Born Joan de Beauvoir de Havilland in Tokyo to British parents. In the US from childhood, she trailed far behind her sister Olivia de Havilland in her early career. As Joan Barfield, she appeared with various West Coast stage companies and in 1935 made her screen debut under that name in a minor role, supporting Joan Crawford in MGM's NO MORE LADIES. She then returned to the stage and it wasn't until 1937 that she began appearing regularly in films, mostly RKO B pictures, with the exception of A DAMSEL IN DISTRESS, in which she partnered with Fred Astaire, and GUNGA DIN, in which she was Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.'s love interest. It was not until the early 40s that her career took off, thanks to leads in two Hitchcock films. She was nominated for an Oscar for REBECCA (1940), and THE CONSTANT NYMPH (1943), and won the Academy Award, as well as the New York Film Critics Award, for her performance in SUSPICION (1941). Fontaine subsequently starred in numerous films, at first as innocent, refined heroines and later as sophisticated, sometimes bitchy and scheming, worldly women. In the 40s and 50s she had many real or imagined well-publicized feuds with sister Olivia. The first three of her four husbands were actor Brian Aherne (1939-45), producer William Dozier (1946-51), and producer-screenwriter Collier Young (1952-61). A highly accomplished woman, she is a licensed pilot, champion balloonist, prize-winning tuna fisherman, and an expert golfer, as well as a licensed interior decorator and a Cordon Bleu cook. Autobiography: No Bed of Roses. Visit the Internet Movie Database to view her extensive film and television credits.  Nominated for Actress 1940: REBECCA  Actress 1941: SUSPICION  Nominated for Actress 1943: THE CONSTANT NYMPH 3 nominations, 1 Award