Jamie Lee Curtis

Curtis in 2011, Helga Esteb / Shutterstock.com

Place of Birth: Los Angeles, California, United States

Date of Birth: November 22, 1958

Ethnicity:
*father – Ashkenazi Jewish
*mother – Danish, smaller amounts of English, German, Scots-Irish/Northern Irish, Swiss-German, Welsh, remote French

Jamie Lee Curtis is an American actress and author. She won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022). Known as a Scream Queen, she has starred in the Halloween films, as well as The Fog, Prom Night, Terror Train, Roadgames, Trading Places, Love Letters, Grandview, U.S.A., A Man in Love, Amazing Grace and Chuck, A Fish Called Wanda, Blue Steel, My Girl, Forever Young, Mother’s Boys, True Lies, Fierce Creatures, The Tailor of Panama, Freaky Friday, Beverly Hills Chihuahua, and Knives Out.

Jamie Lee is the daughter of actors Tony Curtis (born Bernard Schwartz) and Janet Leigh (born Janett Helen Morrison). Her stepfather was Robert Brandt. She is the sister of actress Kelly Curtis and the half-sister of actress and businessperson Allegra Curtis. Jamie Lee is married to actor, director, and author Christopher Guest, with whom she has two children, who are adopted. Through her marriage to Christopher, a Baron in the British peerage, she is known as Jamie Lee Haden-Guest, Baroness Haden-Guest, or as The Lady Haden-Guest of Saling in the County of Essex.

Jamie Lee’s father was Jewish, and was the son of Jewish emigrants from Hungary and Slovakia. Jamie Lee’s mother was of English, Scots-Irish/Northern Irish, German, Swiss-German, Welsh, and remote French, ancestry on her own father’s side of the family, and of Danish, and some German, ancestry on her own mother’s side of the family. Jamie Lee’s stepfather Robert Brandt was also Jewish.

Jamie Lee’s paternal grandfather was Emanuel “Manuel” Schwartz (the son of Victor/Viktor Schwartz/Schwarcz and Rose/Rosa/Róza/Rozália Taub). Emanuel was a Jewish emigrant, from Ópályi, now in Mátészalka, eastern Hungary. Victor was the son of Samuel Schwartz/Schwarz and Barbra/Borbala/Barbara Engel. Rose was the daughter of Herman Taub and Pearl Greenbaum.

Jamie Lee’s paternal grandmother was Helen Klein (the daughter of Izidor Klein and Matilda Grűnwald). Helen was a Jewish emigrant, from Vaľkovo, in central Slovakia.

Jamie Lee’s maternal grandfather was Frederick/Fred Robert Morrison (the son of John Beauregard Morrison and Katharine/Katherina/Katherine Francis/Frances Reeb). Frederick was born in California. John was the son of McHenry/Henry Morrison and Susan Ellen/Eliza Tichenor/Titchenal, and had English, Scots-Irish/Northern Irish, Welsh, and remote French, ancestry. Katharine was the daughter of George Reeb/Rube, who was born in Zutzendorf, Bas-Rhin, Alsace, France, to an ethnic German family, and of Rosina Hunziker, who was from Zorigo, Zurich, Switzerland, and was of Swiss-German descent.

Jamie Lee’s maternal grandmother was Helen Lita Westergaard (the daughter of Marius/Marios Anders Vilhelm/Wilhelm/William Westergaard/Albertz and Lita Olga Gordia Magelia Kofoed/Coffee). Helen was born in California, to Danish parents. Wilhelm was born in Copenhagen, the son of Hans Anton Ferdinand Albertz, whose father was born in Preetz, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany; and of Laura Olivia Olsen. Lita was born in Olsker, on the Danish island Bornholm, in the Baltic Sea, the daughter of Peter Lucius/Lucias Kofoed/Kofod/Coffee and Laura Margrethe/Margarethe Kristine/Christina Larsen.

Sources: https://www.instagram.com

Genealogies of Jamie Lee Curtis – https://www.geni.com
https://www.wikitree.com

Genealogies of Jamie Lee’s parents – https://www.findagrave.com

Jamie Lee’s father’s family background – http://www.pitt.edu

Death record of Jamie Lee’s paternal great-grandfather, Victor/Viktor Schwartz/Schwarcz – https://www.familysearch.org

Jamie Lee’s maternal great-great-grandparents, George Reeb/Rube and Rosina Hunziker, on the 1870 U.S. Census – https://www.familysearch.org

Marriage record of Jamie Lee’s maternal great-great-grandparents, Peter Lucius/Lucias Kofoed/Kofod/Coffee and Laura Margrethe/Margarethe Kristine/Christina Larsen – https://www.familysearch.org