CANNES — Jamie Lee Curtis was one of the first actresses to also star in commercials at the height of her career, being the face of “yogurt that makes you s–t,” as she says, and starring in an ad with a “murdering motherf–ker.”
The latter was OJ Simpson, with whom Curtis starred in her first advertising gig, for Hertz rental cars.
She also did ads for Hitachi, L’eggs pantyhose and Voice Stream Wireless but became best known in the ad space for selling the probiotic yogurt, she told the crowd at Amazon Port at Cannes Lions 2025.
Curtis said that when she first signed on as the spokesperson for Activia, “My agents and lawyers and many friends questioned why I would do such a thing when I was still acting in things and pretending to be other people.”
The answer: “I was trying to stay home with my kid.”
She says these days, being in ads while in the prime of your career is much more normal.
“I sold yogurt that makes you s–t for six years and I won an Oscar,” she said. “I believe that that crossover has now happened. We can advertise and pretend simultaneously. There has been a paradigm shift in the way we as consumers take on our content and there is no stigma anymore.”
The “Scream Queens” star says she believes in authenticity, calling out plastic surgery targeting younger women because it is “disfiguring.”
“If I am asking you to trust me and believe me, I am gonna tell you the truth,” she said. “There is a problem today and the cosmeceutical industry is disfiguring entire generations of beautiful young women who need nothing except some sunblock. I hope we can do both: tell the truth and sell s–t. That’s the partnership I am looking for.”
Curtis — whose next venture is producing and acting in the upcoming Prime Video series with Nicole Kidman “Scarpetta” — says she never meant to be in movies, despite being the child of Hollywood royalty Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh.
“I was never supposed to be an actor,” she said. “I couldn’t spell actor. I got 840 combined on my SATs. I was gonna be a cop. Honestly I thought I was gonna be a police officer.”
But a chance encounter changed things.
“I ran into a guy during my freshman year Christmas break who used to be a tennis teacher and he said, ‘I am managing actresses now and you should go up for Nancy Drew,’” she said.
While she didn’t get the part, she got the next one and learned that “life hinges on a couple seconds you never see coming.”
She recalled seeing a picture of her husband Christopher Guest in Rolling Stone in 1984 to promote “Spinal Tap,” and said she knew she was going to marry him.
They had the same agent, they met, they barely spoke but were married a few months later.
The pair have been married for 40 years even though, “We couldn’t be more different. There are no two people in the world more different than me and Christopher,” Curtis said. “You don’t have to have anything in common. Nothing.”