Jamie Lee Curtis always thought she'd be a police officer.

The Everything Everywhere All At Once actress is amazed to be celebrating almost 50 years in Hollywood because it wasn't how she expected her life to turn out when she was younger.

The 67-year-old actress shared a photo online of herself playing a waitress in an episode of Columbo in 1977 - one of her earliest roles at the age of around 19 - alongside a current-day selfie and wrote on Instagram: "Next year, I will [have] been an actress for 50 years. I was never going to be an actor. I thought I'd be a cop.(sic)"

The Scarpetta actress reflected on how far her career has come since her early days.

She wrote: "I was telling the story on set of my early jobs as an unnamed waitress on a Columbo episode when I was a contract player at Universal Pictures and now I am a producer, HBIC [head b**** in charge], a costar with Nicole Kidman and collaborator on #scarpetta @primevideo @nowscreamingpv @blumhouse @comet.pictures @blossomfilms.(sic)"

Jamie insisted she never had a plan in mind for her career.

She added: "There was no future tripping. It was just each job, one job at a time, grateful for any opportunity and patience. Lots of f****** patience."

Jamie recently admitted she has been "self-retiring" for decades.

The Halloween star -- whose parents were Hollywood legends Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh -- has long been aware of the industry's harsh treatment of older performers.

She explained to AARP: "I've been self-retiring since I was 30, saying, 'I'll get out of this,' because the industry I'm in is a cruel, cruel industry, particularly with ageing. There's a dismissal of people. I watched it very much with my parents. So I have just decided to embrace that."

The Freaky Friday actress changed her approach after she turned 60 and started to embrace her new-found "freedom".

The movie star said: "Accepting my crepey skin and showing it anyway -- that's freedom. I understand what I look like. I look in the mirror. I get it. And there's no need for me to alter it."