While many Hollywood stars tend to take it slow and appear in fewer movies as they age, Jamie Lee Curtis is still going strong and says she’s hit her stride. While speaking with AARP, the veteran actress says she has “emerged” as a creator, and reflects on aging gracefully:

Curtis began acting when she was 19 and gained widespread recognition for her role in 1978’s Halloween. She appeared in most of the film’s sequels, a few of which she even executive produced. Now in her sixties, she received an Oscar nomination for her role in Everything Everywhere All at Once. She’s also shown interest in a sequel to Freaky Friday, a fantasy-comedy where she switches bodies with her daughter, played by Lindsay Lohan.

“If you had said to me when I was 18, ‘What do you want to do or be?’ I didn’t have a clue… I never would have known that I was a creator — I would have never known who I am today. And it’s been through the process of elimination of things that didn’t suit me, that didn’t fit me… And now I have emerged. I know who I am. I know what I look like, I know what I look good in. I know what I think. And it is in that immersion of coming into my own self that I’m having this moment. Professionally, emotionally, spiritually, physically.”

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Jamie Lee Curtis Has No Plans to Retire - Ever

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It’s common for many who achieved fame in their early years to try to recreate and relive those moments, but that doesn’t interest Jamie Lee Curtis. She refers to herself as a “creator” rather than a “recreator,” and wants to continue working on new projects for the rest of her life:

She further refers to getting older as a “beautiful gift,” reminding us that it can set us free:

“I’m talking about expanding intellectually. I’m an autodidact and an opsimath — a late-in-life learner. I feel very fortunate that I’m having more creative opportunities — I’m getting to do what I’ve wanted to do since I was a teen. I’m starting to produce and direct things… I can never fall into a life of recreation. It doesn’t flip my switch. I know people who’ve worked their whole lives, and now get to play golf, their passion. I like golf, but golf doesn’t flip my switch. I will never be a recreator — I am a creator. And I will die creating.”

Jamie Lee Curtis will appear as Madame Leota in The Haunted Mansion this year, a remake of the 2003 film of the same name. She also has a role in Borderlands, a film adaptation of the video game series, also releasing in 2023.

“That’s the beautiful gift of aging: The things that are unimportant slip away. That is the essence of the truth that sets you free to manifest your destiny. Carpe diem — seize the day. And I am seizing the day daily because I have no f******* time to waste.”