Born in Los Angeles, Jennifer Jason Leigh - the daughter of actor Vic Morrow - worked in her first film at the age of nine, in a nonspeaking role for the film Death of a Stranger (The Spy Who Never Was). At 14 she attended summer acting workshops given by Lee Strasberg and landed a role in the Disney TV movie The Young Runaways, and received her Screen Actors Guild membership in an episode of the TV series Baretta when she was 16. Jennifer performed in several TV movies and dropped out of Pacific Palisades High School six weeks short of graduation for her major role in the film Eyes of a Stranger. Her first major success came as the female lead in Fast Times at Ridgemont High.



Daughter of actor Vic Morrow and actress-screenwriter Barbara Turner. Selected as one of "America's 10 Most Beautiful Women" by Harper's Bazaar Magazine, 1989. Well-known in Hollywood for the exhausting research she does for each of her portrayals and for her affinity of playing lurid roles. Born at 12:33pm-PST. In 1997, she appeared in Faith No More's music video of "Last Cup of Sorrow," the plot of which was a modification of Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo (1958). Measurements: 34B-23-34 1/2 (Source: Celebrity Sleuth magazine). She attended the infamous "Stagedoor Manor," which is an upstate New York summer camp that trains teenagers in acting, singing and dancing. Her fellow alumni include sitcom actor Zach Braff from NBC's "Scrubs" (2001), the writer and director Todd Graff (who made a film about the camp), and the pop star Mandy Moore. She is good friends with actress/model Phoebe Cates; they met while filming Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982) together. Lived with Eric Stoltz for 5 years in the 80s Took the name 'Jason' from family friend actor Jason Robards. Member of the jury at the Venice Film Festival in 2000. The song "Jennifer Jason Leigh" by the punk band J Church has lyrics made up from interview quotes. She signed on for the film Spread (2009) but later backed out, and is being replaced by Anne Heche. Dario Argento offered her the female lead in his film La sindrome di Stendhal (1996), but she turned it down. It was eventually played by his daughter Asia Argento. She was offered the Kim Basinger role in L.A. Confidential (1997) but turned it down as she had already played a few prostitutes. She won the role in The Hudsucker Proxy (1994) over Winona Ryder and Bridget Fonda. Auditioned for the role of Catwoman in Batman Returns (1992). She 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 showing of her film work held by the American Cinematheque at Los Angeles' Egyptian Theatre in June 2001. Did an audition for the role of Violet in Pretty Baby (1978), but the part went to Brooke Shields instead.