Jamie Lee Curtis on the Role That Remains Her ‘Favorite’ Job Decades Later

Before movie stardom made her a household name, Jamie Lee Curtis found her true creative home on a sitcom soundstage. Now, at 67, she's finally returned to that world with a new NBC comedy she helped build from the ground up.

Jamie Lee Curtis has spent decades earning acclaim across the film industry, but none of her big-screen work has ever topped one small-screen gig from early in her career.

Jamie Lee Curtis attends the "Sender" premiere during 2026 SXSW conference and festival at ZACH Theatre on March 14, 2026 in Austin, Texas. | Source: Getty Images

The actress sat down with NBCUniversal's Backlot Pass to discuss her new comedy, "Newlyweds," and ended up reminiscing about the last time she worked on a multi-camera sitcom.

"I made a few movies and I had been making movies, but they were always outside of Los Angeles," she said, looking back on that chapter of her career.

Jamie Lee Curtis as Hannah in "Anything but Love" (1990) | Source: Getty Images

She continued, "And years and years and years ago, I had been making a movie, and then I came home, there was this half-hour pilot, and I did it for ABC, and I loved it. I loved this idea because I've never done a play and I've only done movies."

"And it was just my favorite job, and then they didn't pick up the pilot and I was just so bummed out," Curtis recalled. Crushed by the news, she headed to New York for a film shoot.

Richard Lewis and Jamie Lee Curtis as Marty and Hannah in "Anything but Love" (1989) | Source: Getty Images

During that stint, her 1988 comedy "A Fish Called Wanda" hit theaters. Once ABC saw the buzz surrounding the film's box office run and critical praise, the network reversed course and picked up her pilot after all.

"It became a show called 'Anything but Love' that I did with Richard Lewis years and years and years and years ago. And it was my favorite job I've ever had," Curtis shared.

She continued, "And I'm 67 years old, and every single year, all I've ever said to my agents is, 'I want to do a sitcom. All I want to do is a sitcom.' It's my favorite job."

Richard Lewis and Jamie Lee Curtis as Marty and Hannah in "Anything but Love" (1991) | Source: Getty Images

Multi-camera sitcoms differ from most film and TV projects in that two or more cameras capture a scene simultaneously from separate angles, often in front of a live audience. "I love the whole part of it. Every aspect of it," Curtis said.

"The dance with the cameras, the idea that you actually get to rehearse something and work it and learn a joke and play it, and I just never got to do it. And so I just decided to basically kind of create my own job and met Gail [Lerner], and that's why we're all here."

Joseph Maher (Brian), Richard Lewis (Marty), Jamie Lee Curtis (Hannah) and Richard Frank (Jules) all star in "Anything But Love" (1990) | Source: Getty Images

"Anything but Love" aired for four seasons between 1989 and 1992, following Marty Gold (Lewis) and Hannah Miller (Curtis) as they wrestled with their romantic chemistry while working together at a Chicago magazine.

Sadly, Lewis died of a heart attack in February 2024 at age 76.

Richard Lewis and Jamie Lee Curtis as Marty and Hannah in "Anything but Love" (1991) | Source: Getty Images

"Newlyweds" marks Curtis's return to the format. The NBC series stars real-life married couple Tim Daly and Téa Leoni, and according to the network, follows "a free-spirited woman and a buttoned-up professor who marry impetuously after a whirlwind courtship."

Curtis executive produces the show alongside Lerner and will also appear in a recurring guest role. The pair built the series around themes of love and openness to change.

Gail Lerner, Jamie Lee Curtis, Bill O'Neill, Tim Daly, Téa Leoni, Emma Meisel, Ignacio Diaz-Silverio at the Universal Studios Lot on Monday, August 10, 2026. | Source: Getty Images

Curtis drew from her own romance with actor and writer Christopher Guest while shaping the show's tone. "I met my husband and married him after seeing his picture in a magazine, and we never spent more than 72 hours together before we got married," she said at the event.

"There's something really delicious about watching people figure out life when they're filled in a life with other people," Curtis added. "And that's ultimately what we kind of wanted the show to be."