Jamie Lee Curtis Makes Jaw-dropping Acknowledgment During Her Iconic 'I Am An Actor' Speech

Oct 12, 2023

Jamie Lee Curtis has had a remarkable Hollywood career, aided in part by her early head start. The American sweetheart is also a producer and children's author who got her big break by becoming the iconic scream queen of "Halloween." Ever since the actress's career has continued to thrive. 

Since then, she has gotten multiple awards, including an Academy Award, two Golden Globes, a British Academy Film Award, and other nominations. Jamie has made impressive appearances in movies like "Freaky Friday," "Knives Out" and many more. 

Jamie's acting career has seen a lot of growth over the decades. This growth is a testament to her hard work and persistence. However, she never fails to recognize her great head start, being the child of two classic Hollywood icons. This, in turn, placed her and several other actors at the core of the Hollywood nepotism, or "nepo baby" discourse, but Jamie is anything but bothered as she embraced this in a good light. 

During her February 2023 “I Am an Actor” monologue at the SAG Awards, Jamie made a joke while speaking about her career, admitting that she was a ‘'nepo baby.” The term '’nepo baby’' refers to actors who are born into families already established in the acting industry. It means they got a head start in their career compared to other people who were total greenhorns in the industry. 

Jamie is the daughter of two classic Hollywood stars, Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh. Leigh is well known for her iconic role in "Psycho." After making her big break in 1978, Jamie went on to star in other movies like "Trading Places," "A Fish Called Wanda," " True Lies," "Everything Everywhere All at Once" for which she got her first Oscar win, and many more.

Aside from her impressive career, Jamie is also married to filmmaker Christopher Guest, and the duo have two daughters. When the "nepo baby" label began circulating in 2022, many celebrities expressed their feelings about it. 

On Dec. 19, 2022, an article titled "How A Nepo Baby Is Born" was published by Vulture. The article provided a detailed summary of how some children of entertainment industry professionals had an advantage in starting their careers. It delved into how the label spread across social media platforms with eye-opening content about spotlight royalty. 

The issues surrounding nepo babies did not sit right with a lot of celebrities who shared their opinions about the label. The daughter of actress Lisa Bonet and musician Lenny Kravitz, Zoe Kravitz shared that she had "deep insecurity" because of the label. Vanessa Paradis and Johnny Depp's daughter, Lily-Rose Depp, also had to go through harsh criticisms from fellow models online.

Many public figures like Lily Allen, Gwyneth Paltrow, Hailey Bieber, Kate Hudson and even Jamie expressed their sentiments on the label in the discussions that ensued. Tom Hanks also slammed the nepo baby issues. The actor has a family of actors. Hanks opened up about his thoughts on the topic while speaking to The Sun. He shared:

"The thing that doesn’t change no matter what happens, no matter what your last name is, is whether it works or not … Doesn’t matter what our last names are. We have to do the work in order to make that a true and authentic experience for the audience.”

Other celebrities addressed the controversy surrounding nepotism babies, and Jamie was not left out. While speaking at the SAG Awards ceremony, Jamie humorously acknowledged her "nepo baby" status. During her introduction speech, the actress exclaimed, "Nepo baby!" which cracked the crowd up.

After jokingly admitting that she was a nepo baby, Jamie went ahead to tell the crowd a background story of her career. Per ET, she shared:

"I got my SAG card when I was 19 years old, when I signed a seven-year contract to Universal Studios and starred in an ABC TV series called the Operation Petticoat, which was based on the movie that my father, Tony Curtis — nepo baby! — starred in."

Jamie also addressed the nepotism label after she won Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role at the ceremony. While speaking to ET's Denny Directo backstage, she shared that although she joked about being a nepo baby, "the truth of the matter is, I've only worked with strangers." 

In December 2022, a New York magazine published a story on Hollywood nepotism, sparking a discussion about nepo babies. In response to the discourse, Jamie took to her Instagram to share that the discussion "is just designed to try to diminish and denigrate and hurt." Although she did not deny the fact that she had some advantages, she added:

"I have suited up and shown up for all different kinds of work with thousands of thousands of people and every day I’ve tried to bring integrity and professionalism and love and community and art to my work."

Fortunately, through her consistently outstanding performances, the actress has proven that she has earned her fame. 

Isn’t it heartwarming to see that Jamie Lee Curtis’ feathers could not be ruffled over the nepotism label? What do you think of the controversy surrounding nepo babies in the industry? Let us know, and be sure to pass this on to other fans of hers.