Fonda was born on January 27, 1964,[2] in Los Angeles, California, to a family of actors, including her grandfather Henry Fonda, father Peter Fonda, and her aunt Jane Fonda. Her mother, Susan Jane Brewer, is an artist. Fonda is named after actress Margaret Sullavan's daughter Bridget Hayward.[3] Her maternal grandmother, Mary Sweet, married businessman Noah Dietrich.[4]
Fonda's parents divorced in 1974, and the next year, her father Peter married Portia Rebecca Crockett (former wife of author Thomas McGuane). Crockett raised Fonda, her brother Justin, and older stepbrother Thomas McGuane Jr. in the Coldwater Canyon section of Los Angeles, as well as in Paradise Valley, south of Livingston, Montana.[5]
She made her movie debut at age five (filmed at age four) in Easy Rider (1969) as a child in the hippiecommune that Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper visit on their trek across the United States.[8]
Her second (non-speaking) part was in the 1982 comedy Partners. In 1988, she got her first substantial film role in Scandal, and appeared in You Can't Hurry Love and Shag.
Fonda starred in 1993's Point of No Return, an American remake of the 1990 French film Nikita. A review in The New Yorker cited her "provocative, taunting assertiveness". In 1997, she was on the same flight as Quentin Tarantino when he offered her the part of Melanie in Jackie Brown. She starred in Lake Placid (1999), and was also reportedly offered the lead, eponymous role in the television series Ally McBeal, but turned it down to concentrate on her film career.[9]
In 2001, Fonda starred with Jet Li in the action thriller film Kiss of the Dragon. Her final film role was in the 2001 movie The Whole Shebang. Her final role overall was the title role in the TV movie Snow Queen in 2002, and she has not appeared on screen since.[10]
Personal life
Fonda met Eric Stoltz in 1986 and they began dating in 1990. In 1998, the couple ended their relationship.[11]
In February 2003, she suffered a serious car crash that fractured a vertebra.[12] The following month, she became engaged to film composer and former Oingo Boingo frontman Danny Elfman, and they married in November.[13] In 2005, they had a son together.[14][15]
After her engagement to Elfman, Fonda withdrew from acting and has concentrated on family life.[15]