Juliette Lewis
Juliette Lake Lewis is an American actress, singer and musician. She is known for her portrayals of offbeat characters, often in films with dark plots, themes, and settings. Lewis gained prominence in American cinema during the early 1990s, appearing in various independent and arthouse films. Lewis's accolades include nominations for an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award and two Primetime Emmy Awards.
The daughter of actor Geoffrey Lewis, Lewis began her career in television at age 14 before making her film debut in My Stepmother Is an Alien. This was followed by bigger parts in National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation and Martin Scorsese's Cape Fear, the latter of which earned her an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress. Subsequent credits included Husbands and Wives, Kalifornia, What's Eating Gilbert Grape, Natural Born Killers, Strange Days and From Dusk till Dawn.
Lewis received an Emmy Award nomination for the television film Hysterical Blindness, and went on to co-star in the mainstream features Enough, Cold Creek Manor, Old School and Starsky & Hutch. She embarked on a musical career in 2003, forming the rock band Juliette and the Licks. Since 2009, she has been releasing material as a solo artist. Her film credits during the 2010s included Conviction, The Switch, August: Osage County and Ma. Lewis has worked more frequently in television since the mid-2010s, appearing in major roles on series such as Wayward Pines, Secrets and Lies, Queer as Folk, Welcome to Chippendales and Yellowjackets.
Early life
Juliette Lake Lewis was born June 21, 1973, in Los Angeles, California, to actor Geoffrey Lewis and his first wife, Glenis Batley, a graphic designer. She has eight siblings, which include a step-sister.Lewis's parents divorced when she was two years old, and she spent her childhood living between both their homes in the Los Angeles area. She also lived for a brief period with actress Karen Black, who was a mentor to her. Lewis dropped out of high school at age 15.
Career
1987–1999: Early career and success
Following an uncredited role in Bronco Billy, Lewis made her first major screen appearance in the television film Home Fires. Howard Rosenberg of the Los Angeles Times praised her performance in the latter, writing that she "lights up the screen". She then starred as Kate Farrell on the ABC sitcom I Married Dora, which ran between 1987 and 1988. At age 14, she was legally emancipated from her parents—with their approval—enabling her to work more freely. She later recalled, "I know that sounds all radical, but when you start acting when you're younger, you talk to other actor kids and their moms, and they're like, 'Yeah, if you want to get a job, they like resume to say emancipated minor versus minor, because you then can work '".Lewis had a minor part in the science fiction comedy My Stepmother Is an Alien —playing Lexie, the best friend of main character Jessie—before landing her first major supporting role as Audrey Griswold in National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, which is now regarded as a "classic" in its genre. Regarding her involvement with the film and the opportunity to work with co-star Chevy Chase, Lewis later reflected, "even at 15, I knew it was a big deal". She followed this with appearances in the comedies Meet the Hollowheads and The Runnin' Kind, as well as a guest-starring role as Delores on the coming-of-age drama series The Wonder Years.
In 1990, Lewis co-starred with Brad Pitt, whom she would go on to date for four years, in the Lifetime television film Too Young to Die?, a crime drama based loosely on the case of Attina Marie Cannaday. Lewis played Amanda, a troubled teenager who falls into a world of prostitution and drugs. In his review for the Los Angeles Times, Ray Loynd felt that the film worked due to its "compelling script authentic portrayal of the young and abused murderess whose first question to her public defender whether he has any sugar-coated candies".
Lewis garnered international attention when she beat out 500 other actresses to play Danielle Bowden, the daughter of a family targeted by psychopathic criminal Max Cady, in Martin Scorsese's 1991 remake of Cape Fear. Vincent Canby of The New York Times lauded her performance, calling her "a new young actress of stunning possibilities", while The Hollywood Reporters Duane Byrge commented, "Perhaps providing the strongest real counterbalance to De Niro's crazy Cady is Juliette Lewis, whose shows the most sinewy fiber". She went on to receive Golden Globe and Academy Award nominations for the role. Retrospectively, the sequence in which her character is seduced by Cady was named one of the most unforgettable scenes in film history by Entertainment Weekly and Complex. On working with Scorsese, Lewis has since said, "I liken that period of time to being anointed, or getting my creative wings... changed me gave me a confidence... It wasn't the outside accolades. It was nurturing my ingredients as a performer".
In 1992, Lewis had a supporting role in Woody Allen's Husbands and Wives, with Rita Kempley of The Washington Post describing her portrayal of Rain—a "Lolita"-esque college student—as "sumptuous". She headlined the romantic drama That Night the same year, a coming-of-age story set in the 1960s. Lewis appeared in several films in 1993, including Peter Medak's neo-noir thriller Romeo Is Bleeding, where she played the mistress of a corrupt cop. She then reunited with Brad Pitt in Kalifornia, co-starring as the girlfriend of a serial killer. Critic Roger Ebert deemed Lewis's portrayal of the childlike Adele one of "the most harrowing and convincing performances I've ever seen". At the time of filming Kalifornia, Lewis and Pitt had been in a relationship since 1990, though they separated the year of its release. Next, she appeared as a psychiatric patient in the music video for Melissa Etheridge's "Come to My Window", and starred in the Lasse Hallström-directed What's Eating Gilbert Grape, playing Becky, a free-spirited drifter who befriends a young man and his disabled brother in a small Midwestern town.
