Jennifer Jason Leigh

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Birthday:

5 February 1962, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Birth Name:

Jennifer Lee Morrow

Height:

160 cm

Jennifer Jason Leigh was born Jennifer Lee Morrow in Los Angeles, California, the daughter of writer Barbara Turner and actor Vic Morrow. Her father was of Russian Jewish descent and her mother was of Austrian Jewish ancestry. She is the sister of Carrie Ann Morrow and half-sister of actress Mina Badie.Jennifer's parents divorced when she was two. Jennifer worked in her first film at the age of nine, in a nonspeaking role for the film Death of a Stranger (Tod eines Fremden (1976)). At 14 she attended summer acting workshops given by Lee Strasberg and landed a role in the Disney TV movie Disneyland: The Young Runaways (1978), and received her Screen Actors Guild membership in an episode of the TV series Baretta (1975) when she was 16. Jennifer performed in several TV movies and dropped out of Pacific Palisades High School six weeks short of graduation for her major role in the film Eyes of a Stranger (1981). Her first major success came as the female lead in Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982).Jennifer was married to writer/director Noah Baumbach from 2005 to 2013, and the two have a son. Show less «

I could never play the ingenue, the girl next door or the very successful young doctor. That would be a bore.

[on her best friend, Phoebe Cates] Your best friend is the only one who would tell you the person you are in love with is a sexually ambival...Show more »

[on her best friend, Phoebe Cates] Your best friend is the only one who would tell you the person you are in love with is a sexually ambivalent man-child. Show less «

I just don't plan things. I live a month at a time.

I'm a typical middle child. I'm the mediator. The one that makes everything OK, puts their own needs aside to make sure everybody's happy. I...Show more »

I'm a typical middle child. I'm the mediator. The one that makes everything OK, puts their own needs aside to make sure everybody's happy. It's hard to change your nature, even with years and years of therapy. Show less «

I like a movie that the audience actively has to participate in, and not just casually observe. Whatever my part in it, just as an audience ...Show more »

I like a movie that the audience actively has to participate in, and not just casually observe. Whatever my part in it, just as an audience member, I find that exciting. Show less «

People can have so many ill-conceived ideas about me based on the parts that I play. I've had guys, when I've been single, come out of the w...Show more »

People can have so many ill-conceived ideas about me based on the parts that I play. I've had guys, when I've been single, come out of the woodwork to date me and I've found out very quickly that they were expecting some kind of whirlwind, some dramatic crazy person - and that's just not me. Show less «

I'd much rather be in a movie that people have really strong feelings about than one that makes a hundred million dollars but you can't reme...Show more »

I'd much rather be in a movie that people have really strong feelings about than one that makes a hundred million dollars but you can't remember because it's just like all the others. Show less «

When I did Short Cuts (1993) with Robert Altman, I went up to him on the first day and said 'Hi', and he said 'Hi, how are you? Could you ge...Show more »

When I did Short Cuts (1993) with Robert Altman, I went up to him on the first day and said 'Hi', and he said 'Hi, how are you? Could you get me a cup of coffee?' When I brought it back, it turned out he thought I was the PA. For him, I come alive on film. As a person, I don't really register that much. I mean, he loves me, I don't take it as a cut, although you could. But he says that as a person I disappear in a way. On film, I'm very mysterious, but in life I'm very dull. I don't feel like I'm dull, but I don't put out a lot. Show less «

But in mainstream movies the woman's role is mostly just to prove that the leading man is heterosexual. I'm not good at that, and I'm not in...Show more »

But in mainstream movies the woman's role is mostly just to prove that the leading man is heterosexual. I'm not good at that, and I'm not interested in that. Show less «

I like the comparison to Johnny Depp because with him, the way he transforms himself from role to role, he's just this miraculous changeling...Show more »

I like the comparison to Johnny Depp because with him, the way he transforms himself from role to role, he's just this miraculous changeling and people really get behind it. But with me, people sometimes have a problem. Show less «

I think I live in this mythical world where doing the parts I do is not going to hurt me, and telling people my age is not going to hurt me....Show more »

I think I live in this mythical world where doing the parts I do is not going to hurt me, and telling people my age is not going to hurt me. And it actually does. It's a bit sick-making but, you know, I can't change who I am. Show less «

[1992, on Backdraft (1991)] Ron Howard was incredibly generous and patient with me. He pursued me with this role. And I failed him. Everybod...Show more »

[1992, on Backdraft (1991)] Ron Howard was incredibly generous and patient with me. He pursued me with this role. And I failed him. Everybody had been telling me for so long that I should stop playing women who go through grueling experiences, but there was no place for me in that character. It taught me that I can't take a role I don't really connect with. Show less «

When my first movie, Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982), turned out to be this big hit, I was so innocent, I thought: all movies are hits. ...Show more »

When my first movie, Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982), turned out to be this big hit, I was so innocent, I thought: all movies are hits. It took a couple of years to figure out that almost every movie I made after that didn't make money. Some of them haven't made money because they're not very good movies. It's not like I look at a project and go, 'Oh, this is going to be a box-office bomb. I want it!' Show less «

[1992, on Miami Blues (1990)] Working with Alec (Baldwin) was like being on a roller coaster. He's thrilling, incredibly funny, completely f...Show more »

[1992, on Miami Blues (1990)] Working with Alec (Baldwin) was like being on a roller coaster. He's thrilling, incredibly funny, completely free, unashamed, trustful. It was one of those rare experiences where you really believe your fellow actor is the character he's playing. We didn't screw, of course, but our love scenes felt alive. Show less «

[1982: on the death of her father, actor Vic Morrow] I always hoped we could work together and, through that, resolve whatever needed to be ...Show more »

[1982: on the death of her father, actor Vic Morrow] I always hoped we could work together and, through that, resolve whatever needed to be resolved between us. Now that chance is lost. That's the real tragedy. Show less «

I remember I once went to a nutritionist who said I come from good Russian- Jewish peasant stock, which means I can hold a potato in my body...Show more »

I remember I once went to a nutritionist who said I come from good Russian- Jewish peasant stock, which means I can hold a potato in my body for a week, if need be. Show less «

So much of the joy of seeing Quentin [Tarantino]'s movies is just how explosively imaginative they are, and how you don't really know where ...Show more »

So much of the joy of seeing Quentin [Tarantino]'s movies is just how explosively imaginative they are, and how you don't really know where things are going, and you don't really know who's who and what's what and what the truth is. Show less «

I think I am talented -- but I also think I'm very lucky.