science | January 10, 2026

Jennifer Jason Leigh Bio, Age, Net Worth, Husband, Plastic Surgery Movies, TV Shows

Jennifer Jason Leigh Biography

Jennifer Jason Leigh (Jennifer Leigh Morrow) is an American actress. She began acting on television during the 1970s, guest-starring on several television shows. Leigh film breakthrough came in 1982 for her performance as Stacy Hamilton in Fast Times at Ridgemont High. In the 1990 Leigh continued performing past her teen years, receiving critical praise for her roles in films Miami Blues and Last Exit to Brooklyn. She appeared in Ron Howard’s Backdraft in 1991, and acted in the drama-thriller Single White Female in 1992.Leigh appeared in the ensemble film Short Cuts in 1993, directed by Robert Altman, and starred in the Coen brothers’ The Hudsucker Proxy in 1994. In the same year (1994) Leigh was nominated for a Golden Globe for her portrayal of Dorothy Parker in Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle. Leigh starred in a film written by her mother in 1995, screenwriter Barbara Turner, titled Georgia. In 2001, she wrote and co-directed a film titled The Anniversary Party with Alan Cumming.

Leigh appeared in the crime drama Road to Perdition in 2002. She also starred in the comedy Margot at the Wedding in 2002, which was directed by her then-husband, Noah Baumbach. She had a recurring role on the Showtime comedy-drama series Weeds as Jill Price-Gray. She received critical acclaim for her voice work as Lisa in Charlie Kaufman’s Anomalisa in 2015, and for her role as Daisy Domergue in Quentin Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight, for which she was nominated for the Golden Globe, Critics’ Choice, BAFTA and the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.

Leigh was nominated for a Drama Desk award for her Off-Broadway performance as Beverly Moss in Mike Leigh’s Abigail’s Party for her stage work. She became the replacement for the role of Sally Bowles in CabaretHer this is when her broadway debut occurred in 1998.

Jennifer Jason Leigh Age

Jennifer Jason Leigh was born on February 5, 1962 in Hollywood, California, United States. She is 56 years old  as of 2018.

Jennifer Jason Leigh Height

Leigh stands at a height of ‎5′ 3″ (1.6 m).

Jennifer Jason Leigh Net Worth

The famous American actress, Jason Leigh has a net worth of $5 million dollars. Her acting career is the primary source of her income. There are no details about cars and houses.

Jennifer Jason Leigh Plastic Surgery

Leigh remains youthful in her looks and body despite the fact that she’s in her mid 50s. If you look at her face, it can also be noticed that her fine lines and wrinkles are only minimal. Overall, Leigh looks younger, way younger than her actual age. Could this be because of plastic surgery? As we all know, it’s not unusual for celebrities in Hollywood, especially the ones who are aging, to resort to cosmetic procedures. They do this to make themselves look younger and regain their confidence, something they need in order to perform.

Jennifer Jason Leigh Family

Leigh’s father was Vic Morrow (Victor Morozoff), was an actor, and her mother was Barbara Turner, a screenwriter. Her parents divorced when she was two.
Leigh is the middle child of three sisters. Her older sister, Carrie Ann Morrow died in 2017, she was credited as a “technical advisor” on Leigh’s 1995 film Georgia. Leigh also has a half-sister, actress Mina Badie (Badiyi) from her mother’s second marriage. Badie acted alongside Leigh in The Anniversary Party. Leigh’s mother, Barbara got married to Director Reza Badiyi who became Leigh’s stepfather.

Jennifer Jason Leigh Husband

Jennifer Jason Leigh was married to Noah Baumbach on September 2, 2005 the two met while starring on Broadway in Proof. Noah Baumbach was an independent film writer-director in 2001. Their son, Rohmer Emmanuel, was born on March 17, 2010. On November 15, 2010, Leigh filed for divorce in Los Angeles, citing irreconcilable differences. She sought primary custody of the couple’s son with visitation for Baumbach as well as spousal support . In September 2013The divorce was finalized.

Jennifer Jason Leigh Career

Jennifer Jason Leigh from 1976 to 1989

At the age of nine, Jennifer Jason Leigh worked in her first film. It was a nonspeaking role for the film Death of a Stranger (The Execution) in 1973. At the age of 14, Jennifer Jason Leigh attended acting workshops, at the Stagedoor Manor Performing Arts Training Center in Loch Sheldrake, New York taught by Lee Strasberg. Afterwards, she landed a role in the movie The Young Runaways in 1978. She additionally appeared in an episode of Baretta and an episode of The Waltons.

