Early life
Lewis was born in Los Angeles, California. Her father is actor Geoffrey Lewis and her mother, Glenis Batley (nee Duggan), is a graphic designer; her parents divorced when she was two years old. She has a brother, Lightfield. Her uncle is the late composer, Peter Tod Lewis. She wanted to act since she was six years old, and got her start in TV at the age of twelve. Lewis dropped out of high school at age fifteen, just three weeks after starting to experiment with alcohol and drugs. At the same time, she bought a Mazda even though she didn't have a license and, to get around child-labor laws and work as an actress more than a few hours a day, she sued her parents for her legal emancipation. When she won, she promptly moved in with family friend Karen Black.
Career
Lewis has appeared in over forty films and made-for-TV movies. She has also appeared in a GAP commercial which she was dancing with Daft Punk to the tune of the song Digital Love. She was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in 1992 for Cape Fear. She received an Emmy nomination for her performance in My Louisiana Sky in 2001.
Lewis has also launched a career as a solo singer and musician, leading a group called Juliette and the Licks which has released a number of recordings. She is working with rock songwriter Linda Perry, among others. Lewis has also appeared on three tracks by Rock-techno group The Prodigy's 2004 CD Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned ("Spitfire," "Get Up Get Off," and "Hot Ride"). She is in the HIM video for "Buried Alive By Love". In 2006 Blender Magazine included her in their hottest women of rock music list while saying, "[She] delivered sonically varnished melodic punk replete with purring vocals and lyrics that bash porn, pharmaceutical companies and rotten lovers (in no particular order)".
Lewis was Pun'k by Ashton Kutcher but they forgot to air it on TV.
Personal life
Lewis dated actor Brad Pitt for several years and co-starred with him in the movies Kalifornia and Too Young to Die?. She married professional skateboarder Steve Berra in 1999, but is now divorced.
Lewis was an outspoken marijuana smoker for years, but quit drugs when she became a member of the Church of Scientology and spent some time at the institution's detox facility, Narconon. Lewis' sister, Brandy, is married to My Name Is Earl star Ethan Suplee. Lewis guest-starred on My Name Is Earl in 2006.
