Jamie Lee Curtis has been a mainstay in Hollywood for decades. But at 64 years old, the actress says she is having her most successful and rewarding year yet.
“I’ve had the most creative life in the last year than I have in my entire life at 64,” Curtis recently told “Morning Joe” co-host Joe Scarborough.
In March, Curtis won her first Oscar for best supporting actress in “Everything Everywhere All at Once.” She also has received critical acclaim for her role in season two of “The Bear,” playing Donna Berzato, the frenzied, emotionally-volatile mom to main character Carmy. She’s the Disney reboot of “Haunted Mansion,” which comes out later this year. And she is also working on a new children’s book.
Curtis was honored on Forbes and Know Your Value’s third annual “50 Over 50” U.S. list, which came out on Aug. 1. The list spotlights dynamic women over the age of 50 who have achieved significant success later in life, often by overcoming formidable odds or barriers.
Curtis, the youngest daughter of actors Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh, told Scarborough that she always thought she would retire at age 40.
“There have been many, many, many points when I said ‘I don’t think I’ll ever make another movie again’…I’ve said it for a long time, because I watched my parents who both were monster stars…I watched them no longer get to do the work that made them stars. I watched them just be famous people who used to work. And it killed them. And it’s heartbreaking,” said Curtis. “And so, I always felt I better get out before they no longer ask me.”
Yet Curtis said every time she has been tempted to retire, she gets a job that transforms the next five years of her life. “It’s crazy. It’s absolutely beautiful,” she said.
Scarborough said that there are two women he has met who actually love talking about their age: Curtis and his wife, Know Your Value founder Mika Brzezinski. “You are comfortable where you are. And you completely embrace it,” noted Scarborough.
“I do,” said Curtis. “Every wrinkle on my face, I get it. I get to. All those kids who don’t grow up, who don’t get a chance to hit middle age, let alone my age, I cannot pretend that doesn’t enter my head every day. I am really lucky.”
Curtis also said it’s important to have women in Hollywood who look like her, noting her mom died at age 76 and her dad died at age 85.
“The best thing is, particularly for women, is for them to see people like me because they go, ‘Oh OK. It’s OK. You can be … silly and look like she looks,’ and realize that tick tock, tick tock, we have stuff to do,” said Curtis. “…This is my time to do my work, because I’m now having this opportunity to do it.”