Leigh was born in Los Angeles, California.[2] Her father, Vic Morrow (born Victor Morozoff), was an actor, and her mother, Barbara Turner, was a screenwriter.[3][4] Her parents divorced when she was two.[5] Leigh's birth name was Jennifer Leigh Morrow. She changed her surname early in her acting career, taking the middle name "Jason" in honor of actor Jason Robards, a family friend. Leigh's parents were Jewish; her father's family was from Russia and her mother's from Austria.[6][7][8][9][10][11]
Leigh is the youngest of two daughters. Her older sister, Carrie Ann Morrow, who was credited as a "technical advisor" on her 1995 film Georgia, died in 2016.[12] Leigh also has a half-sister, actress Mina Badie (born 'Badiyi' – from her mother's second marriage). Badie acted alongside Leigh in The Anniversary Party. Film director Reza Badiyi became Leigh's stepfather when he married Leigh's mother, Barbara.
Career
1976–1989
Leigh had a nonspeaking role in her film debut Death of a Stranger (The Execution) (1973). At the age of 14, she attended acting workshops, taught by Lee Strasberg, and the Stagedoor Manor Performing Arts Training Center in Loch Sheldrake, New York. Afterwards, she landed a role in the film The Young Runaways (1978). She also appeared in an episode of Baretta and an episode of The Waltons. Several television films followed, including a portrayal of an anorexic teenager in The Best Little Girl in the World, for which Leigh dropped to 86 pounds (39 kg) under medical supervision. She made her film debut, as a blind, deaf and mute rape victim in the 1981 slasher filmEyes of a Stranger. She left school to star in the film.[4]
In 1982, Leigh played a pregnant teenager in Amy Heckerling's high school film Fast Times at Ridgemont High, which served as a launching pad for several of its young stars. While decrying the writing as sexist and exploitative, film critic Roger Ebert was enthusiastic about the acting, singling out Leigh and writing, "Don't they know they have a star on their hands?"[13] With the exception of Ridgemont High and a supporting role in the comedy film Easy Money (1983) alongside Rodney Dangerfield, Leigh's early film work consisted of playing fragile, damaged or neurotic characters in low-budget horror or thriller genre films. She played a virginal princess kidnapped and raped by mercenaries in Flesh and Blood (1985), an innocent waitress pursued by the psychopathic title character in The Hitcher (1986) (both films pitting her alongside Rutger Hauer), a mentally-disturbed, child-like young woman on the threshold of sexual awakening in the Southern Gothic film Sister, Sister (1987), and a young woman on the verge of a nervous breakdown in Heart of Midnight (1989).
In his 1991 book Cult Movie Stars, Danny Peary described Leigh as "an interesting, always watchable, and extremely talented young actress," summarizing her appeal "For those who believe that the preacher's angelic-looking daughter is as interested in sex as the farmer's daughter. This pretty, sweet-looking blonde has played a number of shy and innocent-looking women who are curious about sex; once they learn, they display wicked imaginations." Peary added, "Leigh seems too gentle and looks too young and innocent to play the parts she has taken. Her females are either hungry for sex and/or have been psychologically affected by past sexual incidents... Her characters are vulnerable and almost always victimised, but usually they gave surprising resilience, and try to use their bad experiences to make themselves stronger."[19]
Leigh was cast in her first mainstream Hollywood studio film, the firefighter drama Backdraft (1991), in which she played a more conventional role, the girlfriend of lead actor William Baldwin. She found more success in the gritty crime drama Rush (1991), portraying an undercover cop who becomes a junkie and falls in love with her partner, played by Jason Patric. Reviewing Rush, Roger Ebert noted, "Leigh of course is a veteran by now of grubby characters in sleazy films; she has become one of the best young actresses by accepting roles some of her contemporaries would not even consider... After her extraordinary work as a doomed prostitute in Last Exit to Brooklyn, here she is again, looking sweet and wholesome, and descending into a world of people who have forgotten their better natures."[20] Leigh's next film, Single White Female (1992), was a surprise box-office success, bringing Leigh to her largest mainstream audience yet, portraying a mentally-ill woman who terrorizes roommate Bridget Fonda.[21]
Leigh was awarded the MTV Movie Award for Best Villain at the 1993 MTV Movie Awards[22] and nominated for Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress.[23] Leigh co-starred with Kathy Bates as a tormented, pill-popping woman hiding a history of childhood sexual abuse in the adaptation of Stephen King's novel Dolores Claiborne (1995). Leigh achieved her greatest acclaim in the role of Sadie Flood, an angry, drug-addicted rock singer living in the shadow of her successful older sister (Mare Winningham), in Georgia (1995). For the role, Leigh dropped to 90 pounds (41 kg) and sang all of her songs live, including a rambling 8+1⁄2-minute version of Van Morrison's "Take Me Back". Georgia was met with critical praise. James Berardinelli wrote, "There are times when it's uncomfortable to watch this performance because it's so powerful",[24] and Janet Maslin of The New York Times described Leigh's "fierce, risk-taking performance and flashes of overwhelming honesty".[25]
Leigh played psychiatrist Dr. Ventress in the 2018 science fiction film Annihilation, alongside Natalie Portman, directed by Alex Garland and based on the novel by Jeff VanDerMeer.
