| BIOGRAPHY
An actress with a face that, like it or not, burns itself into
your memory, not to be forgotten once initially exposed, feisty
young actress Juliette Lewis once commented that her ability to
look alternately attractive and repellant was a key element to
her success, claiming that many attractive actresses simply can't
be ugly if needed. Ugly she was as a viscously sadistic serial
killer in Oliver Stones notorious Natural Born Killers, in sharp
contrast with her role as the virtually seductive cyberpunk-siren
in the futuristic Strange Days.
Born June 21, 1973, in Los Angeles, CA, Lewis had a distinct
wild streak from her earliest days. Daughter of graphic artist/actor
Geoffrey Lewis, Lewis realized her dreams of becoming an actress
at the age of seven, turning those dreams into reality by becoming
a professional actress at the age of 12. Distressed at the obstacles
refraining her from fully immersing herself in her dreams (namely
school and her parents), Lewis became legally emancipated at 14,
gaining exemption from child-labor laws and the ability to work
more than five hours a day. The final obstacle, high school, Lewis
hurdled by dropping out at the age of 15, earning her equivalency
exam with the aid of a tutor. That same year she was arrested
for being underage in an underground disco (the mugshot taken
now hangs, poster-size, in her home).
Moving to Hollywood and living for a short period with actress
Karen Black while seeking work, Lewis moved into an apartment
with friends, finally finding the independence she had so diligently
pursued. The payoff for her persistence was not far behind, as
Lewis soon landed a role in the Showtime-produced Home Fires (1987).
Following up with light comedic roles in the suburban extraterrestrial
comedy My Stepmother Is an Alien (1988), and taking the role of
Audrey in the third installment in the Vacation series, National
Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, Lewis was well on her way to fully
achieving her dreams of stardom. Her dramatic turn as Amanda Sue
Bradley in Too Young to Die, the true story of the first minor
to receive the death penalty, earned Lewis well-deserved praise,
and the recognition that would carry her forward into more challenging
territory.
Lewis' breakthrough role came in the form of the awkward and
rebellious daughter flirting with a psychotic Robert De Niro in
Martin Scorsese's Cape Fear, a role that earned her an Oscar nomination.
More mature roles began to follow, as Johnny Depp's love interest
in What's Eating Gilbert Grape, and in her first foray into the
mind of a serial killer, Kalifornia (both 1993). Her most notorious
role to date, as the homicidal Mallory to Woody Harrelson's psychopathic
Micky in the controversial and numbingly hyperkinetic ode to excess
Natural Born Killers, displayed her remarkably enthusiastic ability
for boundless exorbitance.
In 2003, Lewis played Luke Wilson's excessively unfaithful wife
in Old School. Director Todd Phillips enjoyed working with her
so much, he cast her in 2004's high-profile comedic retooling
of TV's Starsky and Hutch.
Lewis is also a devoted member of the Church of Scientology.
|
FILMOGRAPHY
• National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation 1 & 2 (2004)
• Renegade (2004)
• Starsky & Hutch (2004)
• Cold Creek Manor (2003)
• Gaudi Afternoon (2003)
• Old School (2003)
• Enough (2002)
• Hysterical Blindness (2002)
• My Louisiana Sky (2002)
• Picture Claire (2001)
• The Way of the Gun (2000)
• The 4th Floor (1999)
• The Other Sister (1999)
• What's Eating Gilbert Grape? (1997)
• The Evening Star (1996)
• From Dusk Till Dawn (1996)
• The Basketball Diaries (1995)
• Strange Days (1995)
• Mixed Nuts (1994)
• Natural Born Killers (1994)
• Kalifornia (1993)
• Romeo Is Bleeding (1993)
• That Night (1993)
• What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993)
• Husbands and Wives (1992)
• Cape Fear (1991)
• Crooked Hearts (1991)
• Too Young to Die (1990)
• Meet the Hollowheads (1989)
• National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989)
• My Stepmother Is An Alien (1988) |
