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. The name "Jason" is 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 dieted down to 86 lbs. -- 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. One prominent recent 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.

Selected filmography

• The Jacket (2005)
• The Machinist (2004)
• Road to Perdition (2002)
• The Anniversary Party (2001)
• eXistenZ (1999)
• Dolores Claiborne (1995)
• Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle (1994)
• The Hudsucker Proxy (1994)
• Flesh & Blood (1985)
• Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982)

External links