Despite “Halloween” launching the Oscar winner’s career, she says horror is not her “thing.”

Horror icon Jamie Lee Curtis admits she doesn’t ‘really love’ the genre

Despite "Halloween" launching the Oscar winner's career, she says horror is not her "thing."

By Derek Lawrence

Derek Lawrence

Derek Lawrence is a former associate editor at **. He left EW in 2022.

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March 16, 2026 6:34 p.m. ET

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Jamie Lee Curtis and James Jude Courtney in 'Halloween Ends'. Credit:

Ryan Green/Universal Pictures

Jamie Lee Curtis' life and career have been defined by horror movies, but that doesn't mean she needs to like being scared.

"I don't really love it," the *Halloween* star said of the genre that helped launch her career at a SXSW panel over the weekend. "I'm not joking; I'm not into it. It doesn't mean I don't appreciate it. It's just not my genre, not my thing."

She added, "I owe my life to the genre, but I don't have to pretend that I'm a genre girl and that I love it.

Curtis' relationship with horror started at a young age. She was a child when her mother, Janet Leigh, had her most iconic role, starring as the ill-fated Marion Crane in Alfred Hitchcock's *Psycho*. Curtis later made her film debut in John Carpenter's *Halloween*, playing the "final girl," Laurie Strode, in the 1978 slasher classic. Curtis soon became the scream queen of a generation, appearing in six *Halloween* sequels as well as 1980's *The Fog*, starring opposite Leigh.

Jamie Lee Curtis in 'Halloween'.

Mary Evans/COMPASS INTERNATIONAL PICTURES/FALCON INTERNATIONAL PRODUC/Ronald Grant/Courtesy Everett

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While she's never been in love with the genre," Curtis has always been drawn to "independent filmmaking aspect" of horror. Speaking the day before *Sinners* was a big winner at the Academy Awards, Curtis spoke of how the view of horror has evolved over the years.

"The fact that it's a genre that now is getting more understanding and appreciation, of course I'm happy," she said. "It's fantastic that the Academy is moving along with that and changing and growing, like any good institution."

*—Additional reporting by Tiffany Kelly*

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