Jamie Lee Curtis was born into a very famous family, but these days she’s just as renowned as her parents. The 63-year-old has had a long and successful career as an actor, while also being married for a long time married to her husband, and also raising three children.

That’s not to say Curtis hasn’t harbored doubts about herself. More, comments made by others even made her turn to plastic surgery several times.

Today, however, Jamie Lee isn’t an advocate for plastic surgeries at all – the 63-year-old feels that the changes she tried to achieve were humiliating. Instead, she’s begged people to stop “f**king with your face.”

Even though Jamie Lee Curtis was born into a very famous family, her childhood wasn’t as trouble-free as one might expect.

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Born on November 22, 1958, in Los Angeles, California, Curtis grew up in a wealthy home with parents and prominent actors Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh. But it turned out – at least according to Jamie Lee – that her birth might not have only been to do with her parents wanting another child.

Jamie Lee Curtis – early life

In fact, she revealed to the Huffington Post that her parents only had her to save their marriage.

“By the time I came along, following my sister, Kelly, by two and a half years, my parents’ bond had deteriorated precipitously as their stardom grew. And like any other save-the-marriage baby, I failed,” Jamie Lee Curtis said.

“Janet suffered public embarrassment as Tony chose a 17-year-old replacement, a German actress with whom he was working, and she felt the slings and arrows of tabloid gossip and innuendo. She told me that she did the memorable scene on the train in The Manchurian Candidate the day she found out that Tony had filed for divorce.”

Now, Jamie didn’t want to become an actress in her early days. She was a cheerleader at the Weslake School – an all-girls school – in Los Angeles, and the privileged Beverly Hills High. There, her parents’ fame once again became something of a problem.

Their private lives and scandals were repeatedly published in the newspapers because they were so famous. As a result, Curtis found herself caught up in the madness. Because of that, she he had a hard time finding her identity.

“It was just never forgotten who my parents were,” Jamie told Rolling Stone. “Whenever I met anyone new, I was introduced as Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh’s daughter.”

“It screwed with my head,” she added.

First work in television and ‘Halloween’ success
“You’re a child trying to develop an identity and a sense of self-worth, and all this Hollywood stuff plagues you and makes you kind of wonder who you are. Then you’re twelve through eighteen, and you’re developing sexually and emotionally. And it’s hard. My time in high school was just a f*cking killer.”

In 1975, Jamie’s mother, Janet Leigh, left for Broadway. Jamie went with her and enrolled at the Connecticut Boarding school, Coate.

It didn’t take long before she also wanted to pursue a career in acting and tried out for a role as teenage detective Nancy Drew. After only one semester at the University of the Pacific, Jamie Lee Curtis dropped out to fulfill her dream of working in show business, just like her parents.

Curtis was able to pick up further minor roles, including in the television series Columbo. She got her big breakthrough when she turned 20, starring in John Carpenter’s legendary horror film Halloween.

As with actors who show prominent talent in one specific field, the horror flick success gave Jamie Lee Curtis more roles in the same genre. She went on to star in the 1980 films Prom Night and The Fog, as well as the sequel to Halloween, Halloween II.

Curtis became known as “Scream Queen” due to the amount of horror films she appeared in. When it comes to watching them, though, she is absolutely terrified.

“I do not like horror movies. I do not say this for a joke, although it gets a laugh, I really don’t,” Curtis told NME.

Jamie Lee Curtis – films, awards, net worth
“There’s nothing I like about being scared. I’m this person [puts hands over her face]. I sing songs to myself when things are terrifying. I mean, [explicit] Aladdin scared me. I’m not joking! You know when Jafar becomes a dragon? With his red eyes and stuff? That sh*t scared me.”

Jamie would eventually move on to star in films outside the horror genre, taking lead roles in films such as Love Letters (1983) and working alongside John Travolta in the 1985 film Perfect.

As the 1990s approached, she got one of her most acclaimed roles as she starred in the comedy A Fish Called Wanda. She also went back to working in television, earning a Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series – Comedy or Musical for her performance in the sitcom Anything But Love.

Curtin won her second Golden Globe in 1995 – for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical – for her performance in the film True Lies, where she worked alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Though Curtis work across several genres, she did return to horror. In 1998, the film Halloween H20: 20 Years Later premiered. As recently as 2018, the original “Screen Queen” reprised her role as Laurie Strode once again in Halloween.