In 2001, Leigh co-wrote and co-directed The Anniversary Party, an independently produced feature film about a recently reconciled married couple who assemble their friends at their Hollywood Hills house, ostensibly to celebrate their sixth wedding anniversary. As the evening progresses, the party disintegrates into emotional confrontations and bitter arguments as the façade of their happy marriage crumbles. Leigh was inspired by her recent experience filming the low-budget Dogme 95 film The King Is Alive.[50] Leigh and co-writer Alan Cumming drew freely from their personal experiences in the writing of the film.[50] Leigh plays an aging actress who makes jokes about her lack of Academy Award nominations and is fearful of losing her bisexual husband (Cumming). The film was shot in 19 days on digital video,[3] and costarred the pair's real-life Hollywood friends,[50] including Kevin Kline, Phoebe Cates, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jennifer Beals, John C. Reilly, Parker Posey, and Leigh's sister Mina Badie. Leigh and Cumming jointly received a citation for Excellence in Filmmaking from the National Board of Review,[51] and were nominated for the Independent Spirit Award for Best First Feature and Independent Spirit Award for Best First Screenplay. The film received generally positive reviews.[52]
Other work
Leigh filmed a role in Stanley Kubrick's final film Eyes Wide Shut (1999) as a grieving patient of Dr. Bill Harford (Tom Cruise) who declares her love for him after her father's death. Kubrick wanted to reshoot the scenes, but Leigh was unavailable due to scheduling conflicts with eXistenZ; instead, her scenes were cut, and the role was recast with Marie Richardson.[53] Leigh was originally cast as Vincent Gallo's girlfriend in his self-directed film The Brown Bunny, and was apparently prepared to perform oral sex on Gallo as the script required. Leigh subsequently commented that "it just didn't work out" and the role was eventually played by Chloë Sevigny.[54] In 1997, she was featured in Faith No More's music video for "Last Cup of Sorrow".[55] She was selected as one of "America's 10 Most Beautiful Women" by Harper's Bazaar magazine in 1989 and served as a jury member at the 57th Venice International Film Festival in 2000. She narrated the audiobook for Quentin Tarantino's novelization of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.
Leigh has described herself as shy, introverted, and averse to Hollywood publicity and scandal.[5][57] Speaking about her roles in smaller, independent films, she said, "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."[4]
She met independent film writer-director Noah Baumbach in 2001 while starring on Broadway in Proof. The couple married on September 2, 2005. Their son was born on March 17, 2010. Leigh filed for divorce on November 15, 2010, in Los Angeles, citing irreconcilable differences.[58] She sought spousal support as well as primary custody of the couple's son, with visitation for Baumbach.[59] The divorce was finalized in September 2013.[60]
^"Good Time". AMC Theatres. August 11, 2017. Archived from the original on April 4, 2019. Retrieved May 21, 2018. Her father was of Russian Jewish descent and her mother was of Austrian Jewish ancestry.
^Sister's passing mentioned by Leigh in Marc Maron WTF Podcast interview on August 17, 2017 [1]Archived August 27, 2017, at the Wayback Machine
^Ebert, Roger (January 1, 1982). "Fast Times at Ridgemont High". RogerEbert.com. Archived from the original on November 7, 2017. Retrieved November 5, 2017.
^Schroeder, Barbet (August 14, 1992), Single White Female (Drama, Thriller), Bridget Fonda, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Steven Weber, Columbia Pictures, retrieved May 22, 2023
^Cronenberg, David (April 23, 1999), eXistenZ (Horror, Mystery, Sci-Fi), Jude Law, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Ian Holm, Dimension Films, Alliance Atlantis Communications, Canadian Television Fund, retrieved May 22, 2023
^ abcde"Jennifer Jason Leigh (visual voices guide)". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved September 10, 2023. A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its opening and/or closing credits and/or other reliable sources of information.
Canadian Film Awards 1968-1978, Genie Awards 1980-2011, Canadian Screen Awards 2012-present. Separate awards were presented by gender prior to 2022; ungendered awards for best performance regardless have been presented since.