Jamie Lee Curtis: Actress, Producer, Children’s Author
Jamie Lee Curtis was the daughter of Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh – two Hollywood actors – but didn’t necessarily wish to follow in their footsteps right away. Instead, she attended Westlake School in Los Angeles and Choate Rosemary Hall before attending the University of the Pacific for one semester before withdrawing her enrollment and changing careers altogether.
Jamie Lee Curtis’ Biography
Jamie Lee Curtis first rose to fame as a horror icon after her appearance in the 1978 hit Halloween, co-starring both her mother Janet Leigh, and herself as actors Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh. This groundbreaking movie quickly established itself as a household name while simultaneously cementing Jamie Lee Curtis as an icon within its genre.
Curtis left school after briefly studying law to pursue acting full time, making her television debut in an episode of Quincy, M.E. in 1977 before appearing as a guest star on numerous other series including Columbo, Charlie’s Angels, The Love Boat, and Match Game as a game show panelist. However, during the late 80s, Curtis developed a serious addiction to alcohol and Vicodin that nearly cost her her career but eventually got clean again and resumed it successfully.
Curtis first demonstrated her versatility by appearing in Trading Places with Dan Aykroyd and Eddie Murphy, earning critical acclaim and receiving a BAFTA nomination in 1983. A year later she played a soft-hearted prostitute in Death of a Centerfold; both films earned critical acclaim and nominations from BAFTA. Following that she costarred alongside John Cleese, Michael Palin, and Kevin Kline in A Fish Called Wanda before appearing as an officer being hunted by a serial killer in Kathryn Bigelow’s crime drama Blue Steel (1990).
She returned to horror in 1998 with Halloween H20: 20 Years Later and its 2002 sequel. Additionally, she appeared in Drowning Mona, Tailor of Panama, and voiced Queen Camilla for Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer: Islands of Misfit Toys movies.
Jamie Lee Curtis began appearing less frequently in films after her 2004 comedy Christmas with the Kranks; however, she did appear occasionally in TV roles such as NCIS and New Girl. In 2020 she launched the Letters from Camp podcast as well as writing children’s books. Additionally, she invented and patented a diaper with built-in pockets for baby wipes!
Jamie Lee Curtis’ Filmography
Jamie Lee Curtis has made her mark across genres through an impressive career that spans slashers, romances, and sci-fi comedies – from her initial breakout role in 1978’s highest-grossing independent movie Halloween to playing an unnamed laundromat owner fighting to save the multiverse in Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022), there’s little she can’t do!
Jamie Lee Leigh was best known for her shower scene in Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho and went on to star as one of horror film’s iconic heroines in 1978’s Halloween, an adaptation of John Carpenter’s classic novel that became an instant classic of horror cinema. Her performance earned her the moniker ‘Scream Queen’, cementing her place as one of its iconic leading ladies and making history!
She continued her slasher film work by appearing in several more – Prom Night and Terror Train, for instance – but it was 1983’s Trading Places that truly saw her blossom as an actress; playing an intelligent sex worker who forms an unlikely alliance between Dan Aykroyd’s character and Eddie Murphy’s. Trading Places became a huge hit and cemented her star status.
Curtis began taking on more dramatic roles during the 1990s. She was cast as Vada Sultenfuss in My Girl, a coming-of-age drama, while Nicholas’ Gift featured her as Maggie Green a mother who is attacked by highway bandits while traveling through Italy with her husband and children; Curtis received an Emmy nomination for this moving performance.
Cur Jamie Lee Curtis returned to director John Carpenter a few years later for The Fog, in which an otherworldly fog descended upon Antonio Bay’s coast, once more proving her versatility as she balanced her character’s confidence with its faux innocence – giving another great performance.
Jamie Lee Curtis’ Awards
Jamie Lee Curtis finally earned her first Academy Award nomination this year after years of hard work in film and television. Curtis is the daughter of actors Janet Leigh and Tony Curtis and was nominated for her role as Deirdre Beaubeirdre in Everything Everywhere All at Once – beating out Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’s Angela Bassett, Kerry Condon from The Banshees of Inisherin, and Hong Chau from Darren Aronofsky’s The Whale to claim best supporting actress – not to mention Curtis has won numerous awards such as SAG Awards as well.
Curtis made her feature debut with Halloween in 1978. Since then she has gone on to showcase her talent in horror and slasher films before landing roles in more mainstream fare such as Trading Places and A Fish Called Wanda. Curtis quickly established herself as one of Hollywood’s go-to horror queens before branching out into comedy and action movie roles in recent years.
Curtis returned as babysitter Laurie Strode against serial killer Michael Myers for what many consider the last entry of the Halloween franchise in 2023, earning an Academy Award nomination as best supporting actress for that film. Curtis also appeared in the sci-fi disaster flick The Happening as well as the comedy Mother’s Day.
Curtis has received two BAFTA Award nominations, two Golden Globe Award wins and three Screen Actors Guild Award nods. Additionally, she has earned honorary accolades such as being featured on the Hollywood Walk of Fame as an honoree; receiving Golden Lion Honorary Award from Venice International Film Festival in 2021; and Maltin Modern Master Award from Santa Barbara International Film Festival in 2023.
Jamie Lee Curtis hasn’t only limited herself to acting; she’s also written and directed several films, making her directorial debut with Letters From Camp in 2020 and co-creating scripted podcasts and hosting interview shows. Additionally, Curtis is involved with multiple business ventures and received a patent in 1988 for a disposable diaper featuring a pocket for wipes.
Publications
Jamie Lee Curtis may be best known for her roles in horror and slasher films, but she’s also an award-winning children’s author. To date, she’s written 13 books illustrated by Laura Cornell. Just One More Sleep will be released later in January 2018. This actor believes reading with children should be seen as sacred activity and hopes that generations to come enjoy reading for years.
Jamie Lee Curtis is a loving mother and takes great pleasure in spending time with Annie and Tom, whom she was an early advocate of breastfeeding in Hollywood, in her various roles as actress, producer, writer or campaigner against misogynistic attitudes such as sexual harassment or assault within Hollywood and also about her battles with alcoholism and painkiller addiction, which she overcame by seeking professional help.
In 1997, she co-starred alongside John Cleese, Kevin Kline and Michael Palin from A Fish Called Wanda for Fierce Creatures which was moderately successful commercially and received mixed reviews. Later that same year, she co-starred alongside Tom Chiarella in In the Land of Women which received an Oscar nomination nomination.
She has appeared in numerous television shows, such as The Love Boat, Quincy, Charlie’s Angels, and Family Feud for several seasons as host and Guest Starred on numerous episodes of Columbo while acting as a panelist on The Match Game.
The Library of Congress boasts an impressive collection of Jamie Lee Curtis books written for publication, consisting of typescripts, proofs, dummies, clippings and reviews, correspondence as well as additional materials related to their production. Available for research use in Elmer L. Andersen Library Reading Room for research use under copyright law Title 17 U.S.C). Users are responsible for ascertaining rights status before making use of any material from this collection.
