Jennifer Jason Leigh Biography:

Born in Los Angeles, California, Jennifer is the daughter of actor Vic Morrow and actress Barbara Turner. She worked in her first film at the age of 9, Death of a Stranger, in a nonspeaking role. At 14, she attended summer acting workshops given by Lee Strasberg and landed a role in the Disney TV movie The Young Runaways (1978). She received her Screen Actors Guild membership in a Baretta episode at 16. Jennifer performed in several TV-movies and dropped out of Pacific Palisades High School six weeks short of graduation for her major role in the film Eyes of a Stranger (1981).

Her big break came in 1982 as an inexperienced high schooler whose naiveté leads to an abortion in Amy Heckerling's Fast Times at Ridgemont High. This affecting, vulnerable, blond leading lady has developed into a fine actress whose performances are often the outstanding feature of her films.

Leigh received raves for her portrayal of a young undercover narcotics cop who gets in too deep in Rush (1991), having previously startled audiences with her honest, uninhibited turns as the fatalistic young hooker in Last Exit to Brooklyn (1989) and a devoted girlfriend in Miami Blues (1990). Christopher Guest's Hollywood satire The Big Picture (1989) showcased her little-used comedic talents, in the role of a free-spirited performance artist. Judging from the remainder of her oeuvre, it's safe to say she often rises above mediocre material. Single White Female (1992) gave her a particularly juicy role as a psychopathic killer drawn to roommate Bridget Fonda. (Ironically, her worst performance to date was in 1991's Backdraft in which she attempted to play-just once-a "normal" character.) In Robert Altman's Short Cuts (1993) she played a woman who turns men on as a telephone-sex operator while feeding and diapering her baby. In the Coen brothers' The Hudsucker Proxy (1994) she affected a vintage Katharine Hepburn accent and attitude, with delightful comic results.

Alan Rudolph then cast her as celebrated writer and wit Dorothy Parker in Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle (1994). In 1995 she appeared in the drama Dolores Claiborne with Kathy Bates, and Georgia, with Mare Winnigham. In 1996 she reteamed with Robert Altman in Kanasas City, a 1930’s period piece. In 1997 she appeared in A Thousand Acres, a modern day King Lear. In 2000 she appeared in another adaptation of King Lear, in The King is Alive, about a group of people stranded in a desert who stage King Lear. In 2001 she teamed up with Alan Cummings to write, direct, and star in the movie Anniversary Party, about a Hollywood couple celebrating their anniversary even though they are having marriage problems. This year she appeared in The Road to Perdition, as Tom Hanks’ wife.