Jamie Lee Curtis Has Totally Transformed Since Her Days As An Iconic Scream Queen

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In the late '70s and early '80s, Jamie Lee Curtis was best known as the scream queen of cinema. She landed roles in some of the biggest horror movies of all time, including "Halloween," "Prom Night," and "Terror Train." But before seeing success on the big screen (or should we say big scream?), life wasn't so easy for the daughter of actors Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh. 

"I struggled in school with what I'm assuming was some kind of learning challenge, and I barely got out of high school, since I became an actress so early," Curtis told AARP. Though she made it to college, she believed she had an undiagnosed learning difficulty as she struggled to retain information. And despite growing up with famous actor patents, becoming a thespian wasn't always her goal. "I never thought I'd be an actor ... I was going to be a police officer, because I thought I would be good and you didn't need a lot of schooling for it," Curtis told The New Yorker. 

Despite the star's educational struggles, she didn't have any trouble developing a healthy attitude toward life. In fact, she embraces evolution. "I am a constant editor. I shed people, I shed clothing, I shed possessions, I shed ideas. The biggest thing I've shed is my own limitations and perception of who I am," she told Good Housekeeping. The Oscar winner shared a similar sentiment with AARP, describing her life as a "constant metamorphosis." And her stunning, decades-long transformation from scary movie star to genre-flitting icon proves it.

Around 1983, Jamie Lee Curtis was ready to shed her scream queen persona and move away from horror movies to chase mainstream success. "I had made a conscious effort to actually stop doing [horror movies]. I knew that that would not allow me a full career — that at a certain point it would get limiting," she told Business Insider.

Curtis' first big career move happened when she played a sex worker in the comedy-drama "Trading Places," with Dan Aykroyd and Eddie Murphy, but her casting raised a few eyebrows because of her previous work. "The casting people all thought [director John Landis] was crazy, and he single-handedly changed the course of my life by giving me that part," Curtis said. The movie's co-writer Tim Harris also talked about how important "Trading Places" was in opening doors for Curtis, explaining, "It's actually one of those movies, where it changes a lot of the participants' careers forever. It got Jamie Lee Curtis out of horror movies."

Around the same time, the actor earned herself a role in the rom-com "Love Letters" alongside James Keach. As with "Trading Places,"  she had to fight for the gig because of her reputation as a horror star, she told Newsday. "They didn't think I could pull off a sweet young thing," she explained. "I think they thought I was a little too wordly, too sophisticated, too tough," she added. She sure proved them wrong.

In 1984, just as Jamie Lee Curtis' mainstream career was taking off, she and Christopher Guest fell into a whirlwind romance. "On July 2, Chris and I had our first date ... And by August 8, when he left to tape a year of 'Saturday Night Live' in New York City, we'd fallen in love," she told O, The Oprah Magazine. Curtis knew Guest was the one for her before they even met. "I opened up an issue of 'Rolling Stone,' saw Christopher Guest in a 'Spinal Tap' story and said, 'I'm gonna marry that guy.' (I did, six months later)," she wrote in a piece for People. 

Curtis would later admit on Facebook of their wedding day, "We loved each other but barely knew each other." The newly married couple didn't wait too long to expand their family, though. They adopted their eldest daughter Annie in 1986 and adopted their second daughter Ruby around a decade later. Curtis' experience inspired her to release a children's book about adoption entitled "Tell Me Again About the Night I Was Born," which was published in 1996.

A busy home life didn't slow down Curtis' blossoming career. In 1985, she continued her journey to superstardom via rom-com roles, including a starring role in "Perfect" alongside John Travolta. Three years later, she took on what would become one of her most notable gigs in the comedy "A Fish Called Wanda," which further cemented her position as a mainstream star.

Though Jamie Lee Curtis was a huge movie star in the late 1980s, she was ready for a new challenge. She turned her attention to TV, appearing in the series "Anything But Love" for four seasons. But that didn't mean she was done with the big screen. She had officially shed her scream queen persona by the '90s and continued appearing in movies, including taking on one of her biggest roles to date in the 1994 in the action-comedy "True Lies" with Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Amid her jumps between TV and movies, Curtis cemented a new look. Though she'd worn a lob-style haircut with bangs for much her early career, she went a little edgier in 1982 and cut her brown tresses into her shortest style yet, a long pixie. By 1992, the short 'do, one of the best low maintenance haircuts for older women, had become her signature style, one she'd rock different variations on for the rest of her career.

