From nearly flunking police school to Hollywood's favorite scream queen,
Jamie Lee Curtis' transformation proves that this freaky cool final girl isn't going anywhere.
Jamie Lee Curtis is the second daughter of legendary Hollywood actors Janet Leigh and Tony
Curtis. Their marriage was the subject of intense public attention in the 1950s and early 1960s,
and they divorced in 1962. Jamie was only four, and had no option but to be
a witness to their unraveling, according to her 2010 More cover story. She said,
"My parents' bond had deteriorated precipitously
as their stardom grew. And like any other save-the-marriage baby, I failed."
Jamie later revealed the hostility her parents had for each other. In 2016, she told "The View,"
"My parents hated each other my whole life. I was raised in a house of hatred for the other."
Jamie maintained a distant relationship with her father
for most of her life. She noted on "The Talk,"
"He was not interested in being a father. It's not a slant against him. He was very clear. He
did what he was supposed to do from a financial standpoint ... but he was not an involved father."
"That can be a problem, and was a problem."
Despite being Hollywood royalty, Jamie Lee Curtis did not want to follow the
same career path as her famous parents. She told The New Yorker,
"I never thought I'd be an actor, ever, ever, ever, ever."
Jamie thought her true calling was in law enforcement. Mainly because she thought being
a police officer would give her an opportunity to be useful without extensive education.
She even enrolled at the University of the Pacific, in Stockton, California,
to study corrections, but her prospects were not great. she told Good Housekeeping,
"I was a terrible student. [...] I probably had some learning thing I
didn't know about. I had a D+ average and was a party girl."
Having grown up in the entertainment industry, Curtis could not avoid being noticed. A friend
of a friend suggested she audition for the role of Nancy Drew at Universal Studios.
She didn't get the part, but was encouraged to continue. So she started taking acting classes.
"Halloween night, it's when people play tricks on each other."
Jamie Lee Curtis may be one of Hollywood's most iconic scream queens,
but she actually hates horror films. In 2019, she told The New Yorker,
"I scare easily — I have since I was a child. Loud noises scare me, suspense music scares me."
Curtis has said that she auditioned over one hundred times until she
snagged a contract with Universal. In 1977 she debuted on TV in an episode of "Quincy,
M.E." and landed a role as an Army nurse in the comedy series "Operation Petticoat."
Curtis' portrayal of Lieutenant Barbara Duran didn't impress many. She told The New Yorker,
"I was fired, along with eleven of the thirteen actors. I was devastated. I
thought my life was over. I thought my career was over. I thought I would
lose my contract. And two weeks later the audition for 'Halloween' came up."
The auditioning process for the role of Laurie Strode in "Halloween" was long and arduous.
In the end, she contends that getting the role boiled down mainly to her privilege. She said,
"If you're going to choose between this one and this one, choose the one whose mother was
in 'Psycho,' because it will get some press for you. I'm never going to pretend that I just got
that on my own, like I'm just a little girl from nowhere getting it. Clearly, I had a leg up."
Regardless of how much that played into it, there's no denying she was right for the part.
"It was the bogeyman."
Curtis also starred in the frightening 1980 thriller "The Fog," and her prospects took
off from there. In 1983, she made a career-defining decision playing in
the comedy "Trading Places." Soon after, Jamie Lee Curtis was a household name.
Even though Curtis won a BAFTA for best supporting actress for "Trading Places," the
opportunity came with its challenges. Curtis revealed she was uncomfortable filming nude
scenes for the movie during a 2022 interview for "PEOPLE (The TV Show!)." She explained,
"I was 21 years old and the part required Ophelia to take off her
dress. Did I like doing it? No. Did I feel embarrassed that I was doing it? Yes."
Curtis went on to share that she wouldn't film a nude scene
like that today because she is a wife and mother.
Jamie Lee Curtis and Christopher Guest have a marriage that has stood the test
of time—especially by Hollywood standards. Curtis revealed to Interview magazine in 2015,
"I married Chris five months after seeing his picture in Rolling Stone. I said out
loud to my friend, the late, great Debra Hill, 'Oh, I'm going to marry that guy.'"
The star went on to share that she left her number with Guest's agent,
but nothing came of it until a chance meeting at a restaurant.
Curtis also shared that she and Guest didn't even speak at the restaurant. Instead,
Guest called the actor the next day. Their romance moved quickly from that point on,
and they got married only four months later in 1984. The couple went on to adopt their
first daughter, Annie, in 1986 and welcome their second adopted daughter, Ruby, in 1996.
The couple's love for each other hasn't dulled over the years. Curtis and Guest
often publicly express how much they mean to one another. In 2019, Curtis
even wrote a song for her filmmaker husband to celebrate their 35th wedding anniversary.
It's not easy becoming famous overnight. Hollywood can take a toll on anyone's mental health and
self-image. Curtis grew up witnessing her mother deal with self-esteem issues
surrounding the public attention she received for being beautiful. Curtis told More magazine,
"I think the most complicated relationship my mother had, both loving and often cruel,
was with her own body. ... She was intoxicating. Like anyone who becomes famous for what they look
like, when that commodity starts to change, the relationship with it deteriorates."
Curtis told Variety that she was insecure. She did not think she was beautiful and in the
late 1980s sought a series of what she called "routine plastic surgeries." Shortly after,
Curtis became addicted to painkillers. After being prescribed Vicodin to manage
the post-op pain, she started using it excessively, along with alcohol.
"In recovery we say you're only as sick as your secrets. I was sick. I was very, very sick."
In 1999, after years of hiding in plain sight, Curtis chose to be sober. She said,
"I was the wildly controlled drug addict and alcoholic. I never did it when I worked.
I never took drugs before 5 p.m. I never, ever took painkillers at 10 in the morning."
In 2003, Jamie Lee Curtis starred alongside Lindsay Lohan in "Freaky Friday." Like her
part in "Halloween," this iconic role was also monumental for her career.
"Get away you clone freak."
"Don't you use that tone with me."
"Oh my God, you are my mother."
"Freaky Friday" was a box office hit and Curtis was nominated for a Golden Globe
for the film for best actress. There is still a bit of buzz around the film these
days and it's been reported there could be a sequel on the way. In February 2023,
Curtis took to Instagram to share a throwback photo of her and Lohan with the caption,
"It's Friday. I'm just sayin! Freaky fingers crossed!"
This sparked curiosity around a possible "Freaky Friday" sequel. Curtis also fueled
this speculation during an interview with Variety at the "Glass Onion:
A Knives Out Mystery" premiere in 2022.
"There is no scheduled date, but we're talking. People are talking. The right people are talking."
The actor shared another update on a possible second "Freaky
Friday" film during a February 2023 interview with Variety. She said,
"It's going to happen. Without saying there's anything officially happening, I'm looking
at you in this moment and saying, 'Of course it's going to happen.' It's going to happen."
Jamie Lee Curtis is obviously best known for her acting career,
but she has also branched out creatively. In fact, she launched a successful career
in the early 1990s writing children's books. Like her acting career, writing children's
books is not something she thought she would do. Jamie told the New Yorker that her story,
"When I Was Little: A Four-Year-Old's Memoir of Her Youth," came to her by accident when
she started listing things her 4-year-old could do. The book was released in 1993,
and since then she has written 13 more, including one that was on The New York Times best-selling
list for 10 weeks and 2016's "This Is Me: A Story of Who We Are and Where We Came From."
Curtis seems to balance both of her careers as well as her family and still appears
full of energy. And considering her multiple upcoming projects,
it's clear she's nowhere near retirement.
Decades after Jamie Lee Curtis' career-launching role in the 1978 film "Halloween," she reprised
her part in David Gordon Green's series of sequels. In 2018, Curtis brought Laurie Strode
back to the big screen in "Halloween," followed by "Halloween Kills" and "Halloween Ends." Curtis
revealed that she got emotional filming the franchise conclusion "Halloween Ends."
"And knowing that I'm not going to get to do it again with that same group of
people really has been very tough for me, and I've been a little weepy."
While it was clearly difficult to leave such a sentimental role behind,
she also seemed to be ready to let go. Curtis said,
"I need to now cut her loose and let her live in the minds and hearts of the
fans that have supported her. I now get to go off and do my own thing."
Jamie Lee Curtis' long acting career has established her as a Hollywood
veteran. Some of the actor's most impressive accomplishments include her two Golden Globes,
Emmy and Grammy nominations, Screen Actors Guild Awards, an Oscar, and a BAFTA.
Curtis also won a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Venice Film Festival ahead of the release
of her 2021 film "Halloween Kills." With all of her prolific talents and accomplishments,
it might be safe to say that this award was well deserved. Curtis
shared a thoughtful statement that said in part,
"I am incredibly humbled to be honored in this way by the Venice
International Film Festival. It seems impossible to me that I've been in this
industry long enough to be receiving 'Lifetime Achievement' recognition,
and to have it happen now, with 'Halloween Kills,' is particularly meaningful to me."
Venice Film Festival Director Alberto Barbera was partially responsible for choosing Curtis
as the award recipient. He explained that he settled on Curtis because of her impressive
acting ability, her lengthy career, and her charity work. Barbera shared in part,
"Her work reveals an artist who navigates tone and style with impeccable skill and definitive grace."
Some might say that Jamie Lee Curtis' 2023 Oscar win was long overdue. The actor received the best
supporting actress award for her role in the critically acclaimed 2022 film "Everything
Everywhere All at Once." It was the first Oscar she'd received in her decades-long career.
Curtis appeared to be incredibly grateful for her win. During her acceptance speech,
she even took a moment to acknowledge her late parents, Hollywood legends Tony Curtis and Janet
Leigh. After thanking her co-stars, her team, her family, and fans of her films, the actor shared,
"And my mother and my father were both nominated for Oscars in different categories."
The actor spoke more about her win during an interview
for the "GMA Oscars After Party." Curtis said,
"The goodwill, that is the takeaway. Not the gold statue,
not the shiny things that I've been talking a lot about. It's the goodwill,
the goodwill that the movie engendered with the message of kindness and love
and reunification at a time when it feels like we're all really struggling with reunifying."
"And Happy Halloween everyone"