Background and career
Jennifer Diane Lewis (born January 8, 1976) is an American singer-songwriter and actress. She is the lead singer, rhythm guitarist, and keyboardist for the indie rock band Rilo Kiley, as well as a solo artist. Lewis gained prominence in the 1980s as a child actress, appearing in the films Troop Beverly Hills (1989) and The Wizard (1989) and the television series Brooklyn Bridge (1991–1993). In the mid-1990s, Lewis semi-retired from acting to focus on her musical career, and formed Rilo Kiley in 1998 with fellow former child actor Blake Sennett. Rilo Kiley released four albums before they disbanded in 2014. Lewis has released five solo albums: Rabbit Fur Coat (2006), Acid Tongue (2008), The Voyager (2014), On the Line (2019), and Joy'All (2023). In addition to Rilo Kiley and her solo career, Lewis has been a member of The Postal Service, Jenny & Johnny, and Nice as Fuck.
Lewis was born in Las Vegas. Her mother, Linda, was a professional singer, and her father, Eddie Gordon, was a member of the Harmonica Gang. Lewis is of Ashkenazi Jewish descent.
Lewis made her professional debut in a Jell-O commercial. She later appeared in commercials for Mattel's Barbie and Baby Skates dolls, Toys "R" Us toy stores, the Black & Decker Popcorn Maker, and Kellogg's Corn Pops, among others. She was a contestant on a Young People's Week episode of the CBS game show Card Sharks starring Bob Eubanks on August 6, 1987, at age 11, winning $500, but she did not win her match. On television shows; she featured in the short-lived 1986 Lucille Ball sitcom Life With Lucy, where she was cast as one of Lucy's grandchildren, and later had recurring roles in Shannon's Deal and Brooklyn Bridge. She also had single-episode roles in shows such as Murder, She Wrote; The Twilight Zone (1985); Baywatch; The Golden Girls; Growing Pains; Just the Ten of Us; Roseanne; and Mr. Belvedere. She had roles in made-for-TV movies; including as Evangeline "Eva" Saint Claire in the 1987 adaptation of Uncle Tom's Cabin, in A Friendship in Vienna, Joe Dante's Runaway Daughters, and Talk to Me with Yasmine Bleeth. Lewis also acted in feature films, including Troop Beverly Hills and The Wizard in 1989. She went on to be in Big Girls Don't Cry... They Get Even, Foxfire, and Pleasantville. She was also in Don's Plum, filmed 1995–96 – though it remains unreleased in the U.S. In 2015, she appeared in the Netflix movie A Very Murray Christmas as a waitress and sang a few songs, including "Baby, It's Cold Outside" in a duet with Bill Murray.
In 1998, Lewis and friends Pierre De Reeder, Dave Rock, and then-boyfriend Blake Sennett formed the band Rilo Kiley. Rock was eventually replaced by Jason Boesel. In an interview with NPR's All Songs Considered, Lewis remarked that she wanted to name the group Love's Way (after her parents' lounge act in Las Vegas), but Sennett "didn't go for it." Originally asked to sing back-up vocals by Sennett, Lewis refused to join the band unless she was able to sing lead vocals. Beginning with a country sound, Rilo Kiley gravitated toward a downbeat indie rock sound, gaining the attention of Warner Bros., who signed the band (via its own imprint, Brute/Beaute Records) for the release of their 2004 album More Adventurous, which gained the band some success. Critics such as Pitchfork attributed this to the decision to emphasize Lewis's voice and presence more so than in previous albums. The song "Portions for Foxes" was a hit. Rilo Kiley's 2007 album Under the Blacklight was released directly by Warner Bros. In 2011, Sennett hinted that Rilo Kiley had disbanded. Lewis confirmed the band's split in 2014. A retrospective of Lewis's career by Jessica Roy in 2016 commented that Lewis was a style icon to a certain type of music-loving young people in the 2000s. Roy commented:
For a particular brand of suburban girl who fancied herself cooler than her peers, Jenny was a fire-haired figure of worship. With her endless supply of cool sunglasses, vintage dresses, and hats ... she was a beacon of hope for introspective teens ... as a microgenerational sad-girl touchstone, many of us have our own Jenny Lewis Anecdote, our lives touched by her magnificent tweeness in different ways. The band reunited in 2025, embarking on a North American tour and playing at the Just Like Heaven Festival on May 10, 2025 at the Rose Bowl.
In 2004, Conor Oberst invited Lewis to record a solo record for record label Team Love. Rabbit Fur Coat (released January 24, 2006) features contributions from Oberst, M. Ward, and Maroon 5 guitarist James Valentine. Ben Gibbard of Death Cab for Cutie guests on a cover of The Traveling Wilburys' "Handle With Care". The Watson Twins provide accompaniment on the album, billed as Jenny Lewis with the Watson Twins. Lewis toured with the Watson Twins in support of the album three times in 2006 and appeared with her band on the Late Show with David Letterman, The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, Late Night with Conan O'Brien and Later with Jools Holland. They also appeared on a Washington, D.C.–based children's music program called Pancake Mountain, performing the song "See Fernando". The album received positive reviews, with Entertainment Weekly writing, "Consider Lewis the Emmylou Harris of the Silverlake set" and Rolling Stone commenting that "her girlishly seductive vocals are more versatile than ever". The A.V. Club, Spin, and NPR music critic Meredith Ochs named it among the best albums of the year. In 2008, Lewis released a second solo album, this time without the Watson Twins, titled Acid Tongue. On July 29, 2014, Lewis released The Voyager. The album took five years to complete and is a reflection on Rilo Kiley's break-up and the death of her father. The release of the album was preceded by the single "Just One of the Guys". The music video for "Just One of the Guys" was released on July 15, 2014, through GQ and stars Lewis, Anne Hathaway, Kristen Stewart, Brie Larson, and Tennessee Thomas, former drummer of The Like (now disbanded). Lewis also directed the music video.