Though Jamie Lee Curtis had worked hard to shake off her horror movie image, she was ready to return to her roots in 1998. The A-Lister reprised her "Halloween" character Laurie Strode in "Halloween H20: 20 Years Later," where she fought off Michael Myers again. Some questioned her decision to return to the genre, but as she explained to the Los Angeles Times, "It was in the world of horror that I played a high school student of high intellect who fought back against adversity."

"In 'legitimate' movies I exposed my body," she said. "In 'Trading Places,' I was a prostitute, and six seconds of toplessness have followed me for 17 years. In 'True Lies' I end up dancing around in a G-string. In horror movies, I play intelligent, thoughtful, brave women." The actor poignantly added, "It's such an irony that someone would consider that a step back for me."

The following year, Curtis continued her penchant for horror acting when she appeared in the sci-fi-horror movie "Virus" with William Baldwin and Donald Sutherland. But the celeb made no secret of how much she hated the result. Curtis later trashed the project to IGN, admitting, "'Virus' is so bad that it's shocking ... That would be the all time piece of s**t ... It's just dreadful." Hey, at least she's honest.

In the early 2000s, Jamie Lee Curtis took a career detour into family-friendly movies. The actor landed her first Disney project in 2003 with "Freaky Friday," playing an uptight mom who swaps bodies with her daughter Anna, played by Lindsay Lohan (who's had a head-turning transformation of her own). The movie brought Curtis to the attention of a younger audience, and behind the scenes, she was embracing a new lifestyle. Curtis had been sober for about nine months when filming commenced, she told Variety, in recovery from drug and alcohol addiction.

Curtis continued her foray into family-friendly movies with 2004's "Christmas With The Kranks," alongside Tim Allen. For one comedic bit in the holiday romp, her character wears a skimpy bikini, which Curtis embraced despite her embarrassment. "I had to mention to the cameraman, 'Let's not go for some pretty lighting ... Let's be pretty brave here and turn up the lights.' And he did, so it's just humiliating." she told BlackFilm.com.

The following year, Curtis refused to play by society's beauty rules, embracing the gray hair that would become a big part of her signature look. "The epiphany came when I was sitting in a hair salon thinking, 'What the eff am I doing putting a chemical on my head that burns?'" she told Everyday Health (via People).

If you or anyone you know needs help with addiction issues, help is available. Visit the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration website or contact SAMHSA's National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).

In 2006, Jamie Lee Curtis opened up about how she'd altered her appearance, reflecting honestly on plastic surgery. "I had lower eyelid surgery 14 years ago, which resulted in complications — allergies to things that they gave me," she told the Los Angeles Times, adding that the experience led to her painkiller addiction. "I had some liposuction done in 1999, which also had complications." 

Curtis also shared she'd gotten Botox (which can actually have health benefits), and explained her focus on appearance was sparked by her transition into mainstream movies. "When I first was an actress, I made horror films, and I was always the sort-of-ugly-duckling, girl-next-door person. And my body was never an issue," she said. In an interview with More (via Daily Mail), Curtis said her unsuccessful attempts at plastic surgery left her feeling, "misshapen, just not natural any more. I think it was a big stimulator of my drug abuse."

Around the same time, Curtis underscored her desire to spend more time with her family. "I'm not an actor anymore. I really don't imagine I'll do that again," the multi-award winner told Access Hollywood (via SouthCoastToday), hinting that she'd retired. She added, "I'm just focused on my family and just can't imagine anything that's going to pull me away from them right now." But Curtis clearly tempted fate.

Despite stating her intent to retire in 2006, Jamie Lee Curtis was back on the big screen two years later. She appeared in family movie "Beverly Hills Chihuahua," and also underwent a major physical transformation. Having changed her attitude towards beauty, Curtis struggled to strike a sustainable balance, she told More in 2008 (via Daily Mail). She "got so caught up in not caring about body image" that she adopted unhealthy habits, Curtis said. "So I made a change and lost some weight," the celeb added.

In 2010, she joined the likes of Kristen Bell, Sigourney Weaver, and Betty White in the comedy "You Again" before shifting her focus back to TV, with roles on shows including "NCIS," "New Girl," and "Veronica Mars." In 2015, Curtis made another return to her horror roots in the Ryan Murphy horror-comedy series "Scream Queens," later reprising her "Halloween" role once again for the 2018 movie of the same name. 

The star made it clear how proud she was to still be playing Laurie Strode decades after her debut. "It was one of the franchise's biggest openings ever, and it starred a woman over 50. I was, like, 'Wait, what? I didn't see that coming," she told AARP. Curtis was so connected to the role she went on to appear in "Halloween Kills" in 2021 and "Halloween Ends" in 2022.

Jamie Lee Curtis added another arrow to her professional quiver in 2020 when she became a podcaster. She launched "Letters From Camp" amid the COVID-19 pandemic, using the time she'd originally set aside to shoot "Halloween Kills" to work on it. The fiction series, centered on the experiences of an 11-year-old girl who goes to camp and finds out another girl has gone missing, ran until 2022. "The story is told through weekly letters written from camp. And I play camp director Sue," she told People.

In 2021, Curtis launched another podcast, "Good Friend." Unlike "Letters From Camp," the show was nonfiction and saw Curtis discuss the ups and downs of friendships with her many guests. "Through this podcast, iHeartRadio has given me the opportunity, with humor, pathos, tears and spilled secrets, to explore dialogues with friends, new and old," the talented star said in a statement.

The same year, the actor opened up about how her attitude towards life had evolved during COVID. Speaking to AARP, she confirmed she'd adopted a seize-the-day approach to life, and dressing, and was no longer saving her best pieces for special occasions. "What are we planning for, what are we saving for? Why aren't we wearing those Prada pants to lunch with a friend rather than saying, 'Well, I only have those for a fancy occasion'?" Curtis asked. "I now feel a freedom in living authentically in the moment and being open to whatever shows up."

Though Jamie Lee Curtis had again threatened retirement, the idea of leaving the spotlight was clearly far from her mind in 2021. Before accepting the Venice Film Festival's Lifetime Achievement Award, she told The Hollywood Reporter, "I feel so alive, like I'm this 14-year-old person just beginning their life ... I'm just beginning my work." The California native was more assured than ever as she approached her 64th birthday, joining the ranks of celebrities who are aging with confidence. "I think over the years of trial and error, a lot of therapy, a lot of sobriety, that now I am made for Jamie," she told "Today." "I feel good in my skin, in my mind, in my body."

But while Curtis made it clear she still had plenty ahead of her, she was ready to call time on Laurie Strode. Curtis confirmed "Halloween Ends" would be the last time she played the character and told Variety, "The universal understanding of Laurie Strode is that as this original 'final girl' she never gave up, always pushing through no matter what ... I feel like I haven't given up, that I have continued to try, but not at the level of Laurie Strode." As she ended one chapter, another began. In 2023, Curtis won her first Oscar for her supporting role in "Everything Everywhere All at Once." 

In a candid, 2025 Instagram post, Jamie Lee Curtis talked about the confidence her signature pixie haircut gave her after trying a different 'do for a movie role. "[W]hen I have my hair cut the way I love it and the way it suits me, it gives me the freedom to exist with no make up and very little fuss," she wrote of her short, choppy style, one of the cuts that perfectly flatters gray hair. "It gives me a confidence that I never had in my life." 

Curtis was also extremely vocal about her disdain for cosmetic procedures, proving how far she'd come from the days when she went under the knife. "The concept that you can alter the way you look through chemicals, surgical procedures, fillers — there's a disfigurement of generations of predominantly women who are altering their appearances," she told The Guardian.

Career-wise, she was still at the top of her game. The superstar teamed up with Lindsay Lohan again for the "Freaky Friday" sequel "Freakier Friday" and was awaiting the release of the James L. Brooks movie "Ella McCay." But despite her success, she still talked about retiring. "I have been self-retiring for 30 years. I have been prepping to get out, so that I don't have to suffer the same as my family did," she said. "I want to leave the party before I'm no longer invited." Still, with her career very much thriving in her mid-60s, we wouldn't blame Curtis for taking on "Everything Everywhere All at Once" for just a little longer.