Several TV movies followed, including a portrayal of an anorexic teenager in The Best Little Girl in the World, for which Leigh dropped to 86 pounds (39 kg) under medical supervision. She created her massive screen debut playing a blind, deaf, and mute rape victim in the 1981 slasher film Eyes of a Stranger; she quit school so as to star in the film.

Jennifer Jason Leigh played a teenager who gets pregnant in the Cameron Crowe-scripted high school comedy movie fast Times at Ridgemont High, that served as a launching pad for several of its young stars in 1982. While decrying the writing as sexist and exploitative, Roger Ebert was enthusiastic about the acting, singling out leigh and writing, “Don’t they recognize they have a star on their hands?”

With the exception of Ridgemont High and a supporting role in the Rodney Dangerfield comedy simple money, Leigh’s early film work consisted of playing fragile, broken or neurotic characters in low-budget horror or thriller genre films. She played a virginal princess kidnapped and raped by mercenaries in Flesh + Blood in 1985, an innocent waitress pursued by the psychopathic title character in The Hitcher in 1986 (both films pitting her opposite Rutger Hauer), and a young woman on the verge of a nervous breakdown in Heart of Midnight in 1989.

Jennifer Jason Leigh from 1990 to 1999

Jennifer Jason Leigh made a significant career breakthrough when she was awarded Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress for her portrayals of two very different prostitutes and New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress in 1990 and the tough streetwalker Tralala who is brutally gang-raped in Last Exit to Brooklyn, and Susie, a teenage prostitute who falls in love with ex-con Alec Baldwin in Miami Blues.

Roger Ebert included Last Exit in his list of Best Movies of 1990, calling Leigh’s performance brave, though his review of Miami Blues was much less sympathetic, simultaneously criticizing Leigh’s ability to play dumb roles and complimenting her ability to play good roles. Entertainment Weekly, in a backhanded compliment, known as her “the meryl streep of bimbos”.

In 1991 Leigh was then cast in her first mainstream Hollywood studio film, the firefighter drama Backdraft, in which she played a more conventional role, the girlfriend of lead actor William Baldwin. Leigh found additional success in the gritty crime drama Rush in 1991, portraying an secret cop who becomes a junkie and falls in love with her partner, played by jason Patric. Her next film, Single White Female in 1992, was a surprise box-office success, bringing Leigh to her largest mainstream audience yet, portraying a mentally ill woman who terrorizes roommate Bridget Fonda.

Leigh was awarded the MTV movie Award for Best Villain and nominated for Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best actress. Leigh co-starred with Kathy Bates as a tormented, pill-popping woman hiding a history of childhood sexual abuse in the adaptation of Stephen King’s novel Dolores Claiborne in 1995. Jennifer Jason Leigh achieved her greatest acclaim in the role of Sadie Flood, an angry, drug-addicted rock singer living in the shadow of her successful older sister (Mare Winningham), in Georgia in 1995.

For the role, Leigh dropped to 90 pounds (41 kg) and sang all her songs live, including a rambling 8 and a half minute version of Van Morrison’s “Take Me Back”. Georgia was met with critical praise. James Berardinelli wrote, “There are times when it’s uncomfortable to look at this performance because it is so powerful” and Janet Maslin of the new york Times described Leigh’s “fierce, risk-taking performance and flashes of overwhelming honesty”.

Jennifer Jason Leigh won Best Actress from the Montreal World Film Festival and New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress, as well as an Independent Spirit Award nomination. Some were surprised that she was not nominated for an Academy Award, while Winningham was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.

Jennifer Jason Leigh worked with many independent film directors throughout the 1990s. She worked with Robert Altman in Short Cuts in 1993, playing a phone-sex operator, and Kansas City in 1996, as a streetwise kidnapper. Leigh has expressed admiration for Altman and known as him her mentor. in a change of pace from her “bad girl” roles, Jennifer Jason Leigh played the fast-talking reporter Amy Archer in the Coen Brothers’ comic homage to 1950s comedy, The Hudsucker Proxy (1994).

Leigh took her 1st lead role as the author and critic dorothy parker in Alan Rudolph’s film Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle in 1994. Leigh received a Golden Globe Award nomination and a National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress as well as Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress and Fort Lauderdale Film Critics Best Actress Award.

Jennifer Jason Leigh starred in Agnieszka Holland’s version of the henry james novel Washington square (1997), as a mousy 19th-century heiress courted by a gold digger. She appeared alongside Campbell Scott in the Hallmark Hall of Fame television movie The Love Letter in 1998. In David Cronenberg’s eXistenZ (1999), she played a virtual reality game designer who becomes lost in her own creation.

