Jamie Lee Curtis has starred in critically-acclaimed movies from the very start of her career, and she is still making hits over 40 years later. Curtis got her on-screen debut in John Carpenter’sHalloween.Her role as Laurie Strode immediately marked her out as a young actor worth watching, and she has returned to the franchise periodically throughout her career. She soon gained a reputation as an iconic scream queen of her generation.
Following her success in the horror franchise,Jamie Lee Curtis starred in comedy moviesto diversify her repertoire. Starting withTrading Places, Curtis showed that she was also one of the best comedic actors in Hollywood. Curtis became much less prolific in the 2000s and early 2010s as she took a step back from Hollywood to focus on her family. Since returning, she has enjoyed a career renaissance, including some of her most famous roles.
Jamie Lee Curtis' Parents: Did Janet Leigh Or Tony Curtis Ever Win An Oscar?
Jamie Lee Curtis is the well-known child of Hollywood royalty, and her 2023 Oscar win was the culmination of her career, but did her parents ever win?
Blue Steelwas one of Kathryn Bigelow’s earliest hits, a year before she directedPoint Break.Jamie Lee Curtis stars as a rookie cop who shoots a robber on her first day of duty, before she becomes involved in tracking down a serial killer linked to the incident. Their cat-and-mouse game often defies belief, but Bigelow’s flair for action and a fine performance from Curtis makeBlue Steela thrilling detective drama.
Bigelow’s flair for action and a fine performance from Curtis makeBlue Steela thrilling detective drama.
Blue Steelis a hidden gem, largely forgotten after its poor box office run and an abundance of other gritty detective dramas in the 1990s. It’s also another example of Curtis' underappreciated range. She delivers a superb dramatic performance that helpsBlue Steelwork much better than it has any right to. Even when the violence tips over into absurdity, Curtis keeps things emoitonally grounded.
Just two years after their first collaboration inHalloween, Jamie Lee Curtis and John Carpenter teamed up for another horror movie. Curtis plays one of the residents of a small town gripped by a supernatural fog which carries the vengeful spirits of a shipwreck which took place a century earlier. Carpenter showcases his mastery of suspense and tension, as the townsfolk struggle to understand how to combat the fog.
Carpenter showcases his mastery of suspense and tension, as the townsfolk struggle to understand how to combat the fog.
The Fogis noteworthy for being the first movie that features both Jamie Lee Curtis and her mother, Janet Leigh. ThePsychostar also appeared alongside her daughter in 1998’sHalloween H20: 20 Years Later.Both actors show inThe Fogwhy they are so often associated with the horror genre, as they have the perfect mix of innocence and grit which can create fleshed-out characters.
True Lieswas the first movie to cost over $100 million, but James Cameron has proven time and time again that he’s a director capable of delivering results with big budgets. BeforeTitanicandAvatar,True Lieswas another huge blockbuster hit. Arnold Schwarzenegger stars as a secret agent who struggles to conceal his work from his family, with Jamie Lee Curtis playing his wife.
While Schwarzenegger provides the action hero muscle, Curtis carries a lot of the movie’s humor.
While Schwarzenegger provides the action hero muscle, Curtis carries a lot of the movie’s humor. There are a few layers of dramatic irony to pull apart in the front half of the movie, with Curtis playing the oblivious wife who thinks her husband’s work is so boring that she wishes she could be with a secret agent instead. After the big revelation inevitably comes,Curtis gets a rare chance to play action hero.
Confusingly, 2018’sHalloweenis the third movie in the franchise to be titledHalloween,after the 1978 original and the 2007 reboot. The 2018 version acts as a direct sequel to the original, ignoring the events of every other sequel which came between them. This helps to straighten out the muddled timeline, and it makes it much more accessible for newcomers to the franchise.
There are a few callbacks to the original, butHalloweendoesn’t overdo it, and it crafts an original slasher worthy of the franchise name.
Halloweenmarked a return to form for the franchise, after a string of underwhelming sequels. By taking things back to basics,Halloweenrecaptures a lot of what made John Carpenter’s original such an immense cult hit. Jamie Lee Curtis has appeared in a total of sevenHalloweenmovies, and the 2018 movie gives her character an interesting story for once. There are a few callbacks to the original, butHalloweendoesn’t overdo it, and it crafts an original slasher worthy of the franchise name.
Knives Outpresents itself as a classic murder mystery, styled as if Poirot may enter the room at any point. However,Rian Johnson’s first Benoit Blanc movie is more experimental than it seems. Although it starts out as a whodunnit with a wealthy family full of suspects,Knives Outwraps up its central mystery long before it ends, and the remainder of the story focuses on the desperate race for survival.Knives Outknows that solving a crime is only half the battle, and the idea of justice isn’t so simple.
Curtis doesn’t play villains very often, butKnives Outshowed a sinister side to her that suggests she should consider doing so more often.
