Jamie Lee Curtis is undoubtedly one of Hollywood’s biggest stars, who made a name for herself early on in the horror genre. Almost 50 years since her first on-screen role, Curtis is looking back at her career and confesses that she had a different job title in mind.
On her official Instagram, Curtis posted a side-by-side photo comparison of herself now and her younger self back in the late ’70s. The 67-year-old actor was roughly 19 when she appeared in one of her earliest TV roles, as a young waitress in an episode of Columbo.
In 1977, she also appeared in two other popular TV series as a guest character. She played “girl in dressing room” as her first ever role in Quincy, M.E., and later played a character named Mary in The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries. That same year, Curtis also got two of her biggest career breaks, first as Lieutenant Barbara Duran in Operation Petticoat, and as the infamous Laurie Strode in Halloween.
Curtis admits in her celebration throwback post that she never expected to be an actor, and thought she’d end up in law enforcement.
“Next year, I will I’ve been an actress for 50 years. I was never going to be an actor. I thought I’d be a cop. I was telling the story on set of my early jobs as an unnamed waitress on a Columbo episode when I was a contract player at @universalpictures and now I am a producer, HBIC, a costar with @nicolekidman and collaborator on #scarpetta,” she wrote in her caption.
The past few years have been a busy schedule for Curtis, having reunited with Lindsay Lohan for Freakier Friday, starred in Ella McCay, and starred/produced the 2026 psychological thrillerSender. Included in her post, she has also made waves in 2026 alongside Kidman in the crime drama Scarpetta. Based on a popular book, Curtis is also the executive producer alongside Kidman and has started production on Season 2.
Having been in the industry for almost 50 years, Curtis offers some advice to any new actors hoping to make a name for themselves. She admits there’s “no future tripping” and her career happened based on “just each job, one job at a time” and being “grateful for any opportunity.” Above all, the actor stresses the importance of “lots of f*cking patience.”
This story was originally published by Parade on Apr 1, 2026, where it first appeared in the News section. Add Parade as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
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