansing Productions based at Paramount Pictures. The company released a consistent string of minor hits through Paramount before achieving box-office success with Fatal Attraction in 1987, for which Jaffe and Lansing received Academy Award nominations for Best Picture the following year.
The partnership also produced The Accused (1988) starring Jodie Foster, about rape and its impact on a victim's life. The film featured a graphic rape scene and was highly controversial when released. Made with a small budget of $6 million, it grossed over $37 million worldwide, becoming a box office hit.
Other Jaffe-Lansing productions include Black Rain (1989), starring Michael Douglas, Andy Garcia, and Ken Takakura, as well as School Ties (1992), starring Brendan Fraser. On her own, Lansing produced the very successful Indecent Proposal (1993), starring Robert Redford, Demi Moore, and Woody Harrelson.
In 1992, Lansing was offered the chairmanship of Paramount Pictures' Motion Picture Group. During her tenure at Paramount, the studio enjoyed its longest and most successful string of releases since the 1930s. Under Lansing, the studio produced such hits as Forrest Gump, Braveheart, Mission Impossible, and what was, at the time, history's highest-grossing film – Titanic (the latter two during a partnership with 20th Century Fox).
Personal life
Lansing married fellow student Michael Brownstein in 1967 while attending Northwestern University. They divorced in 1970. She was married to director William Friedkin from 1991 until his death in 2023.
Lansing and former MGM studio head James T. Aubrey were struck by a car while crossing Wilshire Boulevard in 1978. Both were badly hurt, and Lansing had to use crutches for a year and a half.
Lansing signed an open letter in September 2025 rejecting the Film Workers for Palestine boycott of the Israeli Film Industry as "discriminatory and antisemitic".
Filmography
Producer
Firstborn (1984)
When the Time Comes (1987) (TV)
Fatal Attraction (1987)
The Accused (1988)
Black Rain (1989)
School Ties (1992)
Indecent Proposal (1993)
Actress or herself
The Good Guys (1968) (TV)
Loving (1970)
Rio Lobo (1970)
Dan August (1971) (TV)
Ironside (1971) (TV)
Hollywood Women (1993) (TV)
Frasier (1996) (TV)
The Directors (1999) (TV)
Sunday Morning Shootout (2004) (TV)
Black Rain: Post-Production (2006)
Black Rain: Making the Film – Part 2 (2006)
Black Rain: The Script, the Cast (2006)
Black Rain: Making the Film – Part 1 (2006)
Coming Attractions: The History of the Movie Trailer (2006)
Boffo! Tinseltown's Bombs and Blockbusters (2006)Herself
... A Father... A Son... Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2005) (TV)
The 79th Annual Academy Awards (2007) (TV)
The Jewish Americans (2008) (TV)
The Brothers Warner (2008)
Entertainment Tonight (2008)
Awards and recognition
2017: National Women's Hall of Fame Inductee
2008: CSHL Double Helix Medal Honoree
2007, Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, presented by Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
2007, Honorary Doctorate in Humane Letters from Pennsylvania State University
2006, American Association for Cancer Research Public Service Award
2006, Business hero, The My Hero Project
2005, Big Brothers Big Sisters (L.A.) Legacy Award
2005, Exemplary Leadership in Management Award presented by UCLA Anderson School of Management
2005, hand and foot prints at Grauman's Chinese Theater
2004, Horatio Alger Humanitarian Award
2003, Woodrow Wilson Award for Corporate Citizenship
2003, Honorary Doctorate in Fine Arts from the American Film Institute
2002, President's Award, presented by Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films
2000, Milestone Award presented by Producers Guild of America
1996, Overcoming Obstacles Achievement Award for Business, presented by Chicago Women in Film