Conversations with Jennifer Jason Leigh

Career Q&A with Academy Award Nominee Jennifer Jason Leigh. Moderated by Scott Feinberg, The Hollywood Reporter.

Jennifer Jason Leigh is currently an Academy Award nominee for her portrayal of fugitive Daisy Domergue in Quentin Tarantino's THE HATEFUL EIGHT. She is also in Independent Spirit Award nominee for her role in Charlie Kaufman's ANOMALISA.

Leigh came to prominence alongside Sean Penn, Phoebe Cates and Nicolas Cage in Amy Heckerling’s FAST TIMES AT RIDGEMONT HIGH. Six years later, she garnered the Best Supporting Actress Awards from the New York Film Critics Circle and the Boston Society of Film Critics for her portrayals in both Uli Edel's LAST EXIT TO BROOKLYN and George Armitage’s MIAMI BLUES.

Subsequently, Leigh starred in Robert Altman’s films SHORT CUTS and KANSAS CITY, Joel and Ethan Coen’s THE HUDSUCKER PROXY, Barbet Schroeder's SINGLE WHITE FEMALE, David Cronenberg's EXISTENZ, Jane Campion's IN THE CUT, Agnieszka Holland's WASHINGTON SQUARE, Sam Mendes’s ROAD TO PERDITION and Ulu Grosbard’s GEORGIA which she also produced. Other films include Lili Fini Zanuck's RUSH, Ron Howard's BACKDRAFT, Chrisopher Guest’s THE BIG PICTURE, Brad Anderson's THE MACHINIST, and Todd Solondz’s PALINDROMES.

Recent film work includes THE SPECTATCULAR NOW with Shailene Woodley, HATESHIP LOVESHIP with Kristen Wiig and Guy Pearce and KILL YOUR DARLINGS with Daniel Radcliffe

Leigh made her writing and directorial debut in 2001 with THE ANNIVERSARY PARTY which she co-wrote, co-starred and co-directed with Alan Cumming.

Broadway credits include "Cabaret," directed by Sam Mendes, and David Auburn's "Proof." In 2006 she starred in the American premiere of Mike Leigh's "Abigail’s Party" for The New Group and in the radio play "Anomalisa" written and directed by Charlie Kaufman at UCLA's Royce Hall in Los Angeles.

Leigh starred in Noah Baumbach's MARGOT AT THE WEDDING opposite Nicole Kidman and Jack Black, Charlie Kaufman's SYNECDOCHE, NEW YORK with Philip Seymour Hoffman and Catherine Keener and in GREENBERG, which Leigh also produced with Scott Rudin.

Her performance in Alan Rudolph’s MRS. PARKER AND THE VICIOUS CIRCLE won her a Golden Globe nomination, the Best Actress Awards from the National Society of Film Critics, the Chicago Film Critics Association and her first Independent Spirit Award nomination.