What Happened To Jamie Actor Danielle Harris From The Halloween Movies?
If there's one actress whose name is synonymous with the "Halloween" franchise, created by director John Carpenter in 1978, it's Jamie Lee Curtis. If there's another, it's Danielle Harris. Curtis holds the record for most "Halloween" movie appearances with six film, not counting archival footage, and the late Donald Pleasance is in five (though his likeness was used in the new "Halloween" trilogy). Harris, however, appearing in four "Halloween" movies, is the only actress to play two different characters in the franchise, and she did so by never taking no for an answer. When conditions were wrong, she walked, and when arbitrary directorial edicts threatened to block her, she acted her way back in with the best audition.
Harris was a young child when she first encountered Michael Myers. What happened to that little girl? She grew up, but she never stopped working. These days, she's a mother in real life, but she still fights off boogeymen onscreen. Let's take a look at where she is today, and where she's been along the way.
Wish kid
Danielle Harris was born in Plainview, New York, and experienced the first of many moves when she was two years old, to Daytona Beach, Florida, where she attended elementary school. Wanting to perform from a very early age, she competed in child beauty pageants, with a dream of being on TV. Fortunately for her, "Toddlers and Tiaras" wasn't around to put her on reality shows (what we might nowadays call a Honey Boo Boo trap). Rather, her stated goal was to be bigger and better than Brooke Shields. The pageants did lead to some modeling offers, which she initially had to turn down, but after moving back to New York at the age of 7, she found herself in the right place at the right time. Auditions beckoned, and by the time she was eight, she was appearing in toy commercials, like the one seen above. By the time she was 10, she was a daytime TV veteran.
You only live once
In 1985, at 7 years old, Harris was cast on the long-running soap opera "One Life to Live." Her character was already part of the storyline — Sammi Garretson, on the show, was an embryo who had been removed form the womb of her dead mother, and carried to term via the surrogacy of a family friend.
Young Sammi aged up to six rapidly, via a process daytime drama fans refer to as SORAS (Soap Opera Rapid Aging Syndrome), as originally coined by "Soap Opera Weekly" editor-in-chief Mimi Torchin. Harris remained on the show for three years, and even though a daily drama might seem like a full-time job, especially for a minor, she also found the time and opportunity to appear on an episode of "Spenser for Hire."
By the end of her run, though, at 10 years old, she was about to get the role that would define her career, for better or worse.
Mike check-in
Six years after "Halloween III: Season of the Witch" had disappointed at the box office, largely because (at John Carpenter's insistence) it told a wholly new story rather than being a direct sequel, executive producer Moustapha Akkad insisted on a return to Michael Myers as a flesh-and-blood killer, buying out Carpenter and producer Debra Hill's share of the rights. Now in control of the sequel, yet unable to convince Jamie Lee Curtis to return, he solicited a script by Alan B. McElroy centered on Laurie Strode's daughter, named Jamie in tribute. Auditioning in New York for a production originally set to be in California (but moved to Utah for economy's sake), Danielle Harris scored the role.
It was her first movie, and as she tells it, "They wanted to hear me scream and see if I could cry. That is what got me the job. That was it." She beat out a young Melissa Joan Hart (who would go on to "Clarissa Explains It All" and "Sabrina the Teenage Witch") for the role, which probably worked out for the best, as Hart's conservative Christian faith as an adult might not have led her to embrace the horror fan community the way Harris has in the years since. At the time, she didn't think as much about the horror elements specifically. It was another story for the adults on set, especially when it came to the rooftop scene in "Halloween 4," but they made sure she never knew.
"Halloween 4" left the door open for Harris' Jamie to become the next killer in the series (check out the sequel's ending explained here), but it didn't exactly work out that way.
Double feature
Akkad was so happy with the success of "Halloween 4" that he rushed "Halloween 5" into production almost immediately, but without a finished screenplay (rarely a good idea). Once again rejecting the addition of any villain whose name didn't rhyme with Shmychael Shmyers, Akkad had Jamie appear traumatized, but she was still a potential victim rather than a new killer. In fact, a scene of her getting stabbed in the leg had to be deleted in order to avoid an X-rating.
Looking back on seeing all that gore at such a young age, Harris says, "It was fun for me. I knew we were making a movie and I knew that it was make believe...I think everybody made such an amazing effort to make sure that I knew that it wasn't real. In between takes we would joke around, and it was just fun."
