Jennifer Jason Leigh becomes a junkie and falls in love with her partner, played by Jason Patric. Her next film, "Single White Female" (1992), was a surprise box-office success, bringing Leigh to her largest mainstream audience yet, portraying a mentally ill woman who terrorizes roommate Bridget Fonda. Leigh was awarded the MTV Movie Award for Best Villain and nominated for Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress. Leigh co-starred with Kathy Bates as a tormented, pill-popping woman hiding a history of childhood sexual abuse in the adaptation of Stephen King's novel "Dolores Claiborne" (1995). Leigh achieved her greatest acclaim in the role
Jennifer Jason Leigh a launching pad for several of its young stars. While decrying the writing as sexist and exploitative, Roger Ebert was enthusiastic about the acting, singling out Leigh and writing, "Don't they know they have a star on their hands?" With the exception of "Ridgemont High" and a supporting role in the Rodney Dangerfield comedy "Easy Money", Leigh's early film work consisted of playing fragile, damaged or neurotic characters in low-budget horror or thriller genre films. She played a virginal princess kidnapped and raped by mercenaries in "Flesh + Blood" (1985), an innocent waitress pursued by the psychopathic title character in