-> 

v

"I believe that life is hard. That we all are going to walk through things that are hard and challenging, and yet advertising wants us to believe that it's all easy." As someone who hasn't always had things easy, Jamie Lee Curtis knows what she's talking about. Hollywood wants people to see things a certain way, and so do companies that sell a product or service. But Curtis knows that not everything is as easy as it seems on TV or in films, and she has often taken on roles that showcase the idea that people are flawed and that they all have their struggles to get through, no matter how good or easy their life might seem to others.

 -> 

v

Curtis made her film debut with Halloween in 1978, and got her dubbed as the "scream queen." Throughout the 1980s she appeared in a number of horror movies, but she didn't want to get branded as an actress that could only play that type of role. In 1980, she was in The Fog, Terror Train, and Prom Night. She was also in three Halloween sequels, in 1981, 1998, and 2018. But she hasn't been all about the horror genre. She's also appeared in a number of comedies, including Trading Places (1983), and A Fish Called Wanda (1988). How did Curtis become so popular? Read on to find out all you need to know.

An Early Start With Famous Parents

 -> 

v

Curtis was born to Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh, both of whom were actors. She grew up in Santa Monica, California, and in 1962 her parents divorced. After that, Curtis' father was rarely around and she was raised by her mother and her mother's family. Her older sister Kelly also acts, and she has half-siblings from the remarriage of her father to other women. She attended school at Westlake School in Los Angeles and went to Beverly Hills High School. She graduated and attended college at University of the Pacific in Stockton. After one semester she dropped out and pursued acting instead.

Her role of Laurie Strode in Halloween (1978) was her feature film debut, and it was a major success. It became a high-grossing film, and has since become a classic. Slasher films were very popular at that time and through the 1980s, giving Curtis an outlet for her creativity and an easy way to keep working. She was in demand, and appeared in a number of horror films over the next decade. She helped to shed some of her horror queen image when she started working in comedies, as well. She was nominated for a BAFTA and won a Golden Globe, as wel.

 -> 

v

In October of 2006, though, she publicly stated that she was done with acting. Instead, she stated she was going to focus on her family. But she returned to acting the following year in a live-action-animated film called Beverly Hills Chihuahua. In 2010, she was in You Again with Sigourney Weaver and Kristen Bell. But it was not only films that interested Curtis. She also worked in television and started choosing roles that were more comfortable for her as she got older and more settled into her career. "I actually think there's an incredible amount of self-knowledge that comes with getting older," she has said.

Finding Her Way Through the Acting World

 -> 

v

"If I can challenge old ideas about aging, I will feel more and more invigorated. I want to represent this new way. I want to be a new version of the 70-year-old woman. Vital, strong, very physical, very agile. I think that the older I get, the more yoga I'm going to do." Curtis has stayed true to these words, and has taken good care of herself throughout her life while also aging naturally. She doesn't dye her gray hair, for example, because she appreciates the fact that she's getting older and appears to be enjoying the process much more than fighting it. It doesn't seem to have affected acting or other areas of her life negatively at all.

She holds several US patents, has written numerous children's books, and blogs for The Huffington Post. She has also focused on humanitarian causes and human rights campaigns, as well as political causes that she felt were important. Curtis also added philanthropic efforts to her list of accomplishments, and works to help children and women who are trying to recover from violence, drug abuse, and other issues. She married Christopher Guest in 1984, and the couple have two children who are adopted. She has attended BlizzCon and Comic-Con, and is a World of Warcraft fan.