Age, Biography, and Wiki
Jennifer Jason Leigh was born on February 5, 1962, in Hollywood, California. She began her acting career at a young age, appearing in her first film at nine. Leigh's breakthrough role came in 1982 with the teen film "Fast Times at Ridgemont High." She has since become recognized for her diverse and critically acclaimed performances in both film and television, including roles in "Last Exit to Brooklyn," "Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle," and "The Hateful Eight," for which she received an Academy Award nomination.
| Occupation | Film Producer |
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| Date of Birth | 5 February 1962 |
| Age | 63 Years |
| Birth Place | Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Horoscope | Aquarius |
| Country | U.S |
Height, Weight & Measurements
Jennifer Jason Leigh's height is 5 feet 9 inches (175 cm), but detailed information about her weight and other measurements is not readily available.
| Height | 5 feet 9 inches |
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Dating & Relationship Status
Jennifer Jason Leigh has been married to Noah Baumbach, a film director and screenwriter, from 2005 until their divorce in 2013. She has one son with Baumbach. As of now, there is no public information on her current relationship status.
Leigh starred in a 1995 film written by her mother, screenwriter Barbara Turner, titled Georgia. She co-wrote and co-directed a film with Alan Cumming titled The Anniversary Party (2001). Leigh starred in the crime drama Road to Perdition (2002) and the family drama Margot at the Wedding (2007). She had a recurring role on the Showtime comedy-drama series Weeds (2009–2012) and received critical acclaim for her voice work in Charlie Kaufman's Anomalisa (2015). For her role as fugitive Daisy Domergue in The Hateful Eight (2015), she was nominated for the Golden Globe and Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. From 2017 to 2021, she starred in the Netflix comedy-drama series Atypical, while featuring in the science fiction films Annihilation (2018) and Possessor (2020). She has since starred in the fifth season of the crime drama series Fargo (2023).
Her father, Vic Morrow (born Victor Morozoff), was an actor, and her mother, Barbara Turner, was a screenwriter. Her parents divorced when she was two. 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.
Leigh is the younger of two daughters. Her older sister, Carrie Ann Morrow, who was credited as a "technical advisor" on her 1995 film Georgia, died in 2016. 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.
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." 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.
In another change of pace, she starred in Agnieszka Holland's version of the Henry James novel Washington Square (1997), as a mousy 19th-century heiress courted by a gold digger. In 1997, she was featured in Faith No More's music video for "Last Cup of Sorrow". In 1998, she appeared alongside Campbell Scott in the Hallmark Hall of Fame television film The Love Letter. In David Cronenberg's eXistenZ (1999), she played a virtual-reality game designer who becomes lost in her own creation. 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.
She served as a jury member at the 57th Venice International Film Festival in 2000. Leigh had a brief role as a gangster's doomed wife in Sam Mendes's Road to Perdition (2002) and co-starred as Meg Ryan's brutally murdered sister in Jane Campion's erotic thriller In the Cut (2003). She went on to play Stevie, the prostitute girlfriend of Christian Bale's character in the dark thriller The Machinist (2004). Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle commented that "As the downtrodden, sexy, trusting, and quietly funny prostitute, Leigh is, of course, in her element". Her performance as a manipulative stage mother in Don McKellar's film Childstar won her a Genie Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in 2005.
After many years of wanting to be in a Todd Solondz film, she appeared in Palindromes (2004). 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. She also appeared in the psychological thriller The Jacket (2005), alongside Adrien Brody and Keira Knightley. Leigh appeared in the 2008 ensemble film Synecdoche, New York and has acted in two films written and directed by her then-partner Noah Baumbach: Margot at the Wedding, co-starring Nicole Kidman, and Greenberg. Leigh has said that the roles were not specifically written for her, as Baumbach does not write roles with actors in mind. In 2009, Leigh was cast in the Showtime comedy-drama series Weeds, becoming a regular guest in the eighth season.
