Jamie Lee Curtis facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts

Quick facts for kids Jamie Lee Curtis
Curtis in 2018
Born	(1958-11-22) November 22, 1958 (age 66) Santa Monica, California, U.S.
Education	Choate Rosemary Hall
Occupation	Actress producer author
Years active	1977–present
Works	Full list
Spouse(s)	Christopher Guest (m. 1984)
Children	2
Parents	Tony Curtis (father) Janet Leigh (mother)
Relatives	Kelly Curtis (sister) Allegra Curtis (half-sister)
Awards	Full list
Signature

Jamie Lee Curtis (born November 22, 1958) is a famous American actress, producer, and author of children's books. She is well-known for her roles in scary movies, earning her the nickname "scream queen." She has also starred in many popular comedies.

Jamie Lee Curtis has won several big awards for her acting. These include an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, and two Golden Globe Awards. She also has two Screen Actors Guild Awards. Her parents, Janet Leigh and Tony Curtis, were also famous actors.

She first appeared on TV in 1977. Her big break came in 1978 with the horror film Halloween. In this movie, she played the character Laurie Strode. This role made her a star in scary movies. She later returned to play Laurie Strode in six more Halloween films.

Jamie Lee Curtis has acted in many different types of movies. These include comedies like Trading Places (1983) and A Fish Called Wanda (1988). She won a Golden Globe for her role in the action-comedy True Lies (1994). Some of her other well-known films are My Girl (1991), Freaky Friday (2003), Knives Out (2019), and Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022). For her role in Everything Everywhere All at Once, she won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.

About Jamie Lee Curtis
Other projects
- Children's books
- Other creative work
Personal life
Giving back
Images for kids
See also

About Jamie Lee Curtis

Early life and family

Curtis with her mother, Janet Leigh, in 1960

Jamie Lee Curtis was born in Santa Monica, California. Her parents were the famous actors Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh. Her father's family came from Hungary and were Jewish. Her mother's family had roots in Denmark and Germany.

Jamie Lee has an older sister, Kelly Curtis, who is also an actress. She also has four half-siblings from her father's other marriages. Her parents divorced in 1962. Jamie Lee was mostly raised by her mother and her stepfather, Robert Brandt. She has said that her father was not very involved in her childhood.

She went to special schools in Los Angeles and Connecticut. After high school, she went to the University of the Pacific to study law. However, she left after one semester to start her acting career.

Becoming an actress

Jamie Lee Curtis started her acting journey on TV in 1977. She appeared in shows like Quincy, M.E., Columbo, and Charlie's Angels. She also had a role in the comedy series Operation Petticoat. This show was based on a movie that her father, Tony Curtis, had starred in.

Her first movie was the horror film Halloween in 1978. She played the main character, Laurie Strode. The movie was a huge success and made her very famous. The producer, Debra Hill, chose Jamie Lee because her mother, Janet Leigh, was already known for horror movies like Psycho. After Halloween, Jamie Lee starred in many other scary films. This earned her the title of "scream queen." She played Laurie Strode again in seven more Halloween movies, ending with Halloween Ends in 2022.

Moving beyond horror films

After Halloween, Jamie Lee Curtis starred in other horror movies like The Fog, Prom Night, and Terror Train (all in 1980). These movies helped her become known as a horror film star. In 1981, she also appeared in the Australian thriller Roadgames.

Her role in the 1983 comedy Trading Places helped her show that she could do more than just horror. This movie was a big hit and won her a BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role. The studio was unsure about casting her at first. They thought she was only good for horror movies. But the director, John Landis, believed in her.

In 1988, she starred in another successful comedy, A Fish Called Wanda. This movie became a favorite for many people. It showed off her talent for comedy. She was nominated for a BAFTA Award for this role.

TV success and more movies

Jamie Lee Curtis also found success on television. She starred in the sitcom Anything but Love from 1989 to 1992. For her role as Hannah Miller, she won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy.

In the 1990s, she continued to make popular movies. She starred in the action thriller Blue Steel (1990). She also appeared in the family drama My Girl (1991) and its sequel My Girl 2 (1994). These movies were very popular.

A big movie for her was the 1994 action-comedy True Lies, directed by James Cameron. She won a Golden Globe Award for her performance in this film. It was a huge success and one of the highest-grossing movies of 1994.

