Jewish actress and mom Jennifer Jason Leigh was recently nominated as best supporting actress for her role in the “The Hateful Eight.” With the Oscars awards this Sunday, Leigh has been something of a media favorite recently. Leigh is coming off one of her most monumental years as an actor. In 2015, she also voiced the part of Lisa in the critically acclaimed animated film “Anomalisa,” directed by Jewish filmmaker Charlie Kaufman.
In a recent interview with The Frame, she talks about how she did fewer movies after becoming a mom, almost gave up acting, and what it was like growing up in a movie-biz family. She described it magical it was for her as a child:
“Because acting is such an odd world, I also grew up as a child of actors and writers. My mom’s a screenwriter and before that she was an actress, and my father was an actor, my step-father was a director so I was on sets a lot as a kid. I loved the magic of the set. You walk in and it’s a living room and you walk outside and it’s just a piece of wood held up by another piece of wood.
There’s a lot of magic involved in movies that as a child I really appreciated. So I love bringing my son to set. It reminds me of what I loved doing as a child and also as an actor you have a lot of down time. So you’re not always on as if you’re directing the movie or if you’re the director of photography of the movie, and the shoot is two or three months, so the rest of the year a lot of times you’re not working.”
She went on to say that her time off set is precious, because she spends it with her 5-year-old son, which illustrates how serious she takes motherhood:
“I sort of spend every moment that I’m not working doing things with my son. You do the best you can and you make the most of the time you have.”
Moms everywhere are trying to figure out the whole work/life balance, whether they’re actors, waitresses, doctors, teachers, freelancers, stay-at-home parents, or writers. It’s never easy, but it’s always refreshing when a prominent person in the media opens up on what it’s like to be a parent. We can’t wait to watch the Oscars this weekend–our fingers are crossed for a big win for Leigh.
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