Leigh took acting classes using Lee Strasberg before she began acting professionally as a teenager. Around 1977, she got her foremost credited role around an episode of the TV indicate Baretta. Many TV moving picture—including the portrayal of an anorexic in The Best Little Girl in the Globe, for which Leigh lost weight to 86 lb—followed. Around 1982, Leigh played the central character inside director Amy Heckerling's Fast Times at Ridgemont High.

As an adult, Leigh has gravitated towards portraying fragile, damaged or psychotic characters. 1 role therewithin vein was that of an angry chintzy singer in Georgia (1995).

Her performance as a manipulative stage mother inside Childstar won her a Genie Award in 2005. When she was non attendant at a ceremony, director Don McKellar accepted the award in her behalf.

Leigh & her longtime young man, independent screenwriter-director Noah Baumbach, announced in September 26, 2005 that they experienced gotten married a former weekend.

__NOTOC__ Selected filmography

The Jacket (2005) The Machinist (2004) Childstar (2004) Road to Perdition (2002) The Anniversary Party (2001) eXistenZ (1999) Dolores Claiborne (1995) Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle (1994) The Hudsucker Proxy (1994) Single White Female (1992) Rush (1991) Backdraft (1991) Last Exit to Brooklyn (1989) Heart of Midnight (1988) The Hitcher (1986) Flesh & Blood (1985) Grandview, U.S.A. (1984) Easy Money (1983) Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982)

Awards

Genie Awards
2005 Genie Award Best Performance by an Actress in the Supporting Role for Childstar

Golden Globe Awards
1994 Special Award Best Ensemble Cast for Short Cuts (shared with a rest of the cast)

MTV Movie Awards
1993 MTV Movie Award Best Villain for Single White Female