Leigh joined the drama series Revenge on ABC in 2012. In 2015, Leigh starred in Quentin Tarantino's western film The Hateful Eight. It is set in Wyoming after the Civil War, and was released on December 25. Leigh, along with the rest of the cast, appeared at San Diego Comic-Con to promote the film in July 2015. Leigh's performance has received multiple award nominations at various award ceremonies, including her third Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture, her first BAFTA Award nomination for Best Actress in a Supporting Role and her first Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress. In 2017, Leigh was reunited with her Hateful Eight co-star Tim Roth when the pair played a husband-and-wife team of contract killers in six episodes of Showtime's revival of David Lynch and Mark Frost's Twin Peaks.
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. Leigh and co-writer Alan Cumming drew freely from their personal experiences in the writing of the film. 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, and costarred the pair's real-life Hollywood friends, 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, 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.
In 1982, Leigh's father, Vic Morrow, was accidentally killed along with child actors Myca Dinh Le and Renée Shin-Yi Chen when a helicopter stunt went wrong during the filming of Twilight Zone: The Movie. Leigh and her sister filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Warner Bros., John Landis, and Steven Spielberg. They settled out of court a year later.
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| Husband | Noah Baumbach (m. 2005-2013) |
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Net Worth and Salary
As of 2025, Jennifer Jason Leigh's net worth is estimated to be around $5 million. Her earnings primarily come from her extensive career in film and television, including notable roles in "Weeds," "Atypical," and "The Hateful Eight".
Career, Business, and Investments
Leigh has had a prolific career, with significant roles in films like "Single White Female" and "Anomalisa." She has also ventured into television, starring in series such as "Weeds" and "Atypical." Apart from acting, her work includes stage productions like "Abigail's Party" and "Cabaret." While there is no detailed information on her business investments, her career has been marked by critically acclaimed performances across various mediums.
Jennifer Jason Leigh (born Jennifer Leigh Morrow; February 5, 1962) is an American actress. She began her career on television during the 1970s before making her film breakthrough in the teen film Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982). She received critical praise for her performances in Last Exit to Brooklyn (1989), Miami Blues (1990), Backdraft (1991), Single White Female (1992), and The Hudsucker Proxy (1994), and was nominated for a Golden Globe for her portrayal of Dorothy Parker in Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle (1994).
In 1990, Leigh made a significant career breakthrough when she was awarded New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress and the Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress for her portrayals of two very different prostitutes: the tough streetwalker Tralala who is brutally gang-raped in Last Exit to Brooklyn, and Susie, a 23-year-old prostitute who falls in love with ex-con Alec Baldwin in Miami Blues. Roger Ebert included Last Exit in his list of Best Movies of 1990, calling Leigh's performance brave, though his review of Miami Blues was much less sympathetic, simultaneously criticizing Leigh's ability to play dumb roles and praising her ability to play smart roles. Entertainment Weekly called her "the Meryl Streep of bimbos".
Leigh has received three separate career tributes: at the Telluride Film Festival in 1993, a special award for her contribution to independent cinema from the Film Society of Lincoln Center in 2002, and a week-long retrospective of her film work held by the American Cinematheque at Los Angeles's Grauman's Egyptian Theatre in 2001.
Social Network
Jennifer Jason Leigh is not highly active on social media platforms, maintaining a relatively private online presence.
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?" 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 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).
Leigh has described herself as shy, introverted, and averse to Hollywood publicity and scandal. 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."
Following the 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel and the subsequent war, Leigh has heavily voiced support for Israel on Instagram. On February 14, 2024, Leigh signed an open letter written by pro-Israel organization Creative Community for Peace criticizing attempts to remove Israel from Eurovision 2024. Following Jonathan Glazer's acceptance speech at the 96th Academy Awards for Best International Feature Film, in which he denounced his "Jewishness and the Holocaust being hijacked by an occupation...", Leigh was one of 1,000 Jewish members of the film industry who denounced Glazer's speech and defended the Israeli government's actions in another open letter.
Education
Leigh attended the Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute to hone her acting skills. She also attended summer acting workshops at a young age.
In summary, Jennifer Jason Leigh is a highly respected actress known for her versatility and dedication to her craft. Her career has spanned decades, with iconic roles in film and television, contributing to her net worth and enduring success in the entertainment industry.
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 lb. She made her film debut, as a blind, deaf and mute rape victim in the 1981 slasher film Eyes of a Stranger. She left school to star in the film.
