Jennifer Jason Leigh
Academy Award-nominated American actress and producer, Jennifer Jason Leigh is critically acclaimed for her roles in the number of movies, TV series and Theater plays. Leigh is well recognized for her roles in the movies, Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle and The Hateful Eight. She is also popular for her prominent role in the TV series, Thanks of a Grateful Nation, Weeds and Atypical.
From the early age of 9, Leigh made her Hollywood debut as the main cast in 1981 from the film, Eyes of a Stranger. Her breakthrough came in 1982 when she played the role of Stacy Hamilton in Fast Times at Ridgemont High.
She worked in a number of TV series and movies for which she has been nominated for several awards including Academy Awards, Satellite Awards, Drama Desk Awards, Lucille Lortel Awards and Golden Globe Awards. As of 2018, she is working in the movies, White Boy Rick, Vox Lux and the TV series, Atypical and Patrick Melrose. Active in the industry from last 40 years, she has earned an impressive net worth.
Leigh is a divorcee. She was married to a film director, Noah Baumbach in 2005. The couple shares a child, Rohmer Emmanuel. The pair separated in 2013 citing irreconcilable differences.
Early Life And Education Of Jennifer Jason Leigh
Jennifer Jason Leigh was born Jennifer Leigh Morrow on 5th February 1962 in Hollywood, Los Angeles under the birth sign Aquarius. Leigh is American as per nationality and ethnicity-wise, she is Caucasian as her parents were from Austria and Russia.
Leigh is the daughter of actor, Vic Morrow and screenwriter, Barbara Turner. When she was two, her parents divorced. She has an older sister, Carrie Ann Morrow and a half-sister, Mina Badie (from her mother’s second marriage with the director, Reza Badiyi).
Leigh is a high school (Palisades Charter High School) drop out. At the age of 14, she attended an acting workshop at the Stagedoor Manor Performing Arts Training Center in New York. She was taught acting by Lee Strasberg. At the early stage of her career, she changed her surname, taking the middle name, Jason in the honor of family friend actor, Jason Robards.
Jennifer Jason Leigh’s Career
Movies
Leigh made her debut as the main cast in 1981 in the slasher film, Eyes of a Stranger directed by Ken Wiederhorn. The same year, she worked as Casey Powell in the TV film, The Best Girl in the World.
Back to back, she appeared in a number of movies like Wrong Is Right, Easy Money, The Hitcher, Under Cover, Miami Blues, Kansas City, In the Cut, Rag Tale, The Moment, Morgan and Good Time among others. Particularly, she is popular for:
| Movies | Role | IMDB Rating | Cast Members |
| Miami Blues (1990) | Susie Waggoner | 6.4 | Alec Baldwin, Fred Ward, Charles Napier and Nora Dunn. |
| Last Exit to Brooklyn (1989) | Tralala | 6.8 | Alexis Arquette, Stephen Lang, Burt Young and Peter Dobson. |
| The Hudsucker Proxy (1994) | Amy Archer | 7.3 | Tim Robbins, Paul Newman, Sam Raini and Charles Durning. |
| Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle (1994) | Dorothy Parker | 6.4 | Matthew Broderick, Gwyneth Paltrow, Campbell Scott and Andrew McCarthy. |
| Margot at the Wedding (2007) | Pauline | 6.1 | Nicole Kidman, Jack Black, John Turturro, and Zane Pais. |
Leigh is also popular for her roles in The Hateful Eight, Backdraft, Single White Female, and The Anniversary Party. In 1995, she made her debut as a producer from the movie, Georgia. She also appeared as a writer for the movie, Greenberg.
As of 2018, she worked as Dr. Ventress in Annihilation and is also working in the upcoming movies, White Biy Rick and Vox Lux.
TV Series
Leigh made her TV debut in 1977 from detective TV series, Baretta. She then worked in several TV series, such as Family, The Waltons, Angel City, ABC After school Special, The Love Letter, and Tracey Takes On..., playing minor roles.
Some of her popular TV series are:
| TV Series | Role | IMDB Rating | Cast Members |
| Thaks of a Grateful Nation (1998) | Teri Small | 6.0 | Marg Helgenberger, Brian Dennehy, Ted Danson and Steven Weber. |
| Weeds (2009-2012) | Jill Price-Gray | 8.0 | Mary-Louise Parker, Hunter Parrish, Justin Kirk and Alexander Gould. |
| Revenge (2012) | Kara Clarke-Murphy | 7.9 | Emily VanCamp, Josh Bowman, Gabriel Mann and Madeleine Stowe. |
| Atypical (2017-present) | Elsa Gardner | 8.3 | Keir Gilchrist, Michael Rapaport, and Brigette Lundy-Paine. |
As of 2018, she is working as Elsa Garner in a coming-of-age TV series, Atypical and Patrick Melrose.
