Jamie Lee Curtis

"I thought, while they're up and firm, why not shoot them once or twice."

Dispelling the Rumour

Now let's just get that little urban legend out of the way right at the beginning. Jamie Lee Curtis was born a hermaphrodite. Maybe she was, maybe she wasn't. Depending on how you look at it, a penis is just an overdeveloped clitoris or vice-versa. We're dealing with the same set of equipment here, people. That which makes a woman a woman or a man a man is so much more than a flap of skin that resides between your legs.

Watch the striptease scene in True Lies and know that what you are seeing is a woman in all of her glory. Enough said.

BIOGRAPHY

Being the progeny of legendary parents Janet Leigh and Tony Curtis, Jamie Lee Curtis came into this world with Hollywood in her blood. Interestingly, Janet Leigh is famous for her death scene (and the requisite scream) in Psycho. This would be Jamie's own claim to fame as the Scream Queen after her start in the most successful independent movie production up to that time, Halloween. At first Janet was not keen on her daughter's entry into Hollywood, instead opting for a sound college education for her daughter. Jamie would have none of it, and dropped out of The University of the Pacific after one semester.

The eighties saw her stretching her acting abilities as the happy-go-lucky hooker in Trading Places aside Dan Akroyd and Eddie Murphy. It also found a new kindred spirit in her largely absent biological father up to that point, and though this closeness was based upon a mutual addiction to cocaine, both eventually kicked the habit and maintain a healthy relationship to this day. Curtis also found harmony in her life in the love of her husband, Christopher Guest, whom she married in 1983.

Her comedic abilities surfaced in the film A Fish Called Wanda where she was a perfect complement to John Cleese and Kevin Kline. The three would go on to make Fierce Creatures together with similar effect. Of course 1994 saw her lionized in the role that had audiences dropping their jaws while Arnold Schwarzenegger dropped his tape recorder. True Lies was a hit and once again proved that Jamie Lee Curtis continues to be a versatile actress that can't be typecast.

U S E L E S S  F A C T S

• Dated english rocker Adam Ant for 9 months
• She is currently chairperson of The Raoul Wallenberg Memorial Park in tandem with her father's founding of The Emanuel Foundation, an organization dedicated to aiding families of holocoust victims in reclaiming assets and property that was lost during World War II.
• Became Baroness, Lady Haden-Guest, when her husband inherited the Barony in 1996.
• Was asked to cameo in Scream 3 (2000), but declined
• It was on her suggestion that Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998) was made
• Won a 2003 Grammy nomination in the Best Spoken Album for Children category for her recording of the children's books she has written

Doin' the Splits (2004) (in production)
Freaky Friday (2003) - Tess Coleman
Halloween: Resurrection (2002) - Laurie Strode
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and the Island of Misfit Toys (2001) (V) (voice) - Queen Camilla
Daddy and Them (2001) - Elaine Bowen
The Tailor of Panama (2001) - Louisa Pendel
A Very Special Christmas from Washington, D.C. (2000) (TV) - Host
Pigs Next Door (2000) (TV) (voice) - Clara
Drowning Mona (2000) - Rona Mace
Virus (1999) - Kit Foster
Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998) - Laurie Strode/Keri Tate
Nicholas' Gift (1998) (TV) - Maggie Green
Homegrown (1998) - Sierra Kazan
Fierce Creatures (1997) - Willa Weston
Ellen's Energy Adventure (1996) (uncredited) - Dr. Judy Peterson
House Arrest (1996/I) - Janet Beindorf
The Heidi Chronicle (1995) (TV) - Heidi Holland
True Lies (1994) - Helen Tasker
Mother's Boys (1994) - Judith 'Jude' Madigan
My Girl 2 (1994) - Shelly Sultenfuss
Forever Young (1992) - Claire Cooper
My Girl (1991) - Shelly DeVoto
Queens Logic (1991) - Grace
Blue Steel (1990) - Megan Turner
Anything But Love (1989) (TV) - Hannah Miller
Dominick and Eugene (1988) - Jennifer Reston
A Fish Called Wanda (1988) - Wanda Gershwitz
Amazing Grace and Chuck (1987) - Lynn Taylor
Un homme amoureux (1987) - Susan Elliott
Welcome Home (1986)
As Summers Die (1986) (TV) - Whitsey Loftin
Perfect (1985) - Jessie
Grandview, U.S.A. (1984) - Michelle 'Mike' Cody
Love Letters (1984) - Anna Winter
Trading Places (1983) - Ophelia
Callahan (1982) (TV) - Bartlett, Rachel
Money on the Side (1982) (TV) - Michelle Jamison
Death of a Centerfold: The Dorothy Stratten Story (1981) (TV) - Dorothy Stratten
Halloween II (1981) - Laurie Strode
Roadgames (1981) - Pamela 'Hitch' Rushworth
She's in the Army Now (1981) (TV) - Pvt. Rita Jennings
Terror Train (1980) - Alana Maxwell
Prom Night (1980) - Kim Hammond
The Fog (1980) - Elizabeth Solley
Halloween (1978) - Laurie Strode
Operation Petticoat (1977) (TV) - Lt. Barbara Duran] (1977-1978)
The Columbo: Bye-Bye Sky-High I.Q. Murder Case (1977) (TV) - Waitress