She’s A He? Snakkle Catches Up With The Academy Award-Winning Cast Of Tootsie, 31 Years Later!

Dustin Hoffman as a man, who while playing a woman falls in love with a (real-life) woman…Try saying that three times fast! His memorable performance didn’t just leave audiences in stitches; it got him nominated for a Best Actor in a Leading Role Academy Award. Oh, and his character got the girl. Not too shabby for a cross-dressing straight guy.

Hoffman was really on a roll after his hilarious role in Tootsie. In 1988 he starred in Barry Levinson’s Rain Man as the autistic Raymond Babbitt and won himself an Academy Award. The A-list actor continues to challenge his versatility with a variety of different roles, you may remember him as Captain Hook costarring with Robin Williams in Spielberg’s Hook (1991) or his voice as Shifu in Kung Fu Panda (2008). Outside of film, Hoffman lives with his second wife, Lisa, and their four children.

Teri Garr played Sandy Lester, Michael’s friend from acting school who tips him off about the casting call for Southwest General. Sandy tries out for the role of the hospital administrator but, luckily for Michael, doesn’t get it. To make matters worse, Michael ends up sleeping with the emotionally distraught Sandy after a bungled moment when Michael’s caught trying on her clothes (for “Dorothy”). Poor Sandy can’t catch a break.

Teri Garr achieved commercial success in the iconic film Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), but her comedic performance in Tootsie earned her an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress. Garr has a wide range of stage talents that include singing and dancing. She hosted Saturday Night Live for three years and was a popular guest on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. In 2002, Garr revealed she’d been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis; however she continued to act in guest spots on TV shows until 2007. She is a leading advocate for MS awareness and a National Ambassador for The National Multiple Sclerosis Society.

Not only was acclaimed director Sydney Pollack both the producer and director for the successful film Tootsie he also played the role of Dustin Hoffman's agent, George Fields. According to a Wall Street Journal article commemorating the film's 25th anniversary and DVD release in 2008, Pollack admits he didn't want to act in the film. He explains that Hoffman convinced him to play unemployable Michael's agent, George, because Hoffman wanted "a real authority figure." The scene where Michael sits down next to his agent in the Russian Tea Room in NYC dressed and acting convincingly as "Dorothy" before quietly revealing his real identity is a classic.

Initially, Pollack had never considered himself a "comedy director." In fact, he already had a number of commercial successes with The Way We Were (1973) and Out of Africa (1985) under his belt by the time he took on Tootsie. Often considered one of the funniest films of all times, the movie also played a more serious part in the gender issues and women's rights dialogue at the time. Tootsie earned a total of ten Academy Awards nominations and won Best Picture and Best Director for the talented Pollack. Sadly, Pollack passed away in 2008 when he was 73.

Jessica Lange played Julia Nichols, the object of Dorothy, er, Michael’s affection. Julie costars with “Dorothy” on the soap Southwest General, so the two have plenty of time to get to know one another. Enough that is, for Michael to find out that Julie is involved with show’s director, Ron Carlisle. In this romantic tangle of soapiness, life imitates art… or is it the other way around?

The same year as Tootsie, Lange had also starred in the movie Frances that (in addition to her Best Supporting Actress performance in Tootsie) earned her a second Oscar nomination for Best Actress. Lange walked away with the gold for Tootsie, but her win wasn’t a case of great odds. She was nominated four more times for Best Actress and won in 1995 for her role in Blue Sky. Lange impresses audiences with her wealth in acting abilities and you can watch her now on the FX series American Horror Story. Maybe she’s shooting for an Oscar a decade!

Geena Davis found her way into the film business by modeling in New York City. Her lingerie modeling gigs helped open doors in the film industry, one of which led straight into Tootsie. Since Dustin Hoffman's character "Dorothy" was "one of the girls,” his getup also opened doors… right into the ladies changing room of Southwest General! Geena Davis in skivvies? We’re not complaining!

After Tootsie, Geena didn’t achieve instant silver screen success, but instead appeared on many hit TV shows like Knight Rider, Fantasy Island, Remington Steele, and was on Family Ties from 1984 to 1986. After Family Ties, the ball was really rolling: she starred in back-to-back unexpected hits like The Fly (1986), then Beetlejuice and the quirky alien hit Earth Girls Are Easy in 1988. She finally certified herself as Hollywood royalty with her stand out roles in Thelma and Louise (1991) and A League of Her Own (1992). Heck, this former lingerie model has even played the most-coveted role of all, as President of the United States on the short-lived TV show Commander in Chief.

Talk about a soap opera! Dabney Coleman plays the sexist soap opera director who is in a relationship with his actress employee, the sweet single mom Julie Nichols (Jessica Lange)—whom Michael (Dustin) has a crush on. Although director Sydney Pollack played Hoffman's agent, George Fields, that role was originally written for Dabney Coleman. The director still wanted Coleman for the film and recast him as the despicable male chauvinist—a role Coleman had already perfected a few years earlier as sexist boss Franklin M. Hart Jr. in the comedy 9 to 5.

Dabney is one of film and TV's most recognized character actors, having gone on to star in War Games with Matthew Broderik the year after Tootsie and playing Tom Hanks' father Nelson Fox in 1998's You've Got Mail. Most recently, he was a series regular on HBO's hit series Boardwalk Empire as Commodore Louis Kaestner for two seasons from 2010 to 2011,

Michael wouldn’t cross-dress just to land a gig, he’s also trying to raise the $8,000 his buddy Jeff needs to produce the play he’s written. Funnyman Bill Murray plays Jeff Slater, Michael’s confidante and one of the few people in on the charade. You may remember Jeff’s memorable line “That… is one nutty hospital,” in the awkward Dorothy-to-Michael on-camera reveal.

Comedian Bill Murray started off his career doing improv on Saturday Night Live, but his transition to film made him a superstar. After striking box office gold with movies like Caddyshack (1980), Tootsie, and Ghostbusters (1984), Murray started working with acclaimed writer-director Wes Anderson. He starred in a series of Anderson films, the most recent being Moonrise Kingdom. The famously hard-to-reach actor played FDR in the 2012 biographical comedy, Hyde Park On Hudson.   Here’s a fun fact, outside of his work in film, he owns a restaurant with his brother called Murray Bros. Caddy Shack in Florida!