At 67, Jamie Lee Curtis is not slowing down — she is accelerating. The Oscar-winning actor, author and outspoken Hollywood veteran has reached a stage in life she describes not as a winding down, but as a liberation. Speaking to Virgin Radio UK this week, Curtis delivered a blunt reflection on ageing.
When asked if she felt any different after turning 67, Curtis didn’t hesitate. “I have no time to waste. Tick tock, baby! I'm taking advantage of opportunities. I am 67 years old 3 days ago. I am more alive today. I’m prettier, I’m stronger, I’m smarter. I'm much more spiritually aware. I'm funnier. I'm softer. I'm tougher. I'm grayer. I'm wrinklyer. And I'm happier than I've ever been in my life. That's just the truth. There's not one second of that that's bullshit, i'm not trying to sell something here. I'm just telling you the truth. You can be free. Freedom is the goal!”
@virginradiouk
Jamie Lee Curtis is rocking life at 67 ♥️💪
♬ original sound - Virgin Radio UK
It was vintage Curtis — unfiltered, unapologetic, and deeply human.
For decades, she has stood apart in an industry obsessed with youth, refusing to apologise for ageing or contort herself to fit expectations. That refusal has not diminished her career; if anything, it has fuelled one of the most impressive late-career runs in modern Hollywood.
Curtis is coming off a remarkable few years. In 2023, she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance as Deirdre Beaubeirdre in Everything Everywhere All At Once, a role that reintroduced her to a new generation as a fearless character actor unafraid of absurdity, vulnerability or ugliness. Rather than play to nostalgia, Curtis leaned fully into the weird, the wild and the emotionally raw — and audiences followed.
@primemovies Deirdre the auditor. #EverythingEverywhereAllAtOnce #JamieLeeCurtis #MichelleYeoh #KeHuyQuan #Movies #MovieClips ♬ original sound - Prime Movies
She has since continued to choose projects that excite her creatively rather than commercially. Her latest film, Ella McCay, marks a long-awaited collaboration with James L. Brooks, the legendary filmmaker behind Terms of Endearment and As Good As It Gets. Curtis has spoken openly about what that opportunity meant to her after more than four decades in the business. “I have been waiting my entire life for a letter from James L. Brooks to come to my house saying 'Will you be in a movie?'” she said, underscoring she's always admired the American filmmaker.
That passion has never dulled. Born into Hollywood royalty as the daughter of Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh, Jamie Lee Curtis could easily have coasted on legacy. Instead, she carved her own path — from her breakout in Halloween in 1978, which crowned her the original scream queen, to comedies like A Fish Called Wanda, action hits such as True Lies, and later reinventions in films like Knives Out.
But Curtis has also been one of the industry’s most vocal critics of ageism, particularly towards women. She has repeatedly spoken about how actresses are conditioned to disappear as they get older — something she has actively refused to do. When accepting her Oscar, she bluntly acknowledged the reality of longevity in Hollywood, saying “I have been self-retiring for 30 years.” It was a line that cut through the hypocrisy Hollywood sometimes shows towards older actresses.
@gma @jamieleecurtis wins the best supporting actress Oscar for “Everything Everywhere All at Once.” #Oscars #Oscars95 #JamieLeeCurtis ♬ original sound - Good Morning America
Rather than chase youth, Curtis has embraced visibility. She has proudly shown her grey hair, rejected cosmetic pressure, and used her platform to argue that ageing is not something to fix — it is something to celebrate. She has become a symbol of resistance against an industry that still struggles to imagine older women as complex, desirable or central.
For Irish audiences, Curtis’s message lands with particular force at a moment when conversations around value beyond youth are gaining traction. At 67, she is not asking for permission to exist — she is claiming space.
And if her recent run is any indication, Jamie Lee Curtis is entering one of the most creatively free and fulfilling chapters of her life yet — wrinkles, wisdom, joy and all.
