The Fonda Family: All About the Hollywood Dynasty, From Golden Age Star Henry to Living Legend Jane

The Fonda family includes three generations of award-winning actors and filmmakers including Jane Fonda, Bridget Fonda and Peter Fonda

The Fonda family is a true Hollywood dynasty including three generations of A-list actors and filmmakers, including Henry Fonda, Peter Fonda, Jane Fonda, Bridget Fonda and Troy Garity.

Henry Fonda was a silver screen legend who appeared in movies like 12 Angry Men, Once Upon a Time in the West and The Grapes of Wrath, for which he earned an Oscar nomination. Henry won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in the 1981 film On Golden Pond.

Two of his children, Peter Fonda and Jane Fonda, both became Hollywood luminaries. Peter appeared in films like Easy Rider, The Cannonball Run and Ulee’s Gold. He won two Golden Globes and earned two Academy Award nominations over his career. Jane has had star roles in the films 9 to 5, Barbarella, Monster-in-Law and Book Club. She’s won two Oscars, one for 1971’s Klute and one for 1978’s Coming Home.

Peter, who died in 2019, had two children, Justin Fonda and Bridget Fonda. Justin has worked behind the camera, and Bridget is a now-retired actress who starred in movies including Single White Female and Jackie Brown.

Related: Jane Fonda's 3 Children: Everything to Know

Jane has three children: her daughter Vanessa Vadim is a filmmaker, her son Troy Garity is an actor and her daughter Mary Luana Williams is an author.

In a 2000 interview with The Guardian, Bridget addressed the comparisons and assumed nepotism that come with being a part of her famous family. “The nice thing is that I respect them,” she said. “I never felt that I had to deny their existence or be embarrassed by association.”

Keep reading for everything to know about the Fonda family.

Jane and Peter had a challenging upbringing

Henry was an up-and-coming actor when he married Canadian socialite Frances Ford Seymour in 1936. They welcomed Jane in 1937 and Peter in 1940 — but Henry was often absent due to his work schedule, and Frances struggled with serious mental health issues. She died by suicide in 1950, when Jane was 12 and Peter was 10.

“If you have a parent who is not capable of showing up, not capable of reflecting you back through eyes of love, it has a big impact on your sense of self,” Jane told PEOPLE in 2018. “As a child, you always think it was your fault.”

Henry quickly remarried and Jane and Peter continued to struggle in their relationships with their father. Both siblings talked about reconciling their issues with Henry before his 1982 death.

"Before he died I was able to tell him that I loved him and that I forgave him for, you know, whatever didn't happen," Jane said on Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace in 2023. "And I hope that he would forgive me for not being a better daughter ... He didn't say anything. But he wept. I had never seen that before ... it was powerful."

In his 1998 memoir Don’t Tell Dad, Peter talked about how offering his father a role in the 1979 film Wanda Nevada was a healing experience for the two of them.

“Slowly and choking on the high-powered emotion, he said, ‘I love you very much, son. I want you to know that,' ” Peter wrote in his memoir. “I hugged him so hard, I could feel the pacemaker in his chest. Tears streaming down my own cheeks, I told him I loved him very much,” he continued. “Years of frustration fell off my heart like melting snow sliding off a roof.”

Both Jane and Peter have children

Jane had daughter Vanessa Vadim in 1968 and son Troy Garity in 1973, and adopted daughter Mary Luana “Lulu” Williams in the '80s. The demands of her film career and her political activism often kept her away from her kids.

"The few things I regret in my life are not the controversy and the activism. But not having put enough time into mothering, wiving, [and] taking care of the inner life," she told PEOPLE in 2000.

In 2017, she opened up to PEOPLE about how she tried to mend old wounds with time. "I tell my kids 'I'm sorry,' for not being more present in their lives at times," she said.

But looking back at 85, Fonda said she still regrets that time. "I was not the kind of mother that I wished that I had been to my children,” she told PEOPLE in 2023. “I have great, great children — talented, smart. And I just didn't know how to do it."

Peter had a daughter, Bridget, in 1964 and a son, Justin, in 1966, with then-wife Susan Brewer. The couple split in 1972, and both kids went to live with their mother. Bridget told The New York Times in 1992 that it created an "abandonment thing” for her, but that in adulthood she got "along with him really well.”

“I grew up around adults who were imaginative and spontaneous, sure, and it was fantastic to go on that ride. I remember going to see my godparents [Larry and Maj Hagman], who lived on Malibu Beach ... And my dad would chase me round the tennis court on rollerskates," she told The Guardian in 2000.

