A star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame was unveiled Tuesday honoring Sarah Paulson for a television acting career that has brought her an Emmy and eight other nominations.
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Her star is next to that of Ryan Murphy, a creator, executive producer, director and writer of "All's Fair" and several other projects in which Paulson has appeared -- most notably nine seasons of the FX horror anthology series, "American Horror Story," that brought her five Emmy nominations.
Murphy was on hand for the ceremony, along with Paulson's partner and fellow Emmy-winner Holland Taylor and actress Amanda Peet.
Paulson and Peet were castmates in the 1999-2001 WB comedy-drama "Jack & Jill," the 2006-07 NBC comedy-drama "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" and the 2006 romance film, "Griffin & Phoenix."
The ceremony at 6533 Hollywood Blvd. came during the first season of the Hulu legal drama "All's Fair," in which Paulson is a cast member and an executive producer.
Accepting the honor, Paulson recalled her days as a teenager dreaming of becoming the next Julia Roberts.
"I know some folks lucky enough to receive this honor often talk about the first time they stood on Hollywood's Walk of Fame," Paulson said. "And when thinking about this, I realize my connection was not from real-life experience, but rather from movies themselves. One particular movie -- `Pretty Woman.' I was 14. The scene is indelible in my mind. Julia Roberts' character Vivian and Laura San Giacomo's character Kit are working the boulevard -- Hollywood Boulevard. Kit tells another lady who's crowding their turf to go rest up by Ester Wilson. Vivian whispers, `Williams.' Kit shouts `Williams! Where you belong.'
"I cannot believe I'm standing here. The Walk of Fame. This is, well, it's outlandish. I'm not saying I didn't dream of fame. I did. I used to walk around the High School of Performing Arts in Manhattan -- the public school I graduated from in 1993 -- quoting lines from Julia Roberts movies, my locker plastered with pictures of her. All it took for this narcissistic teenage brain to become possessed was for someone to say in passing, rather casually mind you, that I looked a little like her, and that was it. My quest to transform into her was born.
"It was a short-lived quest, 'cause of course I hadn't considered that no one thought Julia Roberts' time was up. No one was looking for a poor man's version of her. She just got here herself. I had to come to the painful reality that her career was hers and hers alone."
The star is the 2,829th since the completion of the Walk of Fame in 1961 with the initial 1,558 stars.
Born Dec. 17, 1974 in Tampa, Florida, and raised in New York City, Paulson made her Broadway debut during the 1993-94 run of the original production of "The Sisters Rosensweig" as the replacement understudy for Amy Ryan in the role of teenage idealist Tess Goode.
Paulson made her television debut in a 1994 episode of "Law & Order" as the stepdaughter of a man suspected of killing his wife.
Her film debut came in the 1997 fantasy drama "Levitation," starring as a pregnant teenager who searches for her biological mother with the help of a guardian angel.
Paulson's first role as a series cast member came in the 1995-96 CBS horror series "American Gothic" as the slain sister of an orphan (Lucas Black) who appears to him as a ghost to guide him in the right direction.
She received her Emmy in 2016 for outstanding lead actress in a limited series or movie for her portrayal of prosecutor Marcia Clark in "The People v O.J. Simpson," the first season of the FX biographical crime drama anthology series "American Crime Story," in which Murphy was among the executive producers and directors.
The nomination was one of two Paulson received in 2016. She was also nominated for outstanding supporting actress in a limited series or movie for her two roles in "American Horror Story: Hotel," for which Murphy was the showrunner.
Paulson received her first Emmy nomination in 2012 for outstanding supporting actress in a miniseries or movie for her portrayal of Nicolle Wallace, the director of communications for John McCain's 2008 presidential campaign in the HBO movie, "Game Change."
Her most recent Emmy nod came in 2024 for outstanding guest actress in a drama series for her role as a therapist in the Amazon Prime Video spy series, "Mr. & Mrs. Smith."
Paulson's other television credits include the title role in the Netflix "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" prequel "Ratched," which Murphy developed; recurring roles on the HBO Western "Deadwood" and FX on Hulu comedy-drama "The Bear" and as the female lead in the 2009 ABC comedy-drama "Cupid."
Her other film credits include "Ocean's 8";"12 Years a Slave"; "The Post"; and "Martha Marcy May Marlene."
Paulson won the Tony Award for best performance by an actress in a leading role in a play in 2024 for her portrayal of the oldest sibling of a dysfunctional family as they return to a decaying plantation mansion in Arkansas to battle over their recently deceased father's inheritance in "Appropriate."
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