Janet Leigh (born July 6, 1927) is an American actress born in Merced, California. By the age of 20 she was discovered when MGM was looking for a young naive country-girl type.

Today, she is best known for her lead role in Alfred Hitchcock's 1960 film Psycho. Her performance earned her an Oscar nomination and she received a Golden Globe.

She starred in more than sixty films, including a number of successes such as Little Women (1949), Angels in the Outfield (1951), Scaramouche (1952), Houdini (1953), and The Black Shield of Falworth (1954) .

She was married to American actor Tony Curtis in the 1950s and is the mother of actress Jamie Lee Curtis.