Jamie Lee Curtis explains why she asks crew to wear name tags on set

Jamie Lee Curtis is the kind of actor who has proved she can do it all. She’s even broken down an on-set barrier so widely ingrained it’s nearly invisible.

On a recent episode of Kevin Hart‘s SiriusXM podcast Gold Minds, the Hollywood legend discussed an uncommon practice she employs on set in the pursuit of fairness: asking the crew to wear name tags.

“There’s something really uneven about our position on a set, on a movie, in this arena,” she told Hart. “You guys know our names, we don’t know yours. There’s something inequitable to me about that.”

Curtis has proudly advocated for her progressive values for years. She has written op-eds in support of electing more women to public office, denounced right-wing attacks on members of the LGBTQ+ community, and thrown her support behind Democrats in state-wide elections.

Her passion for equity and inclusion isn’t relegated only to the realm of politics, however. She advocates for those who can’t as easily advocate for themselves on her own sets.

She explained how these convictions led to her championing the practice of crew members sporting name tags on her film sets. “On a movie set, if we were all working together, we would all be wearing name tags so that tomorrow when we came in, I would be able to then say ‘good morning [Sabine]’ without even […] thought because I’ve learned her name.”

Film sets are fast-paced, all-hands-on-deck environments where niceties can get lost in service of speed and efficiency. But to Curtis, being able to interact on a human to human basis across all levels of cast and crew isn’t just a nicety, it’s a basic foundation of respect.

“I just want it to be equitable because it’s an important thing,” she told Hart. “It’s art – there isn’t hierarchy in art. It’s supposed to be a group of people.”

Curtis also spoke about the practice when promoting Halloween Kills in 2021, recalling that after filming her last, emotional scene, “the entire crew were standing in silent solidarity with their hands behind their backs. And everyone was wearing a name tag. And the name tag said, ‘We are Laurie Strode.'”

Curtis and Hart recently costarred in Eli Roth‘s big screen adaptation of the beloved video game Borderlands, which was the subject of EW’s Comic-Con issue cover story.

The Oscar winner is currently readying the release of the first looks from her hotly-anticipated sequel to Freaky Friday with Lindsay Lohan, and was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actress for the already-iconic season 2 episode of The Bear, “Fishes.”

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When it comes to her drive for on-set equality, it’s like Offset said last year after Curtis appeared in his “Jealousy” video with Cardi B: “Jamie Lee Curtis is a real one.”