Stage
In 1986, Leigh performed as Madge Owens in the theater play, Picnic at Ahmanson Theatre. Three years later, she acted in Sunshine at the Circle Repertory Theater.
She then appeared in numbers of theatre plays, however, is popular for her acting as Beverly in Abigail's Party at Acorn Theater. For her acting in the play, she has been nominated for Drama Desk Awards and Lucille Lortel Awards.
Jennifer Jason Leigh's Awards and Nominations
Jennifer Jason Leigh has been nominated for several prestigious awards and won some of them as well. She has the following awards to her name:
- 1992 = Won MTV Movie Awards for Single White Female.
- 1994 = Won Chicago Film Critics Association Awards for Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle.
- 1994 = Won National Society of Film Critics Awards for Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle.
- 1995 = Won New York Film Critics Circle Awards for Georgia.
- 1995 = Won Montreal World Film Festival Awards for Georgia.
Some of her nominated awards are Academy Awards, Satellite Awards, Drama Desk Awards, Lucille Lotrel Awards, and BAFTA Awards.
Jennifer Jason Leigh's Net Worth
Jennifer Jason Leigh has an estimated net worth of $5 million. Leigh worked in numbers of movies that made a good collection at the box office.
Here is the list of her commercially successful movies:
| Movies | Budget | Box Office Collection | IMDB Rating | Awards and Nominations | Cast Members |
| Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982) | $4.5 million | $27.1 million | 7.2 | Phoebe Cates, Sean Penn, Judge Reinhold and Nicholas Cage. | |
| Backdraft (1991) | $75 million | $152.3 million | 6.7 |
|
Kurt Russell, Robert De Niro, William Baldwin and Donald Sutherland. |
| Single White Female (1992) | $16 million | $48,017,402 | 6.3 | Bridget Fonda, Steven Weber, Stephen Tobolowsky and Peter Friedman. | |
| Dolores Claiborne (1995) | $13 million | $46.4 million | 7.4 |
|
Kathy Bates, Christopher Plummer, Judy Parfitt and David Strathairn. |
| Road to Perdition (2002) | $80 million | $181 million | 7.7 |
|
Tom Hanks, Paul Newman, Tyler Hoechlin and Jude Law. |
| The Hateful Eight (2015) | $54 million | $155.8 million | 7.8 |
|
Kurt Russell, Samuel L. Jackson, Tim Roth, and Micahel Madsen. |
Leigh owns a house in New York City which she bought for $813k in 1995. She owns a Lincoln MKT worth $43530.
Jennifer Jason Leigh's Personal Life
Jennifer Jason Leigh is a divorcee. Leigh married film writer and director, Noah Baumbach on 2nd September 2005. The couple met for the first time in 2001 while starring on Broadway in Proof. Eventually, the couple fell for one another and started dating. In the premiere of The Squid and the Whale, her husband told,
''I expect to be with (Leigh) for the rest of my life.''
On 17th March 2010, the couple welcomed a child, Rohmer Emmanuel. Due to irreconcilable differences, Leigh filed for divorce in 2010 in Los Angeles Superior Court. She also filed for the custody of the child and spousal support. Later, the couple figured out and equally divided all the a s sets and liabilities.
In 1989, Harper’s Bazaar selected her as one of ''America’s 10 Most Beautiful Women''. In 2000, she severed as a jury at the 57th Venice International Film Festival.
Jennifer Leigh’s Relation With Her Dad
When Leigh was two years old, her parents separated. During the time, she had not seen or talked to her father for years. At the early phase of her career, she gave up the name, Morrow which hurt her father.
In 1982, her father, Vic Morrow was accidentally killed along with two child actors during the filming of Twilight Zone: The Movie when a helicopter stunt went wrong. After hearing about her father’s death, she recalls going into shock. She said,
‘’I went into shock for four or five hours. I didn’t know what to feel.’’
Later, Leigh along with her sister filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Steven Spielberg, Warner Bros, and John Landis. It was also rumored that she filed a $100 million lawsuit against the parties involved in her father’s death which later turned to be false. A year later, they made a settlement but the facts of the agreement were not made public.
After the death of her father, she found two wills, the first will was of $1 and second of $100. She was not expecting the will for her. She stated,
‘’I didn't expect to be left a thing. But I’m feeling pain, guilt, and rage. I loved him. I have a picture of him taken when he was 16, and he looks like me.’’
Here is the video, where Jennifer Jason Leigh talks about her life and career: