Jamie Lee Curtis has been in the movie business for close to 50 years now, and in that time really has done it all, excelling across genres and in films both low and high-budget. With two legendary Hollywood actors as parents - Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh - maybe it was destiny. And though she rose to prominence in the horror genre, her filmography became more diverse as the years went on, and she's won numerous awards too, including an Oscar win in 2023.
Summarizing all the iconic roles she's played is difficult, and like anyone who's been working for decades, there will be omissions when it comes to not just listing everything. But for Curtis and her filmography, the following titles represent the best of the best, and are easy enough to highlight as her essential feature films... plus one TV movie, for good measure. Otherwise, TV roles are excluded here (sorry, Scream Queens).
10 'The Fog' (1980)
While the most memorable collaboration between Jamie Lee Curtis and director John Carpenter had happened two years prior (more on that one in a bit), The Fog is still a solid supernatural horror film. It's a moody and atmospheric movie set in a small coastal town that gets hit with the titular fog, at which point strange things start happening to the residents there.
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Extreme and extremely good.
It also stands out for featuring both Jamie Lee Curtis and her mother, Janet Leigh, whose best-known role is likely playing the (seeming) protagonist in Alfred Hitchcock'sPsycho. It's otherwise familiar in many ways, as a work of slow-burn horror, but still functions well overall and is pretty engaging.
9 'Nicholas’ Gift' (1998)
Nicholas' Gift is a TV movie that's unapologetically a tearjerker, but feels worth mentioning for the fact that it earned Jamie Lee Curtis a nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie at the Emmys. Otherwise, it's not super memorable or well-known, but a nomination there's worth something.
It follows two parents whose lives become horrifically difficult following a violent tragedy that occurs while they're vacationing with their children in Italy. It deals with some heavy concepts in a fairly broad, expectedly TV movie sort of way, but Curtis turns in a compelling performance and inevitably elevates the material in the process.
8 'Blue Steel' (1990)
Following 2001, the words "blue steel" might conjure up thoughts of a different movie altogether, but 1990's Blue Steel is a crime/thriller directed by Kathryn Bigelow. It follows Curtis's character - a rookie cop - as she has an exceedingly eventful first day on the job, immediately being involved in stopping an armed robbery which then leads to further chaos after an interaction with an eccentric witness of the crime.
It's an overall excessive and potentially silly (at times) movie, perhaps in the same vein as Bigelow's next movie, the even more classic action/thriller that was 1991's Point Break. Yet it's effective and entertaining for anyone looking for something no-nonsense and fast-paced, and Curtis proves herself more than capable of carrying a thriller in the lead role here. But then again, you could argue she'd already done that, to some extent, with a starring role in the underrated 1981 Australian film Roadgames.
7 'Trading Places' (1983)
The premise of Trading Places is one that seems instantly interesting, and further, is one that has significant comedic potential. The trading of places comes in the form of two men from two very different walks of life - one wealthy and one very much not - and follows what happens when due to circumstances outside their control, they're made to switch places and see how the other one lives.
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Admittedly, Dan Aykroyd and Eddie Murphy are the stars here, with Jamie Lee Curtis's role being a supporting one (she plays a prostitute who helps Aykroyd's once-wealthy character after he finds himself lost and without money). It was an early role of hers that showed her knack for comedy, and she ended up winning a Best Actress in a Supporting Role BAFTA for the performance.
6 'True Lies' (1994)
Though True Lies might not be one of the very best James Cameron movies, it's still a good deal of fun and makes for breezy/action-packed entertainment. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jamie Lee Curtis star, with the two playing a couple whose marriage is becoming strained, all the while the husband - a secret agent - finds himself pitted against a powerful terrorist group.
It's best approached as a comedy/action movie, because otherwise, the silliness of it all might be maddening. Still, for those who don't mind their Schwarzenegger movies broad and more than a little cheesy, True Lies is pretty easy to recommend, and as far as Jamie Lee Curtis goes, it shows her surprising mastery of the action genre (so another type of movie added to her repertoire).
5 'Freaky Friday' (2003)
Not to be mixed up with the 2020 horror/comedy movie simply called Freaky, Freaky Friday has a premise that inspired that film, but keeps things family-friendly and a little cheerier overall. This 2003 film was produced and promoted as a Disney release, after all, so it would've been odd for it to be a violent, tongue-in-cheek slasher movie.
Freaky Friday is a movie with a familiar body-swap premise, but it does it well and makes it feel relatively entertaining overall, following a mother (Curtis) and her teenage daughter (Lindsay Lohan) mysteriously swapping bodies (or Trading Places?) one fateful day. It keeps things light and goofy throughout, and for her performance, Curtis was nominated for a Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical award at the Golden Globes.
4 'Knives Out' (2019)
Knives Out rejuvenated the mystery/crime/comedy genre mash-up with a vengeance in 2019, and was followed up by a strong sequel with 2022's Glass Onion. The only character to appear in both is Daniel Craig's Detective Benoit Blanc, with the case he's investigating in the original film from 2019 involving the mysterious death of a wealthy patriarch whose estate is sought after by his various descendants/relatives.
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The premise of Knives Out lends itself well to having a huge ensemble cast, because the more suspects, the merrier the mystery. This cast includes Ana de Armas, Chris Evans, Michael Shannon, Toni Collette, Christopher Plummer, and of course Jamie Lee Curtis, with everyone getting a chance to shine and/or chew some scenery, including Curtis, who plays a gleefully unlikeable character.
3 'A Fish Called Wanda' (1988)
The only thing more fun than watching a traditional heist movie is watching a non-traditional heist movie where everyone's so incompetent that nothing much goes right for anyone. This is the case for A Fish Called Wanda, which takes a crime movie premise and makes it into a farce, delivering countless hilarious scenes with things becoming seemingly more and more chaotic with every minute that goes by.
The movie earned Jamie Lee Curtis her first of eight Golden Globe nominations, but her cast members also bring their A-game comedically, including John Cleese, Michael Palin, and (especially) Kevin Kline. It's a very efficient and thoroughly rewatchable comedy, and arguably among the best of its decade, too.
2 'Everything Everywhere All at Once' (2022)
What more is there to say about Everything Everywhere All at Once that hasn't already been said? It's a blend of almost every genre under the sun, including sci-fi, action, adventure, fantasy, comedy, and family drama. It spans universes and gets very weird, but also has an undeniably strong emotional through line that makes it unbelievably moving, even among all the ridiculous things happening.
It was a hit critically upon release, sure, but kept garnering acclaim as the months went on, and it ended up being hugely successful at the Academy Awards. Of its many surprising (in a good way) wins, perhaps none were as unexpected as Jamie Lee Curtis's for Best Supporting Actress, which she earned for playing a grumpy and (mostly) stuck-up worker for the IRS.
1 'Halloween' (1978)
When it comes to iconic Jamie Lee Curtis roles, it's hard to argue for any other film besides Halloween getting honored with the top spot. This is the film that launched her career and established her as a horror icon, too, with this being one of many times she played the role of Laurie Strode, a young woman who comes face to face with the dangerous Michael Myers on one terrifying Halloween night.
It works wonders with a small budget and is effectively minimalist and simple, easily standing as the best entry in what's now a long-running franchise. It's representative of both Jamie Lee Curtis and John Carpenter at their respective bests, and has become mandatory viewing for many every October for good reason.
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