A biography for Jennifer Jason Leighhasn’t been written yet.
“I loved acting as a kid because I was kind of shy, so it brought me out of myself.”
“'The Hateful Eight' is like theatre.”
“I remember I once went to a nutritionist who said I come from good Russian-Jewish peasant stock, which means I can hold a potato in my body for a week, if need be.”
“I used to go to Haagen-Dazs and order three banana splits at a time!”
“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.”
“I think that's an incredible thing that we can do as actors - to feel empathy toward someone that you may otherwise detest, you know?”
“I just don't plan things. I live a month at a time.”
“I've always done roles that really appealed to me on a gut level and which I found inspiring.”
“My mom's a screenwriter, and before that, she was an actress, and my father was an actor; my stepfather was a director, so I was on sets a lot as a kid. I loved the magic of the set. You walk in, and it's a living room, and you walk outside, and it's just a piece of wood held up by another piece of wood.”
“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.”
“One of the reasons that I do a lot of different kinds of pictures is because I learn a lot when I'm doing them.”
“Being a good girl means suppressing a lot.”
“Acting for kids is like playing house, you know? But growing up in Hollywood, it just made it seem possible.”
“I'm a fraidy cat. I play everything very safe in my life, so I think that's why I like characters that don't.”
“My mother always helped me because she was kind of a research fanatic. When she would write a screenplay, there would be so much research all over the walls. And so when I started working as an actress, I would do the same thing. She instilled in me a love of taking everything very seriously. It didn't matter what it was.”
“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.”
“Writing, producing and directing, I must say, is incredibly satisfying and gratifying. I've never been happier.”
“I'm so different to the roles I play, and perhaps that's why they are appealing to me as an actor. But I would never want to inhabit my characters' shoes in real life.”
“I used to hang out by the food table at parties because you don't have to talk to anybody. If you do then you can talk about the food.”
“I loved being on the set with my stepfather. I loved the magic of movies. I went on the set of 'The Mod Squad' - I mean, can you imagine? Just walking into a living room and then walking behind the living room, and it's just flat. There's nothing I love more than being on a sound stage.”