Juliette Lewis, American actress and singer-songwriter
Juliette Lake Lewis (born June 21, 1973) is an American actress and singer. She is known for her portrayals of offbeat characters, often in films with dark themes. Lewis became an "it girl" of American cinema in the early 1990s, appearing in various independent and arthouse films. Her accolades include a Pasinetti Award, one Academy Award nomination, one Golden Globe nomination, and a Primetime Emmy Award nomination.
The daughter of character actor Geoffrey Lewis, Lewis began her career in television at age 14 before making her feature film debut with a small part in My Stepmother Is an Alien (1988). This was followed by a more prominent role as Audrey Griswold in National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989). She then garnered international notice for her portrayal of Danielle Bowden in Martin Scorsese's remake of Cape Fear (1991), which saw Lewis nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, as well as the Golden Globe in the same category.
Following the success of Cape Fear, Lewis had supporting roles in Woody Allen's Husbands and Wives (1992), Kalifornia (1993), and What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993). She gained further attention for her lead role as Mallory Knox in Oliver Stone's controversial crime film Natural Born Killers (1994), which earned her the Pasinetti Award for Best Actress at the Venice Film Festival. Subsequent roles included Kathryn Bigelow's Strange Days (1995), The Basketball Diaries (1995), Robert Rodriguez's From Dusk Till Dawn (1996), The Other Sister (1999), and The Way of the Gun (2000).
The 2000s saw Lewis appearing in a series of supporting parts in independent features and studio films, and in 2003 she earned an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress for the television film Hysterical Blindness (2002). She went on to appear in comedies such as Old School (2003) and Starsky & Hutch (2004), and 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. Subsequent film roles have included Whip It (2009), Conviction (2010), The Switch (2010), August: Osage County (2013), and Ma (2019). Since the later 2010s, Lewis has worked more frequently in television, appearing in lead roles in series' such as The Firm (2012), Wayward Pines (2015), Secrets and Lies (2015–2016), The Act (2019), and Yellowjackets (2021–present).