Lewis received the Pasinetti Award for Best Actress at the 1994 Venice Film Festival for her portrayal of Mallory Knox, a murderous woman who embarks on a killing spree with her psychotic lover, in Oliver Stone's satiric, controversial crime film Natural Born Killers. Though criticized for its excessive violence and influencing of copycat crimes, with Lewis later admitting that playing a woman who displays such "volatility and repulsive behavior" had had a detrimental effect on her career, her performance in Killers was roundly praised, with Rolling Stones Peter Travers deeming it "sensational":
Lewis had a supporting role that same year in Nora Ephron's Christmas-themed black comedy Mixed Nuts. She then starred as rock singer Faith Justin in Kathryn Bigelow's experimental science-fiction film Strange Days, doing her own singing on covers of two songs written by PJ Harvey. Though a box-office failure, Days went on to develop a cult following in later years. Next, Lewis made a "massively disturbing" appearance as a heroin addict in The Basketball Diaries, a crime drama based on Jim Carroll's memoir of the same name.
In 1996, Lewis had supporting roles in comedy-drama The Evening Star—a sequel to Terms of Endearment —and the Quentin Tarantino/Robert Rodriguez action horror film From Dusk till Dawn. Writing for The New York Times, Janet Maslin pointed out that the role of "clean-living ingenue" Kate Fuller in Dawn was an ironic departure for Lewis. She next appeared in the romantic comedy Some Girl, followed by The Other Sister, in which she portrayed a woman with an intellectual disability attempting to achieve independence. The film received largely unfavorable reviews, though Stephen Holden of The New York Times felt that it was "beautifully acted", noting, "Carla is played by Ms. Lewis with enormous heart and sensitivity, and with body language so precise that you soon forget it is a performance". Lewis later admitted to having been "scared" by the challenge of portraying somebody with a neurological disorder, saying that it was "the hardest role I have ever had to play".
2000–2010: Film, television and music
Lewis received praise for her performance in The Way of the Gun, the directorial debut of Christopher McQuarrie. Writing for The Austin Chronicle, Marjorie Baumgarten felt her portrayal of pregnant kidnap victim Robin was imbued "with rich veins of honesty and truth". That same year, she provided vocals for the track "Bad Brother" by Infidels, which featured on the soundtrack to The Crow: Salvation. She then headlined the neo-noir crime film Picture Claire, followed by a supporting role in the independent lesbian-themed comedy Gaudi Afternoon. The latter received unfavorable reviews, with A. O. Scott of The New York Times writing that Lewis and co-star Lili Taylor "overact like second-string sketch performers on Saturday Night Live". Next, she played the concerned best friend of a woman trapped in a violent relationship in Enough, a big-budget thriller directed by Michael Apted.Lewis received Emmy and Independent Spirit Award nominations for her performance in the 2002 television film Hysterical Blindness, where she co-starred as the friend of a woman in 1980s New Jersey who receives an unfortunate diagnosis. She then appeared in the poorly received Cold Creek Manor, a thriller directed by Mike Figgis, playing the battered "white-trash" girlfriend of an unstable villain. Next, she featured in the music video for HIM's "Buried Alive By Love" and played the supporting role of Heidi in Todd Phillips' 2003 comedy Old School.
Beginning in 2003, Lewis embarked on a musical career, forming the rock band Juliette and the Licks with former Hole drummer Patty Schemel. The band released their debut EP, ...Like a Bolt of Lightning, in late 2004 through Fiddler Records. That same year, she featured as a guest vocalist on The Prodigy's album Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned, played the supporting role of Kitty in the big-budget action comedy Starsky & Hutch, and headlined Blueberry, a French acid Western directed by Jan Kounen. She subsequently starred in comedy-drama Daltry Calhoun, playing the girlfriend of a Tennessee entrepreneur, and in the romantic drama Aurora Borealis, playing the live-in assistant of an elderly couple. In May 2005, Juliette and the Licks released their debut studio album, You're Speaking My Language. The band toured internationally in support of the album, receiving a favorable concert review from The Guardians David Peschek, who wrote that Lewis is "exactly the kind of iconic presence that boringly boy-saturated rock needs".
Lewis had supporting parts in two comedies released in 2006: The Darwin Awards and Catch and Release. Around the same time, Juliette and the Licks recorded their second studio album—Four on the Floor—which was released in 2007. Lewis appeared in Rockstar Games' Grand Theft Auto IV the following year, providing the voice of "Juliette", the host of fictional radio station Radio Broker. Next, she played a key role in Drew Barrymore's directorial debut, the 2009 comedy-drama Whip It!, and provided voice work for the animated science fiction film Metropia, directed by Tarik Saleh. Describing her portrayal of an aggressive roller derby captain in Whip It, The Guardian commented that Lewis was "all grimy attitude and slinky rock-chick insouciance". She released her first solo studio album that same year, titled Terra Incognita, through The End Records.
File:Alexander Skarsgard and Juliette Lewis by David Shankbone.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1|Lewis with Alexander Skarsgard at the 2010 Tribeca Film Festival
In 2010, Lewis starred in a number of films, first appearing in Mark Ruffalo's directorial debut Sympathy for Delicious, followed by romantic comedy The Switch, in which she appeared as the best friend of a woman trying to conceive a child through artificial insemination. She also portrayed a murder witness in the biographical crime drama Conviction, with The Wall Street Journal calling her a "scene-stealer", and the Boston Society of Film Critics awarding her Best Supporting Actress. She reprised the role of Heidi—her character in Old School—that same year in the black comedy Due Date.