When it was released on September 3, 1982, Fast Times at Ridgemont High was hardly a hit. But its $9 million box combined with its later popularity on video to make it a true classic. A TV spin-off was launched in 1986 but it lacked the magic of the original and was quickly taken off the air.
Jennifer Jason Leigh, the centerpiece of the film, started her career on TV. She'd begun with a guest stint on The Waltons and moved on to portraying just about every teen angst situation possible in TV movies. One of the most notable of these was as the title role in the 1981 TV movie The Best Little Girl in the World, in which Jennifer helped acknowledge for the first time on film the disease of anorexia. She lost an extreme amount of weight to make the role more realistic, but gained enough back in time to play a blind and hearing impaired character in the feature film Eyes of a Stranger. Fast Times at Ridgemont High put her on the map, though, and movie roles started rolling in. Most of the 80s were spent in commercial films like Easy Money and Grandview, U.S.A. but the actress found her true specialty in 1990, when she won her first award for her performance in the thriller Miami Blues. Now known for her exhaustive research for each of her characters, Jennifer has spent the past decade amazing Hollywood with her varied performances. She was nominated for a Golden Globe for 1995's Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle in which she played literary legend Dorothy Parker and she has received numerous other awards and nominations since that time. Sprinkled throughout these less commercial offerings is the occasional box office blockbuster. 1992's Single White Female achieved the difficult task of appealing to both the public and critics. Lately, Jennifer has been busier than ever, recently appearing in the foreign film The King Is Alive. She has a starring role in the soon-to-be-released Skipped Parts and next year she'll appear in theaters in the romantic drama The Quickie. This year she wrote and directed The Anniversary Party, starring Gwyneth Paltrow and Kevin Kline as well as Jennifer's half-sister, actress Mina Badie and Fast Times At Ridgemont High co-star Phoebe Cates. This will mark Phoebe's return to acting after a seven-year break. The film was shot entirely on digital camera. Her father was actor Vic Morrow, who was killed on the set of 1983's Twilight Zone: The Movie in a highly publicized helicopter accident. Once romantically linked to Rush co-star Jason Patric, Jennifer is presently single.