In Sam Mendes’s Road to Perdition (2002) Leigh had a brief role as a doomed gangster’s wife and costarred as Meg Ryan’s brutally murdered sister in Jane Campion’s erotic thriller In the Cut (2003). She played alongside Christian Bale as his prostitute girlfriend in the thriller The Machinist (2004) this was after a long period of avoiding prostitute roles. “As the downtrodden, sexy, trusting and quietly funny prostitute, Leigh is, of course, in her element”. Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle commented. Leigh’s performance as a manipulative stage mother in Don McKellar’s film.

After many years, Jennifer Jason Leigh wanted to be in a Todd Solondz movie, she appeared in Palindromes in 2004. She also appeared in the psychological thriller The Jacket in 2005, alongside Adrien Brody. Leigh appeared in the 2008 ensemble film trope, New York and has acted in two films written and directed by her then partner Noah Baumbach: Margot at the Wedding, co-starring Nicole Kidman, and Greenberg.

Leigh has said that the roles weren’t specifically written for her, as Baumbach does not write roles with actors in mind. In 2009, Leigh became a regular guest in the eighth season cast in the Showtime comedy-drama series Weeds. Leigh has received three separate career tributes: In 1993, at the Telluride Film Festival, a special award for her contribution to independent cinema from the Film Society of Lincoln Center in 2002 and a week-long retrospective of her film work held by the american Cinematheque at Los Angeles’s Egyptian Theatre in 2001.

Jennifer Jason Leigh from 2010 to Present

In 2012, Jennifer Jason Leigh joined the drama series Revenge on ABC. Leigh starred in Quentin Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight in 2015. The film, a Western set in Wyoming after the Civil War, was released on December 25. Leigh, along with the rest of the cast, in July 2015 they appeared at the San Diego Comic-Con to promote the film. Her performance has received multiple award nominations at various award ceremonies, including her third Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture, her first BAFTA Award nomination for Best Actress in a Supporting Role and her first Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress.

Jennifer Jason Leigh Stage Roles

Jennifer Jason Leigh took on the lead role of Sally Bowles in Sam Mendes’s Broadway revival of the musical Cabaret in 1998, succeeding Natasha Richardson who originated the role in Mendes’s production. Jennifer Jason Leigh succeeded Mary-Louise Parker in the lead role in Proof on Broadway in 2001. Her other theatrical appearances include The Glass Menagerie, Man of Destiny, The Shadow Box, Picnic, Sunshine, and Abigail’s Party. She played Bunny in the Broadway revival of House of Blue Leaves in New York City alongside Ben Stiller and Edie FalcoiIn 2011.

Jennifer Jason Leigh Movies

Year

Title

Role

Notes

1981

Eyes of a Stranger

Tracy Harris

1981

The Best Little Girl in the World

Casey Powell

1982

Wrong Is Right

Young Girl

1982

Fast Times at Ridgemont High

Stacy Hamilton

1983

Easy Money

Allison Capuletti

1984

Grandview, U.S.A.

Candy Webster

1985

Flesh + Blood

Agnes

1986

The Hitcher

Nash

1986

The Men’s Club

Teensy

1987

Sister, Sister

Lucy Bonnard

1987

Under Cover

Tanille Lareoux

1988

Heart of Midnight

Carol Rivers

1989

The Big Picture

Lydia Johnson

1989

Last Exit to Brooklyn

Tralala

1990

Miami Blues

Susie Waggoner

1991

Backdraft

Jennifer Vaitkus

1991

Crooked Hearts

Marriet Hoffman

1991

Rush

Kristen Cates

1992

Single White Female

Hedra ‘Hedy’ Carlson/Ellen Besch

1993

Short Cuts

Lois Kaiser

1994

The Hudsucker Proxy

Amy Archer

1994

Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle

Dorothy Parker

Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress
Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama

1995

Dolores Claiborne

Selena St. George

1995

Georgia

Sadie Flood

Also producer

1996

Kansas City

Blondie O’Hara

1996

Bastard Out of Carolina

Anney Boatwright

1997

Washington Square

Catherine Sloper

1997

A Thousand Acres

Caroline Cook

1999

eXistenZ

Allegra Geller

2000

The King Is Alive

Gina

2001

Skipped Parts

Lydia Callahan

Also co-producer

2001

The Man Who Wasn’t There

Female Inmate

Uncredited[50]

2001

The Anniversary Party

Sally Therrian

2001

The Quickie

Lisa

2002

Hey Arnold!: The Movie

Bridget (voice)