The fifth film in the series deliberately featured potential sequel teases, with scenes of a mysterious man in black. As this installment grossed lower than any prior, however, and was generally not well-received, it would be a while before another would come around, leaving Harris, now with two feature films on her resume, to seek out more big-screen projects.
The daughter In distress
Perhaps facing down Michael Myers was the best preparation for working with Steven Seagal, as Harris next played his niece Tracey in "Marked for Death." She gets wounded by Jamaican drug dealers, whose leader is named Screwface. Seagal's character, of course, kills everyone in retaliation. In the TV movie "Don't Touch My Daughter," she played a girl who's kidnapped, molested, and later re-threatened by the out-on-bail perp. This time, it was Victoria Principal seeking vengeance on her behalf.
By 1991, however, she fought and sassed back as Bruce Willis' foul-mouthed daughter Darian in "The Last Boy Scout" (seen above), yelling profanities at her kidnappers with aplomb... and "Lethal Weapon" writer Shane Black-penned dialogue. Harris recalled to Full Circle Magazine:
"During the audition process for that film they asked me what my relationship was like with my dad, and at the time — it was my stepdad, because my real dad had passed away — I didn't get along with him, and I said, 'Oh I think he's an [expletive].' Well, they thought I was in character, but I was actually just very similar to Darian, so that is kinda what ended up getting me the job."
Though she was most memorable as the daughter or niece in jeopardy during her early '90s career, she also found time to appear in hits like "City Slickers," "Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead," and "Free Willy."
The Roseanne factor
The brief marriage between Roseanne Barr and Tom Arnold is one most of us might prefer to forget — including Roseanne and Tom themselves. Roseanne used her clout to work her hubby into her projects, but it wasn't until "True Lies" that he earned some audience respect. The TV movie "The Woman Who Loved Elvis" probably doesn't have a lot of fans, but it wound up meaning a great deal to Danielle Harris. Roseanne plays an obsessed Elvis fanatic who, like many tabloid readers in the early '90s, becomes convinced he's still alive, so she gets her estranged husband (guess who!) to help her. Harris played their daughter, aptly named Priscilla.
As luck and skill would have it, Roseanne remembered Harris, and she cast her on her eponymous sitcom as one of daughter Darlene's friends for seven episodes. Harris, who had issues with stage fright, recalled to Full Circle Magainze, "I just never felt like I was doing a good job, and I never felt like I was funny enough, because they were all so great, and I'd never done it before." It turned out to be good research fodder, however, for playing Roseanne's real-life daughter Jessica in "Roseanne: The Unauthorized Biography."
Lest there be any doubt that the cast of "Roseanne" thought she was worthy, because she returned as her character Molly to the revamped version, "The Conners" for an episode in 2021.
No third-time charm... for now
By the time the next "Halloween" sequel came around, one that was meant to directly follow "Halloween 5," Harris was 17, and she contacted the producers to express her interest in returning. Harris even went so far as to get legally emancipated so she could work as an adult, at the insistence of the producers. Ultimately, though, she didn't play Jamie Lloyd in "Halloween 6: the Curse of Michael Myers" for several reasons, most notably that she was offered SAG scale ($1,000 for a week's work, at the time) to be killed off in the first act. She also wasn't super-happy with the notion of Jamie being pregnant with Michael's baby. (Once you hear the "Halloween 6: The Curse of Michael Myers" ending explained, you may suspect she dodged a metaphorical bullet.)
In the final film, actress J.C. Brandy, who had previously appeared on "Star Trek: The Next Generation," took the part. She and Harris would become friends years later and work together on the movie "Prank." It was intended as an anthology film with a bunch of horror actresses directing, but only Harris' segment, entitled "Madison," was ever finished.
Teenager in danger
As a teen and into adulthood, Harris thrived on TV and in TV movies. In 1996's "Back to Back," she once again played an endangered daughter, this time to Michael Rooker fighting the Yakuza. That same year, in "Wish Upon a Star," she and Katherine Heigl played sisters who switch places. In Hal Needham's final movie, the made-for-TV "Hostage Hotel," she played David Rasche's daughter, with Burt Reynolds in the lead. She also appeared on "Charmed," "Diagnosis Murder," "ER," "The West Wing," and more.
At the big-screen box office, a key role in Sylvester Stallone's "Daylight" (seen above) didn't prove to be the A-list boost she was hoping for, but she dipped her toes back in the slasher franchise world with 1998's "Urban Legend," which Jared Leto doesn't even remember making. Before she would fully return, though, an even bigger role than Jamie would come her way, though it's not necessarily one she's regularly recognized for, due to it being voice-over...
