Jennifer Jason Leigh was born Jennifer Lee Morrow in Los Angeles, California, the daughter of writer Barbara Turner and actor Vic Morrow. Her father was of Russian Jewish descent and her mother was of Austrian Jewish ancestry. She is the sister of Carrie Ann Morrow and half-sister of actress Mina Badie.

Family

Trivia

Daughter of actor Vic Morrow and actress-screenwriter Barbara Turner.
Won two 1990 Critic Society awards for her portrayal of Tralala in Last Exit to Brooklyn (1989), and as Susan Waggoner in Miami Blues (1990).
Selected as one of "America's 10 Most Beautiful Women" by Harper's Bazaar Magazine, 1989.
Has an older sister, Carrie Ann Morrow, and a younger half-sister, actress Mina Badie. Her ex-stepfather is director Reza Badiyi.
Well-known in Hollywood for the exhausting research she does for each of her portrayals and for her affinity of playing lurid roles.
Had a small part as Marion in Eyes Wide Shut (1999). However, when its director Stanley Kubrick asked Jennifer to do some re-shoots, she was not available to do that. Her entire part was reshot by Marie Richardson.

Personal Quotes 

I could never play the ingenue, the girl next door or the very successful young doctor. That would be a bore.
[on her best friend, Phoebe Cates] Your best friend is the only one who would tell you the person you are in love with is a sexually ambivalent man-child.
I just don't plan things. I live a month at a time.
I'm a typical middle child. I'm the mediator. The one that makes everything OK, puts their own needs aside to make sure everybody's happy. It's hard to change your nature, even with years and years of therapy.
I like a movie that the audience actively has to participate in, and not just casually observe. Whatever my part in it, just as an audience member, I find that exciting.
People can have so many ill-conceived ideas about me based on the parts that I play. I've had guys, when I've been single, come out of the woodwork to date me and I've found out very quickly that they were expecting some kind of whirlwind, some dramatic crazy person - and that's just not me.
I'd much rather be in a movie that people have really strong feelings about than one that makes a hundred million dollars but you can't remember because it's just like all the others.