Lewis was born in the year 1973 to a Christian family living in Woodland Hills, California, USA. Her father worked as an actor and her mother was a graphic designer by profession. Lewis was always encouraged for her artistic pursuits by her parents. Following her father’s footsteps, she started acting young and landed her first gig when she was a mere 12 years old. In spite of her artistic achievements Lewis did not do too well in school and started using marijuana at the young age of 13 she also dropped out of high school at the age of 15. Despite her shortcomings at age 18, Lewis landed a role in Martin Scorsese’s film Cape Fear (1993) in which she acted along Robert DeNiro, this film was her first step towards fame as she was lauded for her debut role. Lewis herself once quoted that Cape Fear was the film which was her first brush with stardom. She also became rather notorious because of her affair with Brad Pitt when she was aged 16. Lewis in her early twenties developed a serious drug problem and had to stay at Florida Church For Scientology Detox Centre for a short while to get clean of the habit.

Lewis decided that she would take up acting as a career when she was only 7 years old. Due to her diligence she landed her first gig when she was just a young 13 year old teenager. She was cast as the character named Danielle Bowden by Martin Scorsese in his 1991 movie ‘Cape Fear’, the movie was her ticket to stardom. She was also hired by Woody Allen in his 1992 movie ‘Husbands and wives’. Ms. Lewis is also well known for her role as a psychopathic serial killer Malorie in Oliver Stone’s 1993 movie ‘The Natural Born Killers’. She has also been nominated for an Oscar and an Emmy award. She also played roles in several other movies like ‘Whats’ Eating Gilbert Grape’ and ‘Whip It’.

Lewis began her musical career at the age of 30 by fronting the band called Juliette and the Licks. She toured several locations with the band; she admits that live performances are the perfect adrenaline rush for her. She is characterized by her aggressive on stage persona. She is famously called the female Iggy Pop.

Ms Lewis is an ardent supporter of Scientology and takes great interest in Eastern philosophy. She had married skateboarder Steve Berra but the marriage ended in a divorce 4 years later, but they are still good friends.She is also a devout Christian in spite of her faith in Scientology. Her net worth stands at 20 million USD. Her current residence  is Los Angeles.