She is also the co-writer and co-director of the film The Anniversary Party, made with fellow actor Alan Cumming. Leigh is known for her emotionally raw and often sexually explicit portrayals of vulnerable and damaged women, and for her intensive method inspired research into her roles. Leigh’s birth name was Jennifer Leigh Morrow. Leigh also has a half-sister actress Mina Badie, from her mother’s marriage, who acted alongside Leigh in The Anniversary Party. Leigh was then cast in her first mainstream Hollywood studio film, the firefighter drama Backdraft, in which she played a somewhat more conventional role as the girlfriend of lead actor William Baldwin. Leigh reportedly told director Ron Howard that she wished that she could be the fire because it had the film’s best role. Her performance was highly acclaimed, receiving a Golden Globe nomination and a Best Actress award from the National Society of Film Critics, as well as Best Actress awards from the Chicago Film Critics Association and Fort Lauderdale Film Critics.