Berry good opportunity
Harris had never done animation voice-acting when she was cast as shallow sister Debbie in "The Wild Thornberrys," but then again, it was no ordinary animated series. The mid-'90s were full of cartoons aimed at adults, and often starring name actors better known for their previous live-action credits. Jon Lovitz was "The Critic," Jason Alexander was "Duckman," and Harris, Tim Curry, Lacey Chabert, Flea, and Jodi Carlisle were "The Wild Thornberrys."
Initially pitched as a show for adults, the concept got retooled by Clasky-Csupo into a family series for Nickelodeon, and it took great pains to be scientifically accurate, for potential use in school curriculums. Chabert voiced the pint-sized Dr. Dolittle-ish Eliza, who was able to talk to animals but compelled to keep it a secret, with Curry as the patriarch who travels the world with his family making nature documentaries.
Harris' Debbie was the one who just wanted a normal life, and the only one who knew Eliza's secret. The series spawned two feature films, one of which was a crossover with "Rugrats" that reunited Harris with Bruce Willis. Other big-name voices to appear on the show included Jonathan Taylor Thomas, Jane Wiedlin, Bronson Pinchot, Eartha Kitt, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Pam Grier, Kelly McGillis, and gorilla expert Jade Goodall as herself.
Walking with a Zombie
Approaching age 30, Harris learned from a fan at a horror convention about Rob Zombie rebooting the "Halloween" series, and wanted in. There was just one problem: Zombie wanted a clean break, with nobody from the original films involved. She told IGN:
"So I sort of fought my way in there and was like, 'Just let me audition for it, and put myself on tape, and if he hates, then I won't ever bring it up again, but maybe there's a shot that I can get back in there.' So I auditioned for it like everybody else and then got the role."
Determined to put the fans' image of her as a little girl behind her, she even agreed to a topless scene. Now fully understanding the material she was doing, she found Michael Myers more scary than ever before. Harris' character, Annie, survived to reappear in the sequel but no further. In their fourth onscreen encounter, Harris finally got her death scene at the hands of the Shape.
Scream queen crowned
If Harris' goal was to get the attention of the horror film community again, this time as an adult, it worked. A slew of further horror roles ensued, in movies with titles like "Blood Night: The Legend of Mary Hatchet," "The Black Waters of Echo's Pond," "Fear Clinic," and "Cyrus: Mind of a Serial Killer." She joined the "Hatchet" franchise in the first sequel, replacing Tamara Feldman in the lead role. By 2012, she was considered enough of a Scream Queen that she was making special cameos in movies and TV shows as herself.
In a 2009 interview with Icons vs Icons, she noted that when it comes to quirky, independent films, there's a whole list of girls casting agents will go to before she'd ever be considered. For horror, though? "I'm usually in the top three, which is something that I love...I'm really happy with it. I'm tired of kind of fighting it."
As of this writing, the most popular items for sale on her website are autographed photos of Harris wearing nothing but blood, but she's gotten cast in at least one major non-horror hit recently. After years of calling out Quentin Tarantino in interviews as the director she wanted to work with, he finally put her in 'Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood," even giving her a deleted line from "The Last Boy Scout" to yell at Brad Pitt.
On the day she was meant to shoot that scene, however, she gave birth instead.
The next phase
The failed anthology film "Prank," originally premised on the notion of Scream Queens directing Scream Queens, never saw release, but it did give Harris a taste of directing, and she took to it, telling Icons vs Icons, "I actually like directing more than acting. Believe it or not! I'm kind of a control freak, so that's probably why..."
After more practice directing live theater, her debut feature, "Among Friends," a dark comedy about a dinner party gone wrong, came out in 2013. As of this writing, its sole Rotten Tomatoes review is negative, but Harris has been surviving critical thumbs down since she was seven. Up next, she's directing an all-female slasher movie for producer Joe Dante. It's entitled "Sequel," and it won't have any paranormal elements.
Meanwhile, she and her "Halloween" remake co-star Scout Taylor-Compton co-host a horror podcast entitled "Talk Scary to Me," with video versions and exclusive clips available for $5 per month via Patreon. Samples can be found on Harris' Instagram.
As for her acting career, she has at least two movies set for release in 2024 with another five in various stages of production and development.