Jennifer Jason Leigh started acting as a child, and after making her film breakthrough in Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982) she turned 1990s Gen X queen. The actress has appeared in films by Paul Verhoeven, Robert Altman, the Coen brothers, David Cronenberg, and other masters. As the years passes, she didn't have as many headlining roles, and it's fair to say that Leigh has been underused by the industry.
Thankfully, in 2015, the actress made a mighty comeback with Quentin Tarantino’s western The Hateful Eight and Charlie Kaufman’s stop-motion drama Anomalisa. Since then, Leigh shined in such films and television projects as Good Time, Possessor, Twin Peaks: The Return, Atypical, and Patrick Melrose. Next, Leigh is set to star in season five of FX’s hit Fargo.
Let’s take a look at her best performances, ranked.
9 Margot at the Wedding
The 2007 film Margot at the Wedding finds Leigh working with her former husband, filmmaker Noah Baumbach. Leigh portrays a free-spirited Pauline in the film, who didn’t speak to her sister, a successful writer Margot (Nicole Kidman), for a long time. The nakedly honest family tragicomedy opens as judgmental Margot is traveling to the Pauline's wedding to eternally unemployed Malcolm (Jack Black). Kidman grabs the central focus of the narrative, but Leigh does great work too.
8 eXistenZ
In David Cronenberg’s 1999 science fiction horror eXistenZ that "makes The Matrix look like child’s play," Leigh is outstanding as Allegra Geller, a superstar game designer who has come up with a new game system. When an assassin attacks the demonstration of the game, Allegra goes on the run with her bodyguard Ted Pikul (Jude Law). eXistenZ is an underrated Cronenberg movie is a mind-bending trip into virtual reality that is greatly enhanced by Leigh’s presence.
7 Fast Times at Ridgemont High
The 1982 high-school film Fast Times at Ridgemont High introduced Leigh to mainstream audiences and put her on the map. In the comedy-drama that chronicles a year in the lives of Southern California high school students as they look for love, Leigh steps into the role of 15-year-old freshman Stacy Hamilton, a teenager who gets pregnant. The usual array of school stereotypes does not stop Fast Times at Ridgemont High from making it one of the best high school films ever made, with a wide array of future A-listers including not only Jennifer Jason Leigh, but also Sean Penn, Nicolas Cage, Forest Whitaker, and the director of the film, Amy Heckerling.
6 Single White Female
For the 1992 psychological thriller Single White Female, Leigh appears as Hedra, the "roommate from hell," a psychotic stalker obsessed with her housemate Allison (Bridget Fonda). The film won’t win any points for originality – but lead performances are excellent. Leigh’s character is far more than an evil caricature; the actress brings a lot of humanity and depth to Single White Female. For her standout performance, Leigh earned the MTV Movie Award for Best Villain.
5 Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle
The underrated 1994 biographical drama Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle is set in the vivid world of New York’s Algonquin Round Table in the 1920s. Leigh portrays a member of this legendary group of tastemakers, the literary icon Dorothy Parker. For arguably one of the greatest portrayals of the real-life character in American films in the 1990s, Leigh was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama.
4 Georgia
In the 1995 film Georgia, Leigh portrays Sadie Flood, a self-destructive punky singer living in the shadow of her successful sister. A film critic Roger Ebert called Georgia "a complex, deeply knowledgeable story about a truly lost soul and her downward spiral." Leigh’s performance is Oscar-worthy, but it is Mare Winningham, Leigh’s sister Georgia in the film, who received the Academy Awards nomination. Winningham said, "Jennifer was the heart and soul of that film. While we were making the movie, I thought not only that she would get a nomination, but that she would win. Meryl Streep grabbed me at the Academy Awards. She said, 'Jennifer should be here!' and I said, 'I know!"
3 Last Exit to Brooklyn
Based on Hubert Selby Jr.'s controversial novel of the same name, the 1989 drama Last Exit to Brooklyn tells the story of the difficult lives of gangs, troubled hoodlum youth, prostitutes, and unionized workers at lower class Brooklyn in the 1950s. In the film, Leigh appears as the prostitute Tralala who is brutally gang-raped. For her brave performance that combines strength and vulnerability, Leigh was awarded New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress.
2 The Hateful Eight
For director Quentin Tarantino’s 2015 epic western film The Hateful Eight, Leigh appears as Daisy Domergue, a dangerous fugitive wanted dead or alive and a member of a violent gang. Leigh’s despicably mesmerizing performance as one of the Hateful Eight resulted in her first Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress. Leigh opened up to The Guardian about working with Tarantino, saying, "When he looks at you, he doesn’t see just what you did the last two years and he doesn’t think you’re not that person you were in, whatever, 1985. That’s such a blessing, and it really made me remember who I was as an actress; I just had forgotten."
1 Anomalisa
Filmmaker Charlie Kaufman’s poetic and soulful stop-motion Anomalisa centers on a lonely middle-aged man who meets someone he can truly connect with, a shy Lisa. The 2015 comedy-drama benefited from a great voice cast, including David Thewlis and Jennifer Jason Leigh. Leigh may not be physically present in the Anomalisa, but the actress’ stunning voice role brings a lot of vulnerability to the film.
On Leigh receiving an Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Female for her voice work in Kaufman’s stop-motion, Variety wrote, "Film Independent made history by nominating a voice performance for the first time since the Spirit Awards launched over 30 years ago. This milestone reminds us that voice acting is acting."