Jamie Lee Curtis may have grown up as the child of Hollywood royalty, but she says she built her career with a different mindset.
Jamie Lee Curtis, daughter of film legends Janet Leigh and Tony Curtis, was just 19 years old when she made her big screen debut in John Carpenter's 1978 horror classic Halloween. Curtis showed off her comedic chops in a starring role on the ABC sitcom. “Everything but love” and in such box office hits as Trading Places (1983), A Fish Called Wanda (1988) and “Freaky Friday” (2003).
Now, nearly five decades into her career, Curtis, who turned 67 in November, is even hotter. She won her first Academy Award in 2023 for her role as a stern IRS auditor in the surreal comedy Everything, Everywhere, and the following year she won an Emmy for her dramatic guest-starring role in Bear.
“Nothing I actively did led to the amount of work I do now. There's no formula for it,” Curtis told TODAY's Willie Geist on the Dec. 7 edition of Sunday Sitdown.
“I was lucky because my vanity was not my ticket to lunch,” she continued, noting that her parents' fame in the 1950s and '60s depended on their good looks.
“My parents were known primarily for their beauty. And talent,” Curtis said. “Neither of them wanted to acknowledge the deep, dark, truthful mirror of aging, and so they both tried to brush it off.”
Curtis, on the other hand, “has completely embraced (aging),” she said, laughing.
“And I think the secret key is that I don’t care,” she added.
Curtis's passion for excellence on screen makes her a favorite of some of Hollywood's most successful directors. This month she will appear in the star-studded ensemble of James L. Brooks' political drama Ella McKay, opening December 12.
The film, which also stars Emma Mackey, Ayo Edebiri, Kumail Nanjiani, Albert Brooks and Woody Harrelson, is about an “idealistic young politician” (Mackey) who, according to Curtis, wants to “do good in the world.”
Curtis plays the main character's aunt, who helps her after her mother's death.
Referring to her own life, Curtis spoke about one person who offered her the same level of support.
She recalled being “sweet” and “lots of energy” as a child. She also believed she was struggling with an undiagnosed “learning problem.”
“My mother had a friend who was a writer,” she said. “She was the only person in my life who ever looked at me and said, 'I see you, Jamie. You are very smart.” It gave me some glimpse of like, “Really?” Ha. And that stayed with me.”
