Geena Davis accepted the Jean Hersholt humanitarian award at the Governors Awards last week at the Dolby Ballroom in Los Angeles. Thelma and Louise star Davis told the annual Governors’ Awards how the feminist road movie had prompted her lifelong campaign for gender balance at the movies. “It made me realise in a very powerful way how few opportunities we give women to come out of a movie feeling excited and empowered by female characters,” said Davis. Davis, already an Academy Award winner, received the special statuette for her work to highlight the lack of women in films. She founded an institute compiling data on gender bias in 2004. Stars at the glitzy ceremony in Hollywood’s Ray Dolby Ballroom included Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hanks, Quentin Tarantino, Eddie Murphy, Scarlett Johansson and Jennifer Lopez.