Juliette Lewis [Actress]

By: Editor | April 13, 2011 | Ten by Ten

An enigmatic smile, a defiant gaze — Juliette Lewis is confident enough to do what she wants. At 14, she emancipated from her parents and dropped out of high school. At 17, she was nominated for an Academy Award and a Golden Globe for her role in Martin Scorsese’s Cape Fear. She drove a car without a license for years and captured Hollywood’s attention with her fearless attitude. Woody Allen, Oliver Stone and Lasse Hallström were quickly fascinated by her ability to spontaneously perform both comedic and dramatic roles, and cast her to star in critically acclaimed movies opposite Johnny Depp and Leonardo DiCaprio (What’s Eating Gilbert Grape?) and Robert Downey, Jr. (Natural Born Killers). Lewis was the lead singer of rock band Juliette & The Licks until 2009, and she will return to the movies this year with Mark Ruffalo’s directorial debut Sympathy for Delicious.   

What do you consider your greatest professional success?
Making a living as an independent musician for the past seven years and touring all over the world for my gorgeous, eclectic audiences! It’s been a wonderful, wild ride. I’m writing my fourth record now. I will make music, write songs and make movies the rest of my life.

What technology are you currently the most excited about?
I’m crazy for Twitter. I love that I can share with a community anything I’m excited about: shows, thoughts, music, friends, causes, jokes, etc. It’s an amazing medium, and it makes the time between flight layovers/monotony/sleeplessness a little less brutal.

When was the last time you were truly frightened and why?
Being on a tiny six-passenger charter plane flying to a movie location. The plane was shaking like a toy in the sky. I feared for my life. Normally, I am not scared because I practice the “fine art” of surrender. But this time I could not for some reason, and so I gripped my seat very tightly. But the landing, incidentally, was like butter!

What did you want to grow up to be when you were a child?
A magical musical dramatic muse pixie fairy. And that’s exactly what I’ve become.

What philanthropic/humanitarian cause do you most identify with and why?
Citizens Commission on Human Rights is a brilliant organization that serves as a watchdog and a proactive force to help others who have had their rights taken away in the name of “mental health.” Whether its enforcing drug companies to put truthful warning labels on their drugs or giving a legal voice to mothers who’ve had their kids taken away because they didn’t want to put them on drugs but try an alternative method to treat behavioral problems. I think people would be shocked to find out what’s happening in the name of mental health and Big Pharma’s goal of making everyone — from pregnant women to newborn babies and so on — candidates for antidepressant-type drugs with side effects that include homicidal thoughts and suicide, like the mother who recently killed her children “because they were mouthy.” Well she was on a drug with homicidal thoughts as a side effect. And no one looks at that. CCHR tries to get that known, and more. I’m a part of this group because I, of course, want to protect my rights as an individual and see others who have been abused in the name of “help” regain their voice.

Describe your perfect day?
Sun. Writing. Ocean air. Sweaty heat. Making love to “the one I love.” Then telling my sister all about my day!

If you could go back in time and change one thing, what would it be and why?
I would change too much to describe here. I’d remove the pain, failure and loss that I’ve caused another and that was brought on me, I guess — although, I’m more of a “changing the past with the future” kind of gal. And don’t practice this kind of thought process of “regretting.” It’s good to know your lessons and learn from them. But I think it’s funny when people say, “I wouldn’t change a thing.” Oh my god, yes, there is so much I’d change. But you can’t look back like that, only forward. Sure, I tend to be a positive kind of gal yet brutally real as well.

Do you believe in the notion of spreading democracy beyond our borders?
I’m not into the idea of “enforcing” democracy through war! Not sure what you mean by “spreading.” Politics are riddled with peacocking men. It’s phenomenally frustrating. I am not loyal to any party. People do have the power and a voice for changing their own unwanted conditions as individuals and as a society. People have the power — I will always believe that. It’s been demonstrated too many times. But not everyone has the same idea about democracy.

What are the fundamental qualities you look for in a lover?
Height, eyes with too much life, strong hands, the ability to make a living, see the humor in the tragic or mundane and letting a girl bloom; perversity, a penchant for lots of foreplay or not, depending; someone who can read my mind or ask what’s on it, has a gift that I marvel at because I could never possess it, and it’s all his own — and can calm me when I’m worried.

How will you spend this evening?
Content-fully jet-lagged because I love traveling. Masterminding my artistic/creative future, then going to a show here in London with a friend.

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