Lewis’s uncle is the late composer Peter Tod Lewis. Lewis was interested in acting every since she was a little girl, and got her start when she was twelve. However, when she was fifteen, she dropped out of school to play around with drugs and alcohol, bought a car without a valid license, and even sued her parents for her legal emancipation, and won, then moving in with family friend Karen Black. Lewis has starred in close to fifty films and made-for-TV movies from the late 80s to the present day, working with many big-name directors including Martin Scorsese, Oliver Stone, Garry Marshall, and Woody Allen, among others.

Her small-screen debut was in 1987 in Home Fires, but she quickly rose to the top four years later for her Oscar-nominated performance as Danielle Bowden in Scorsese’s Cape Fear, co-starring Robert De Niro, Nick Nolte, and Jessica Lange. Other notable performances include her role as Becky in What’s Eating Gilbert Grape in 1993, with Johnny Depp and Leonardo DiCaprio; her moving portrayal of the mentally challenged Carla Tate in The Other Sister in 1999, opposite Diane Keaton and Giovanni Ribisi; and her Emmy-nominated performance in the starring role as Dorie Kay in the TV movie My Louisiana Sky in 2001. Lewis appeared and starred in other films since then, including Enough, as Jennifer Lopez’s character’s best friend; Cold Creek Manor in 2003, starring Dennis Quaid and Sharon Stone; Old School in 2003, as Luke Wilson’s character’s cheating wife; Starsky and Hutch in 2004, which starred dynamic duo Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson; and Aurora Borealis in 2005, alongside Joshua Jackson, Donald Sutherland, and Louise Fletcher.

However, a flourishing career as a successful actress is not all that Lewis has going for her. She successfully launched a musical career as the leader and "frontwoman" of Juliette and the Licks, which has actually released several recordings, and she is also busy collaborating with noted rock songwriter Linda Perry. Lewis also made guest voice appearances on techno rock group The Prodigy’s 2004 album, Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned. Lewis was married to Steve Barra, a professional skateboarder, from 1999 until recently, and previously dated Brad Pitt for awhile, and even co-starred with Pitt in two movies (1990’s TV flick Too Young to Die, and Kalifornia in 1993). She’s a member of the Church of Scientology along with her sister Brandy and Brandy’s husband Ethan Suplee.

YUDDY