Freaky Friday and recent work

In 2003, Jamie Lee Curtis starred with Lindsay Lohan in the Disney comedy Freaky Friday. She played a mother who switches bodies with her teenage daughter. Critics loved her performance. She was nominated for another Golden Globe Award for this role. She also received a Grammy Award nomination for her children's audiobook.

After 2006, she took a break from acting to focus on her family. She returned to movies in 2007 with Beverly Hills Chihuahua. She also appeared in the TV series NCIS and New Girl. From 2015 to 2016, she starred in the horror-comedy TV series Scream Queens.

In recent years, Jamie Lee Curtis has had a big comeback in movies. She returned as Laurie Strode in the new Halloween movies (2018, 2021, 2022). These films were very successful. In 2019, she was in the mystery film Knives Out, which was also a hit.

Her role in the 2022 movie Everything Everywhere All at Once brought her even more awards. She won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress and a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role. In 2023, she guest-starred in the TV series The Bear and won an Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series. She also starred in Disney's Haunted Mansion.

In 2024, Jamie Lee Curtis was named a Disney Legend. She is also set to appear in a sequel to Freaky Friday, called Freakier Friday, in 2025.

Other projects

Children's books

Curtis autographing a copy of her children's book in 2010

Jamie Lee Curtis is also a successful author of children's books. She works with illustrator Laura Cornell. Many of her books have been published by HarperCollins Children's Books. Her book Today I Feel Silly, and Other Moods That Make My Day was on The New York Times best-seller list for 10 weeks.

Some of her popular children's books include:

When I Was Little: A Four-Year Old's Memoir of Her Youth, 1993.
Tell Me Again About The Night I was Born, 1996.
Today I Feel Silly, and Other Moods That Make My Day, 1998.
Where Do Balloons Go?: An Uplifting Mystery, 2000.
I'm Gonna Like Me: Letting Off a Little Self-Esteem, 2002.
It's Hard to Be Five: Learning How to Work My Control Panel, 2004.
Is There Really a Human Race?, 2006.
Big Words for Little People, 2008.
My Mommy Hung the Moon: A Love Story, 2010.
My Brave Year of Firsts, 2016.
This Is Me: A Story of Who We Are and Where We Came From, 2016.
Me, Myselfie & I: A Cautionary Tale, 2018.

Other creative work

In 2022, Jamie Lee Curtis announced she co-wrote a graphic novel called Mother Nature. This book is based on an upcoming eco-horror film that she will write and direct. The graphic novel was released in 2023.

She also has an invention! In 1987, she got a patent for a special diaper. It had a waterproof pocket for wipes that could be taken out with one hand. She said she wouldn't let her invention be sold until companies made diapers that were better for the environment.

From 2011 to 2017, Jamie Lee Curtis wrote for The Huffington Post online newspaper. She also started two podcast series: Letters from Camp (2020) and Good Friend with Jamie Lee Curtis (2021).

Personal life

Jamie Lee Curtis married British-American filmmaker and actor Christopher Guest on December 18, 1984. She saw his picture in a magazine and told a friend that she was going to marry him! They got married five months later. They have two adopted daughters, Annie and Ruby.

When her husband's father passed away in 1996, Christopher Guest inherited the title of Baron Haden-Guest. This means Jamie Lee Curtis is technically a baroness, styled as The Lady Haden-Guest. However, she doesn't use this title, saying it has nothing to do with her.

She is good friends with actress Sigourney Weaver. Jamie Lee Curtis is also a big fan of the video game World of Warcraft and the manga One Piece. She sometimes wears disguises to attend big fan events like Comic-Con without being recognized.

In 2021, she received a special award called the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the Venice Film Festival. She said she felt like a 14-year-old just starting her life, full of joy and purpose.

Giving back

Jamie Lee Curtis is involved in many charity efforts. Since 1990, she and her father, Tony, have helped rebuild synagogues in Hungary. This includes the "Great Synagogue" in Budapest, which is the largest synagogue in Europe. She also helped fix up the synagogue in Mátészalka, where her grandparents used to worship.

She supports the Children Affected by AIDS Foundation. She hosts their "Dream Halloween" event every year in Los Angeles. She also plays a leadership role for Children's Hospital Los Angeles. She helped open a new facility for the hospital in 2011.