2002

Road to Perdition

Annie Sullivan

2002

Crossed Over

Karla Faye Tucker

2003

In the Cut

Pauline

2004

The Machinist

Stevie

2004

Palindromes

Mark Aviva

2004

Childstar

Suzanne

2005

The Jacket

Dr. Beth Lorenson

2005

Rag Tale

Mary Josephine Morton

2007

Margot at the Wedding

Pauline

2008

Synecdoche, New York

Maria

2010

Greenberg

Beth

Also writer and producer

2013

The Spectacular Now

Sara

2013

Kill Your Darlings

Naomi Ginsberg

2013

The Moment

Lee

2013

Hateship, Loveship

Chloe

2013

Jake Squared

Sheryl

2014

Welcome to Me

Deb Moseley

2015

Anomalisa

Lisa (voice)

2015

The Hateful Eight

Daisy Domergue

Nominated – Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture
Nominated – BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role
Nominated – AACTA International Award for Best Supporting Actress

2016

Morgan

Dr. Kathy Grieff

2016

LBJ

Lady Bird Johnson

2017

Good Time

Corey

2017

Amityville: The Awakening

Joan Walker

2018

Annihilation

Dr. Ventress

2018

White Boy Rick

FBI Agent Alex Snyder

Jennifer Jason Leigh TV Shows

Year

Title

Role

Notes

1977

Baretta

Marcie

Episode: “Open Season”

1978

Family

Jenny Blair

Episode: “And Baby Makes Three”

1978

Disneyland

Heather

Episode: “The Young Runaways”

1980

Angel City

Kristy Teeter

Television film

1981

CBS Schoolbreak Special

Laurie Mcintyre

Episode: “I Think I’m Having a Baby”

1981

The Waltons

Kathy Seals

Episode: “The Pursuit”

1982

St. Elsewhere

Diane, young woman at bar

Episode: “Samuels and the Kid”

1982

Trapper John, M.D.

Karen McCall

Episode: “The One and Only”

1983

ABC Afterschool Special

Andrea Fairchild

Episode: “Have You Ever Been Ashamed of Your Parents?”

1983

Girls of the White Orchid

Carol Heath

Television film

1990

Buried Alive

Joanna Goodman

Television film

1998

The Love Letter

Elizabeth Whitcomb

Television film

1998

King of the Hill

Amy (voice)

Episode: “I Remember Mono”

1998

Tracey Takes On…

Paige Garland

Episode: “Sports”

1998

Adventures from the Book of Virtues

Alexandra (voice)

Episode: “Gratitude”

1998

Thanks of a Grateful Nation

Teri Small

Television film
Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film

1998

Hercules

Tempest (voice)

4 episodes

1999

Superman: The Animated Series

Cetea (voice)

Episode: “Absolute Power”

1999

Todd McFarlane’s Spawn

Lily (voice)

2 episodes

2000

Twitch City

Faith

Episode: “The Life of Reilly”

2001

Frasier

Estelle (voice)

Episode: “The Two Hundredth”

2002

Mission Hill

Eunice Eulmeyer (voice)

Episode: “Kevin Loves Weirdie”

2009–2012

Weeds

Jill Price-Gray

16 episodes

2012

Revenge

Kara Clarke-Murphy

7 episodes

2014

Open

Holly

Pilot

2017

Twin Peaks

Chantal Hutchens

6 episodes

2017–present

Atypical

Elsa Gardner

18 episodes; also producer

2018

Patrick Melrose

Eleanor Melrose

5 episodes

Jennifer Jason Leigh Stage

Year

Title

Role

Theater

Notes

1986

Picnic

Madge Owens

Ahmanson Theatre

April 8, 1986 – May 24, 1986

1989

Sunshine

Sunshine

Circle Repertory Theatre

December 9, 1989 – January 14, 1990

1998

Cabaret

Sally Bowles

Stephen Sondheim Theatre
Studio 54

August 4, 1998 – February 28, 1999

2001

Proof

Catherine

Walter Kerr Theatre

September 13, 2001 – June 30, 2002

2005

Theater of the New Ear: Anomalisa

Lisa

Royce Hall

September 14, 2005 – September 16, 2005

2005

Abigail’s Party

Beverly

Acorn Theater

December 1, 2005 – March 11, 2006
Nominated—Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Play
Nominated—Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Lead Actress

2011

The House of Blue Leaves

Bunny Flingus

Walter Kerr Theatre

April 25, 2011 – June 25, 2011

Jennifer Jason Leigh Interview

Jennifer Jason Leigh: Quentin Tarantino Has His Own Blood