American actress, producer, and children’s author best known for her performances in film and television. Curtis is one of the most prolific actors of the horror and slasher genres and is regarded as a scream queen. She has received multiple accolades, including an Academy Award (Best Supporting Actress for 2022 comedy-drama Everything Everywhere All at Once), a BAFTA, two Golden Globes, and two Screen Actors Guild Awards, as well as nominations for an Emmy and a Grammy. She received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1997.
The daughter of movie stars Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh, she was three when her folks separated and she was raised by her mother and step-father, real estate agent Bob Brandt with love and family values; it was not until her 20s that she became friends with her dad. Though her dad had kids from three different marriages, she said, “We’re still very much a family,” as she mourned the death of her 23-year-old half-brother, Nicholas, who died of a drug overdose on 2 February 1994.
The acting bug hit Jamie in high school but her mom insisted that she first go to college. After one semester in University, Jamie dropped out of school. She had a two-line acting job on TV’s Quincy in 1976. Two years later she became a “Scream Queen” in low budget thrillers. Lean and leggy, she gained her first following in the horror genre playing a plucky young woman as an endangered species in Halloween (1978), and many more screamers.
Dubbed the Body after her sexpot roles in Trading Places (1983) and Perfect (1985), Curtis then became a comedian in A Fish Called Wanda (1988), and a mother figure in My Girl (1991) and Forever Young (1992). Moving into good roles, Curtis showed her sassy, good-natured and warm side. In 1994 she had a huge hit True Lies playing a mousy housewife who becomes a super-spy.
During her budding years, Jamie admits to experimenting with cocaine but in 1983, decided to clean up her act. Not long after, a picture of musician Christopher Guest in his Spinal Tap gear caught her eye. She called his agent and left her number but he never called back. They met by chance two months later at a Los Angeles restaurant and fell in love. They married on 18 December 1984 and adopted their daughter Annie (born December 1986) and son Thomas early in 1996. A totally hands-on mother, Jamie was so overjoyed with motherhood that she wrote a book to applaud the adoption. She has also published two children’s books; the third, Today I Feel Silly was released in October 1998 and earned glowing reviews. Her photography is so good that she could take it up as another profession. Jamie made an effort to slow down after she married, no longer needed the frenetic pace that she once kept. By 2000, she was doing few films and focusing her full attention on writing and the kids. Her mother Janet Leigh died on 3 October 2004 in Beverly Hills, California.
For her role in the television series Anything But Love (1989–1992), she won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy. Curtis starred in the comedy horror series Scream Queens (2015–2016), receiving her seventh Golden Globe nomination.
Link to Wikipedia biography