Jamie Lee Curtis plays the eldest daughter of the murdered novelist, and she shifts from being a key suspect to becoming a different kind of villain altogether. As Marta, Harlan’s nurse, is bequeathed his entire inheritance, she leads the family in threatening her to relinquish the money. Curtis doesn’t play villains very often, butKnives Outshowed a sinister side to her that suggests she should consider doing so more often.
Body swap comedies have created a surprisingly common subgenre, with movies like13 Going On 30andBig, so it’s admirable thatFreaky Fridaycaptures so much of what makes the idea appealing without reinventing the genre too much. Jamie Lee Curtis stars alongside Lindsay Lohan as a mother and daughter who magically swap bodies thanks to a fortune cookie. They must then live as each other without raising suspicion.
Curtis and Lohan are both capable of getting laughs, but their bond rings true.
The family angle is what givesFreaky Fridayits heart. The comedy comes from Tess and Anna trying to keep up appearances while acting as different ages in an unfamiliar environment, but the emotional throughline is about a mother and daughter learning to understand each other’s perspective. Curtis and Lohan are both capable of getting laughs, but their bond rings true. Decades later, aFreaky Fridaysequel titledFreakier Fridayis in development, with both actors returning.
Eddie Murphy and Dan Aykroyd’s rags-to-riches comedy finds both actors at their peak, but it would be an entirely different prospect without Jamie Lee Curtis. AlthoughTrading Placesappears to be about capitalism and income inequality, it’s structured more like a throwback screwball comedy, and it gets most of its laughs from the personal differences between the characters.
Trading Placesseems more political than it really is, but it works with the same pieces as any comedy of manners.
Curtis plays a street-smart sex worker who drags Dan Aykroyd’s pampered stockbroker character back to his gilded lifestyle when he is turfed out by his employers. Her impatient brand of confidence works brilliantly with Aykroyd’s put-upon “woe is me” act.Eddie Murphy’s fast-talking, zany wildcard is the final ingredient in a delightful comedic cocktail.Trading Placesseems more political than it really is, but it works with the same pieces as any comedy of manners.
The firstHalloweenmovie established Jamie Lee Curtis' reputation as a scream queen, and it remains thebest movie in the long-runningHalloweenfranchise. As well as kick-starting Curtis' career,Halloweenalso propelled John Carpenter to new heights. He soon built on this solid start with a string of hits throughout the 1980s which helped revitalize the horror genre.
Carpenter is a puppet master who knows exactly how to make his audience squirm, and in Curtis he found a sympathetic star worth rooting for.
Halloweenopens in shocking style, with a young Michael Myers stabbing his own sister to death. This powerful image hangs over the rest of the action, showing that the face in the shadows is not just out to scare people on Halloween night. Carpenter is a puppet master who knows exactly how to make his audience squirm, and in Curtis he found a sympathetic star worth rooting for.Halloweenbecame one of the highest-grossing independent movies of all time, largely thanks to word-of-mouth.
A Fish Called Wandawas written by John Cleese, who stars alongside Michael Palin. Thanks to these two, there’s a definite hint of Monty Python absurdity to the heist comedy, but it’s also more grounded and relatable. The story follows a dysfunctional gang who steal some diamonds in London, but they bicker over the take once their leader is arrested. Jamie Lee Curtis plays a femme fatale character who seduces the barrister leading the prosecution against her boss.
A Fish Called Wandais an outstanding British crime caper that harks back to the glory days of Ealing comedies.
Curtis is at her funniest inA Fish Called Wanda.Her confidence is the perfect counter to Cleese’s bumbling, bashful persona. Their on-screen relationship reflects the culture-clash comedy ofA Fish Called Wanda,as Curtis and Kevin Kline play two boisterous Americans on British soil. With some brilliant dark humor and just the right amount of the surreal,A Fish Called Wandais an outstanding British crime caper that harks back to the glory days of Ealing comedies.
Jamie Lee Curtis won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress forEverything Everywhere All At Once,and the absurdist sci-fi comedy from Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert won six other Oscars. Curtis plays the dreary IRS agent who gets increasingly frustrated with the Wang family’s scattershot approach to paperwork. However, she is only the bland antagonist in one universe. As the multiverse starts to split open, she is shown as a hero, a villain, and Evelyn’s sausage-fingered lover.
Jamie Lee Curtis won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress forEverything Everywhere All At Once.
Everything Everywhere All at Onceis densely layered, even if it sometimes appears to be spewing random nonsense. The jokes about “racacoonie” and the scene with two rocks sharing a quiet moment together atop a cliff highlight the true meaning of the story, however. In an endlessly sprawling multiverse, human bonds are the only things which hold any intrinsic value.By letting their creativity flow without impediment, the Daniels reaffirm the beauty of the mundane.
