Jo Van Fleet trained for the stage at New York's Neighborhood Playhouse, made her professional debut in 1944 and had her first New York appearance two years later. Over the next decade she became a major Broadway actress, winning numerous awards for her character portrayals. She debuted onscreen in East of Eden (1955), for which she won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar. For the next few years she was a busy screen actress, but after 1960 her film work was sporadic; she did little film work after the mid '70s.