[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.

In 1988, she got her first substantial film role in Scandal, and appeared in You Can't Hurry Love and Shag (both 1988).

After gaining additional work experience in a few theater productions, she appeared in the comedy Doc Hollywood (1991), and was cast as the lead in Barbet Schroeder's Single White Female, followed by a role in Cameron Crowe's ensemble comedy Singles (both 1992).

She starred in A Simple Plan (1998) and 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.

[10] Fonda received Primetime Emmy and Golden Globe nominations for the television films In the Gloaming (1997) and No Ordinary Baby (2001).

[13] The following month, she became engaged to film composer and former Oingo Boingo frontman Danny Elfman, and they married in November.