"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."
Jennifer Jason Leigh (born Jennifer Leigh Morrow; February 5, 1962) is an American actor from Los Angeles, California. Leigh was Hollywood royalty from birth, being the second and younger daughter of the late actor Vic Morrow and the late screenwriter Barbara Turner. Her younger half-sister Mina Badie is an actor in her own right. She is not related to Jason Lee, who became famous years after she did.
She was once married to filmmaker Noah Baumbach, but they have since divorced. They have one son together.
TV Tropes filmography:
Film roles
- Eyes of a Stranger (1981) as Tracy Harris
- Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982) as Stacy Hamilton
- Easy Money (1983) as Allison Capuletti
- Flesh+Blood (1985) as Agnes
- The Hitcher (1986) as Nash
- The Big Picture (1989) as Lydia Johnson
- Last Exit to Brooklyn (1989) as Tralala
- Miami Blues (1990) as Susie Waggoner
- Backdraft (1991) as Jennifer Vaitkus
- Single White Female (1992) as Hedy Carlson/Ellen Besch
- Short Cuts (1993) as Lois Kaiser
- The Hudsucker Proxy (1994) as Amy Archer
- Dolores Claiborne (1995) as Selena St. George
- Bastard out of Carolina (1996) as Anney Boatwright
- Washington Square (1997) as Catherine Sloper
- A Thousand Acres (1997) as Caroline Cook
- eXistenZ (1999) as Allegra Geller
- The Man Who Wasn't There (2001) as Female Inmate (uncredited)
- Road to Perdition (2002) as Annie Sullivan
- In the Cut (2003) as Pauline
- The Machinist (2004) as Stevie
- Palindromes (2004) as Mark Aviva
- The Jacket (2005) as Dr. Beth Lorenson
- Synecdoche, New York (2008) as Maria
- The Spectacular Now (2013) as Sara
- Kill Your Darlings (2013) as Naomi Ginsberg
- The Hateful Eight (2015) as Daisy Domergue
- Morgan (2016) as Dr. Kathy Grieff
- LBJ (2016) as Lady Bird Johnson
- Good Time (2017) as Corey
- Amityville: The Awakening (2017) as Joan Walker
- Annihilation (2018) as Dr. Ventress
- White Boy Rick (2018) as FBI Agent Alex Snyder
- Possessor (2020) as Girder
- The Woman in the Window (2021) as Jane Russell
- Awake (2021) as Murphy
Television roles
- Baretta (1977) as Marcie (1 episode)
- Family (1978) as Jenny Blair (1 episode)
- The Wonderful World of Disney (1978) as Heather (1 episode)
- The Waltons (1981) as Kathy Seals (1 episode)
- Trapper John, M.D. (1982) as Karen McCall (1 episode)
- Weeds (2009–12) as Jill Pice-Gray (16 episodes)
- Revenge (2012) as Kara Clarke-Murphy (7 episodes)
- Twin Peaks (2017) as Chantal Hutchens (6 episodes)
- Atypical (2017–21) as Elsa Gardner (38 episodes)
- Patrick Melrose (2018) as Eleanor Melrose (5 episodes)
- The Affair (2019) as Adeline Taylor (2 episodes)
Voice roles
- King of the Hill (1998) as Amy (1 episode)
- Adventures from the Book of Virtues (1998) as Alexandra (1 episode)
- Hercules: The Animated Series (1998) as Tempest (4 episodes)
- Superman: The Animated Series (1999) as Cetea (1 episode)
- Todd McFarlane's Spawn (1999) as Lily (2 episodes)
- Mission Hill (2002) as Eunice Eulmeyer (1 episode)
- Hey Arnold! The Movie (2002) as Bridget
- Anomalisa (2015) as Lisa
Leigh's works (that don't have pages of their own) contain examples of:
- Acclaimed Flop: This was her deal in the '90s. She starred in many critically acclaimed independent films that are not typical box office fare.
- Creator Backlash: She called Backdraft the least favorite of her roles."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."
- Dyeing for Your Art:
- She went down to 86 pounds to play an anorexic girl in the Made-for-TV Movie The Best Little Girl In The World. Less dangerous than it sounds, as she weighed less than 100 pounds to begin with at that point
- She also went down to 90 pounds for Georgia.
- Enforced Method Acting:
- For Margot at Wedding she, Jack Black and Nicole Kidman all moved in together to properly create a dysfunctional family dynamic.
- Also an inadvertent one when she was playing a real antique guitar in The Hateful Eight and an unknowing Kurt Russell smashed it before it could be swapped out for a stunt copy. Her character's horrified reaction was real.
- Ms. Fanservice: Most of her roles involve her being naked at least once. YMMV, as the nature of some of her roles (anorexic, drug addict, etc.) can be decidedly Fan Disservice.
- The Other Marty: She had a small role in Eyes Wide Shut. But when re-shoots needed to be done, she wasn't available. So they recast her with Marie Richardson.
- Playing Against Type:
- The 90s featured her either playing neurotic or fragile characters, often prostitutes as well. In The Jacket Keira Knightley plays such a character, while Jennifer plays the lone good psychologist in a Bedlam House.
- She's also a concerned mother in The Spectacular Now and it's her ex-husband who's the troubled one.
- Production Posse: She worked with the Coen Brothers on The Hudsucker Proxy and The Man Who Wasn't There (2001), also having auditioned for several of their other films.
- Real-Life Relative: Her mother wrote and co-produced the movie Georgia.
- Her stepfather was Reza S. Badiyi, a prolific TV director. He's probably best-known for designing the title sequences for Hawaii Five-O and The Mary Tyler Moore Show.
- Romance on the Set: She dated Jason Patric for two years after they worked together on Rush.
- Star-Making Role: Fast Times at Ridgemont High got her noticed, but Miami Blues and Last Exit to Brooklyn put her on the map.
- Typecasting: The '90s typecast her as troubled prostitutes and she had to take special care to avoid those roles until The Machinist.
- What Could Have Been:
- She very nearly played Sarah Connor in The Terminator. But James Cameron felt she was too young, at only twenty-two, and the role went to Linda Hamilton insteadnote . She also auditioned for Catwoman in Batman Returns, which went to Michelle Pfeiffer.
- She was infamous for turning down many roles such as Libby on Lost and Bree on Desperate Housewives. Earlier in her career she also turned down the lead in The Stendhal Syndrome.
- Written by Cast Member: She co-wrote the film The Anniversary Party, which she also co-produced and starred in.
