Jennifer Jason Leigh Biography

Jennifer Jason Leigh (born February 5, 1962) is an American actress. Born Jennifer Lee Morrow, she is the daughter of actor Vic Morrow and screenwriter Barbara Turner, both of whom were Jewish, although Leigh was raised mostly without religion. Leigh changed her middle and last name, taking the middle name "Jason" in honor of family friend Jason Robards.

Leigh took acting classes with Lee Strasberg before she began acting professionally as a teenager. In 1977, she had her first credited role in an episode of the TV show Baretta. Several TV movies—including a portrayal of an anorexic in The Best Little Girl in the World, for which Leigh lost weight to 86 lb—followed. In 1982, Leigh played a central character in director Amy Heckerling's Fast Times at Ridgemont High.

As an adult, Leigh has gravitated towards portraying fragile, damaged or even psychotic characters. She was critically acclaimed for her starring role as Dorothy Parker in Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle (1994). Another role in this vein was that of an angry punk singer in Georgia (1995).

Her performance as a manipulative stage mother in Childstar won her a Genie Award in 2005. As she was not in attendance at the ceremony, director Don McKellar accepted the award on her behalf.

Also a stage actress, Leigh took over from Mary Louise Parker on Broadway in Proof from September 13, 2001 to June 30, 2002. She also took on the lead role of Sally Bowles in Cabaret from Aug. 4, 1998 to Feb. 28, 1999.

Leigh and her longtime boyfriend, independent film writer-director Noah Baumbach, announced on September 26, 2005 that they had gotten married the previous weekend.