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Jennifer Jason Leigh - Biography |
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A professional actor since the age
of nine, Jennifer Jason Leigh earned her Screen Actors Guild card at 16
and dropped out of high school to study at the Lee Strasberg Institute and
star in seedy made-for-TV movies. Born to actor Vic Morrow and
writer/actress Barbara Turner in Hollywood, CA, Jennifer picked up the
middle name Jason from family friend Jason Robards Jr. Throughout her
career, she has made a name for herself portraying helpless, damaged, or
mentally unsound characters, often performing at a higher level than the
material. Also known for extensively researching her roles, Leigh dropped
down to less than 90 pounds for one of her first features as an anorexic
teenager in the TV-movie The Best Little Girl in the World. Never one to
shy away from touchy subject matter, her breakthrough role came in 1982 as
the naïve high school girl who gets an abortion in Fast Times at Ridgemont
High. After a decade of developing a repertoire of various troubled
characters, she was nominated for two Critics Circle awards in 1990 for
playing prostitutes in both Miami Blues and Last Exit to Brooklyn. She
would continue to play vulnerable characters in dangerous situations as
the rookie narcotics officer-turned-drug addict in Rush. This was followed
by her notorious role as the psycho roommate Hedra who tries to steal the
identity of her roommate (Bridget Fonda) in Single White Female. She
played a phone sex worker in the ensemble film Short Cuts, her first of
three projects involving director Robert Altman. Leigh occasionally
stepped out of her down-and-out roles, and in 1994 she shined as Amy
Archer in The Hudsucker Proxy. Her comic turn as a plucky undercover
journalist was said to recall the work of legendary actresses like
Katharine Hepburn and Barbara Stanwyck. She delivered critically acclaimed
performances in her next two films, with a Golden Globe nomination for
Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle and an Independent Spirit nomination
for Georgia. After playing an angry daughter in Dolores Claiborne, a
spitfire kidnapper in Kansas City, and a domestic violence survivor in
Bastard out of Carolina, she took another dramatic turn toward a period
film. In Agnieszka Holland's Washington Square, Leigh proved her range by
portraying a shy, clumsy girl as she evolves into adulthood. She returned
to more showy roles for two films dealing with Shakespeare's King Lear: A
Thousand Acres with Jason Robards Jr. and the fourth Dogme 95 film, The
King Is Alive. Not limiting herself to dramas, Leigh appeared as an
isolated computer programmer in David Cronenberg's thriller eXistenZ and
as an over-the-top mom in the comedy Skipped Parts. Around that time, she
also appeared on-stage in Broadway and off-Broadway plays, most notably as
dancer Sally Bowles in Cabaret. Testing out new ground in 2001, she and
fellow Cabaret star Alan Cumming wrote, directed, and starred in the
ensemble comedy The Anniversary Party, a digital video project inspired by
Dogme 95. Continuing to evolve as a respected actress, she went on to work
in the crime genre, first as a hitman's wife in Road to Perdition, and
then in Jane Campion's thriller In the Cut. |
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Jennifer Jason Leigh - Personal Quotes |
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"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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Jennifer Jason Leigh - Filmography |
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America (2008)
Synecdoche, New York (2007) (rumored)
Margot at the Wedding (2007) .... Pauline
Lymelife (2007) (completed) .... Brenda Bartlett
Rag Tale (2005) .... Mary Josephine 'MJ' Morton
Easter Sunday (2005) .... Mother
The Jacket (2005) .... Dr. Beth Lorenson
Childstar (2004) .... Suzanne
Palindromes (2004) .... 'Mark' Aviva
Maquinista, El (2004) .... Stevie
... aka The Machinist (International: English title) (USA)
In the Cut (2003) .... Pauline
"Mission Hill" .... Eunice 'Weirdie' Eulmeyer (1 episode, 2002)
- Kevin Loves Weirdie (2002) TV Episode (voice) .... Eunice
'Weirdie' Eulmeyer
Road to Perdition (2002) .... Annie Sullivan
Hey Arnold! The Movie (2002) (voice) .... Bridget
Crossed Over (2002) (TV) .... Karla Faye Tucker
... aka Destins croisés (Canada: French title)
"Frasier" .... Estelle (1 episode, 2001)
- The Two Hundredth (2001) TV Episode .... Estelle
The Quickie (2001) .... Lisa
... aka The Quickie (France)
The Anniversary Party (2001) .... Sally Nash
The Man Who Wasn't There (2001) (uncredited) .... Female inmate
Skipped Parts (2000) .... Lydia Callahan
... aka The Wonder of Sex (UK)
The King Is Alive (2000) .... Gina
... aka Dogme # 4 - The King Is Alive (Denmark: series title)
... aka Dogme 4
... aka The King Is Alive (Denmark)
"Twitch City" .... Faith (1 episode, 2000)
- The Life of Reilly (2000) TV Episode .... Faith
Beautiful View (2000)
Spawn 3: Ultimate Battle (1999) (V) (voice) .... Lilly
eXistenZ (1999) .... Allegra Geller
... aka eXistenZ (France)
"Superman" .... Cetea (1 episode, 1999)
... aka Superman: The Animated Series (USA: informal alternative
title)
- Absolute Power (1999) TV Episode (voice) .... Cetea
"Hercules" .... Tempest (3 episodes, 1998)
... aka Disney's Hercules (USA: complete title)
- Hercules and the Prom (1998) TV Episode (voice) .... Tempest
- Hercules and the Techno Greeks (1998) TV Episode (voice) ....
Tempest
- Hercules and the Assassin (1998) TV Episode (voice) .... Tempest
Thanks of a Grateful Nation (1998) (TV) .... Teri Small
... aka The Gulf War
"Tracey Takes On..." .... Paige Garland (1 episode, 1998)
- Sports (1998) TV Episode .... Paige Garland
"King of the Hill" .... Amy (1 episode, 1998)
- I Remember Mono (1998) TV Episode (voice) .... Amy
The Love Letter (1998) (TV) .... Elizabeth Whitcomb
A Thousand Acres (1997) .... Caroline Cook
Washington Square (1997) .... Catherine Sloper
"Spawn" (1997) TV Series .... Lilly (unknown episodes)
... aka Todd McFarlane's Spawn
Bastard Out of Carolina (1996) .... Anney Boatwright
Kansas City (1996) .... Blondie O'Hara
Georgia (1995) .... Sadie Flood
... aka Georgia (France)
Dolores Claiborne (1995) .... Selena St. George
Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle (1994) .... Dorothy Parker
... aka Mrs. Parker and the Round Table
The Hudsucker Proxy (1994) .... Amy Archer
... aka Hudsucker - Der große Sprung (Germany)
Short Cuts (1993) .... Lois Kaiser
Single White Female (1992) .... Hedra 'Hedy' Carlson
The Prom (1992) .... Lana
Rush (1991) .... Kristen Cates
Crooked Hearts (1991) .... Marriet Hoffman
Backdraft (1991) .... Jennifer Vaitkus
Buried Alive (1990) (TV) .... Joanna Goodman
Miami Blues (1990) .... Susie Waggoner
Fire Princess (1990)
Last Exit to Brooklyn (1989) .... Tralala
... aka Letzte Ausfahrt Brooklyn (West Germany)
The Big Picture (1989) .... Lydia Johnson
Heart of Midnight (1988) .... Carol Rivers
Sister, Sister (1987) .... Lucy Bonnard
Under Cover (1987) .... Tanille Lareoux
Picnic (1986) (TV) .... Madge Owens
The Men's Club (1986) .... Teensy
The Hitcher (1986) .... Nash
Flesh+Blood (1985) .... Agnes
... aka Señores del acero, Los (Spain)
... aka The Rose and the Sword
Grandview, U.S.A. (1984) .... Candy Webster
Girls of the White Orchid (1983) (TV) .... Carol Heath
... aka Death Ride to Osaka
Easy Money (1983) .... Allison Capuletti
"ABC Afterschool Specials" .... Andrea Fairchild (1 episode, 1983)
- Have You Ever Been Ashamed of Your Parents? (1983) TV Episode ....
Andrea Fairchild
The First Time (1982) (TV) .... Bonnie
Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982) .... Stacy Hamilton
... aka Fast Times at Ridgemont High (UK: video title)
"Trapper John, M.D." .... Helen's Daughter (1 episode, 1982)
- The One and Only (1982) TV Episode .... Helen's Daughter
Wrong Is Right (1982) .... Young Girl
... aka The Man with the Deadly Lens
The Best Little Girl in the World (1981) (TV) .... Casey Powell
The Killing of Randy Webster (1981) (TV) .... Amy Wheeler
"CBS Afternoon Playhouse" .... Laurie (1 episode, 1981)
- I Think I'm Having a Baby (1981) TV Episode .... Laurie
Eyes of a Stranger (1981) .... Tracy Harris
"The Waltons" .... Kathy Seals (1 episode, 1981)
- The Pursuit (1981) TV Episode .... Kathy Seals
Angel City (1980) (TV) .... Kristy Teeter
... aka Field of Tears
The Young Runaways (1978) (TV) .... Heather
"Disneyland" .... Heather (1 episode, 1978)
... aka Disney's Wonderful World (USA: new title)
... aka The Disney Sunday Movie (USA: new title)
... aka The Magical World of Disney (USA: new title)
... aka The Wonderful World of Disney (USA: new title)
... aka Walt Disney (USA: new title)
... aka Walt Disney Presents (USA: new title)
... aka Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color (USA: new title)
- The Young Runaways (1978) TV Episode .... Heather
"Baretta" .... Marcie (1 episode, 1977)
- Open Season (1977) TV Episode (as Jennifer Leigh) .... Marcie
Tod eines Fremden (1973) (uncredited) .... Girl playing with a
rubber ball
... aka Death of a Stranger
... aka Hinrichtung, Die
... aka The Death Merchants
... aka The Execution (UK)
... aka The Mad Killers (USA: reissue title)
... aka The Spy Who Never Was (USA) |
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Jennifer Jason Leigh - Related Links |
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Wikipedia: Jennifer Jason Leigh
YouTube: Jennifer Jason Leigh
Jennifer Jason Leigh at Babemania.com
Top Celebrities Sites:
The Celebrity
Cafe |
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