“I mean, my dad may have been a hippy biker in the public mind, but he was always a classy, well-turned-out hippy," Bridget added.

Bridget’s acting has drawn comparisons to her grandfather’s

While Bridget started landing roles in 1985, she didn’t truly break through until 1992’s Single White Female, followed shortly after by Singles. When Bridget began appearing in leading roles, she quickly drew comparisons to her grandfather Henry.

"She acts in the great tradition of her grandfather, which is less is more," Barbet Schroeder, director of Single White Female, told The New York Times in 1992. "I've never known any actor, except maybe Jeremy Irons, who knows so much, who's such a total pro."

In the same article, Peter made a distinction between his father’s career and his daughter’s.

"To my father, acting was everything. It was escape; it was therapy," he said. "Bridget isn't like that. It's not compulsive; it's not out of fear. With her, it's basically about packing in as many good films as she can, while she can. She just knows what she wants."

Justin works behind the camera

Peter’s son Justin appeared in his father’s film Easy Rider as an uncredited extra, and acted in the 2000 film Big Eden — but the majority of his work has been behind the camera as a cinematographer.

Justin has worked on movies like 1992’s A River Runs Through It and 2000’s Vertical Limit.

Members of the family have worked together

Both Jane and Peter appeared in films with their father. Peter offered his dad a role in Wanda Nevada in 1979, and two years later, Jane starred as the daughter of Henry's character in On Golden Pond. Her mother was played by Katharine Hepburn. Jane was nominated for an Oscar for that film, and both Hepburn and Henry won for it.

Peter also put his own young children in his film Easy Rider marking their first on-screen appearance.

The collaboration goes beyond the family's first generation, too. Troy appeared in the 2018 HBO documentary about his mother, Jane Fonda in Five Acts. He also walked the red carpet with her for the premiere — his sister, Vanessa, provided photographs for the film.

Troy is an actor

While Jane and then-husband Tom Hayden gave Troy his paternal grandmother’s maiden name so he could avoid the pressure of having a famous family, he ultimately chose a career in the spotlight.

He first appeared in On Golden Pond in 1981 and has since acted in the Barbershop movies and the HBO series Ballers with Dwayne Johnson.

Jane is a dedicated activist

Jane has been outspoken about her anti-war stance, her progressive politics and her environmental activism — and even in her 80s, she isn’t stopping.

"I love this planet and want to do everything I can to protect it," Jane told PEOPLE in 2023. "I get really depressed because I read the science and I know what's happening and it's urgent and it could become catastrophic. It's just inconceivable to me to not do everything that I can."

Vanessa and Lulu are also passionate activists and have joined Jane at many protests.

“Arrested with my sister @maryisoutside and mother in the Hart Senate Building,” Vanessa captioned a photo on Instagram of her sister Mary being arrested during a “Fire Drill Friday” climate protest in 2019.

Bridget is married to musician Danny Elfman

In 2003, Bridget married composer Danny Elfman, as famous for his soundtracks to movies like Beetlejuice and The Nightmare Before Christmas as he is for his band Oingo Boingo.

Long before she had kids, Bridget knew that she would want to step away from acting when she became a mom. In 1992, she told The New York Times that she was thinking about having children, but wasn’t in a rush. "When it happens, I want to be able to put away movies for a long while and be satisfied with that,” she said.

The couple had a son, Oliver, in 2005, and Bridget did step away from the spotlight, almost completely. In 2023, Bridget was spotted by paparazzi at Los Angeles International Airport. When asked whether she’d return to acting, per Entertainment Tonight, Bridget said, “No, it’s too nice being a civilian.”

Related: Who Is Bridget Fonda’s Husband? All About Film Composer Danny Elfman

Peter died in 2019

In 2019, at age 79, Peter died of complications from lung cancer. “While we mourn the loss of this sweet and gracious man, we also wish for all to celebrate his indomitable spirit and love of life. In honor of Peter, please raise a glass to freedom," the family shared in a statement to PEOPLE.

Just before he died, Peter filmed The Last Full Measure with Diane Ladd. “Peter was a friend, a wonderful actor, and a great humanitarian,” the actress told PEOPLE. “He rang a bell for culture. He will indeed be missed.”

Jane told PEOPLE that in Peter's last days, the siblings were able to spend some special time together. “I have had beautiful alone time with him these last days,” she said. “He went out laughing.”

If you or someone you know is considering suicide, please contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255), text "STRENGTH" to the Crisis Text Line at 741-741 or go to suicidepreventionlifeline.org.

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