Biography for
Jennifer Jason Leigh More at IMDb Pro »

Date of Birth

5 February 1962, Hollywood, California, USA

Birth Name

Jennifer Lee Morrow

Height

5' 3" (1.60 m)

Mini Biography

Born in Los Angeles, Jennifer Jason Leigh - the daughter of actor Vic Morrow - worked in her first film at the age of nine, in a nonspeaking role for the film Death of a Stranger (Tod eines Fremden (1973)). At 14 she attended summer acting workshops given by Lee Strasberg and landed a role in the Disney TV movie The Young Runaways (1978) (TV), 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).

IMDb Mini Biography By: Alex Fung

Spouse

Noah Baumbach

(3 September 2005 - present)

Trivia

Daughter of actor Vic Morrow and actress-screenwriter Barbara Turner.

Won two 1990 Critic Society awards for her portrayal of Tralala in Last Exit to Brooklyn (1989) and as Susan Waggoner in Miami Blues (1990).

Selected as one of "America's 10 Most Beautiful Women" by Harper's Bazaar Magazine, 1989.

Has a sister, Carrie Morrow, and a half-sister, actress Mina Badie. Her stepfather is director Reza Badiyi.

Well-known in Hollywood for the exhausting research she does for each of her portrayals and for her affinity of playing lurid roles.

Had a part filmed for Eyes Wide Shut (1999). When director Stanley Kubrick wanted to do re-shoots, she was unavailable and her entire part was redone with another actress.

Born at 12:33pm-PST.

She went down to a weight of 86 lbs for her role as an anorexic teenager in the TV movie The Best Little Girl in the World (1981) (TV).

In 1997, she appeared in Faith No More's music video of "Last Cup of Sorrow," the plot of which was a modification of Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo (1958).

Father, Vic Morrow, died while filming Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983) due to a tragic accident on the set.

Measurements: 34B-23-34 1/2 (Source: Celebrity Sleuth magazine).

After reading the script for Backdraft (1991), she reportedly told director Ron Howard that she wished she was the fire because it has the best part.

She attended the infamous "Stagedoor Manor," which is an upstate New York summer camp that trains teenagers in acting, singing and dancing. Her fellow alumni include sitcom actor Zach Braff from NBC's "Scrubs" (2001), the writer and director Todd Graff (who made a film about the camp), and the pop star Mandy Moore.

Is of Russian descent.

She is good friends with actress/model Phoebe Cates; they met while filming Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982) together.

Frequently works with maverick director Robert Altman who, before his maverick days, worked with her father, Vic Morrow on the sixties televison series "Combat!" (1962).

Lived with Eric Stoltz for 5 years in the 80s

One of her best friends is Paul Thomas Anderson.

Took the name 'Jason' from family friend actor Jason Robards.

She has worked with three of the four Baldwin brother in five different movies. Miami Blues (1990) and Lymelife (2005) with Alec Baldwin, Last Exit to Brooklyn (1989) and Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle (1994) with Stephen Baldwin and Backdraft (1991) with William Baldwin.

Member of the jury at the Venice Film Festival in 2000.

Auditioned for the role of Sarah Connor in The Terminator (1984) but lost out to Linda Hamilton.

The song "Jennifer Jason Leigh" by the punk band J Church has lyrics made up from interview quotes.

Has become somewhat famous for turning down large roles: the Laura San Giacomo role in Sex, Lies, and Videotape (1989), the Julia Roberts role in Pretty Woman (1990), the Kyra Sedgwick role in Singles (1992), the 'Lori Petty' role in _A League of Their Own (1992)_, the 'Asia Argento' role in Sindrome di Stendhal, La (1996), the 'Julianne Moore' role in Boogie Nights (1997), the Kim Basinger role in L.A. Confidential (1997), the Lara Flynn Boyle role in Men in Black II (2002) and the Heather Graham role in Adrift in Manhattan (2007). She also turned down a recurring role on the TV show Lost (2004), which was eventually played by Cynthia Watros.

She signed on for the film Spread (2009) but later backed out, and is being replaced by Anne Heche.

She was one of several actresses considered by Jane Campion for the Holly Hunter role in The Piano (1993), but she was unable to meet with her because she was shooting Rush (1991) at the time.

Dario Argento offered her the female lead in his film Sindrome di Stendhal, La (1996), but she turned it down. It was eventually played by his daughter Asia Argento.

She turned down the Kyra Sedgwick role in Singles (1992).

She was offered the Kim Basinger role in L.A. Confidential (1997) but turned it down as she had already played a few prostitutes.

She won the role in Washington Square (1997) over Meg Ryan and Anne Heche.

She won the role in The Hudsucker Proxy (1994) over Winona Ryder and Bridget Fonda.

Auditioned for the Nicole Kidman role in To Die For (1995).

Auditioned for the role of Catwoman in Batman Returns (1992).

Moved in with Jack Black and Nicole Kidman during filming Margot at the Wedding (2007), because they wanted to perfect their roles as a dysfunctional family.

Personal Quotes

"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 ambivalent man-child."

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. It's hard to change your nature, even with years and years of therapy.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

I like the comparison to 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.

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.

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