Leigh was born on 5 February 1962 in Hollywood, California. Leigh’s birth name was Jennifer Leigh Morrow. At 14, she attended Stagedoor Manor Performing Arts Training Center in Loch Sheldrake, New York summer acting workshops given by Lee Strasberg and landed a role in the movie The Young Runaways (1978). in 1983 Leigh had a small role in the Rodney Dangerfield movie Easy Money, playing the eldest of two daughters, who marries a man that Rodney disapproves of. With the exception of Ridgemont High, Leigh’s early film work consisted of playing fragile, damaged, or neurotic characters in low-budget horror or thriller genre films. The story of intense sibling rivalry and the problems of drug addiction within a family are reputedly based on Leigh’s sister Carrie (who is credited as “technical adviser” on the film) and her relationship with Leigh as the more successful sister. Georgia was met with universal critical praise, with Leigh’s performance hailed as one of the best of the year. Taking another radical change of pace, she starred in Agnieszka Holland’s version of the Henry James novel Washington Square (1997), as a mousy 19th-century heiress courted by a gold-digger.
