Zoë Kravitz

Early life

Kravitz was born in Venice, Los Angeles, California at the home of her parents, actress Lisa Bonet and musician Lenny Kravitz. Both of her parents are of black and Jewish descent. Her paternal grandmother, actress Roxie Roker (a first cousin twice removed of television weather forecaster Al Roker), and her maternal grandfather, Allen Bonet, were black, with some of her grandmother's family being from the Bahamas. Her paternal grandfather, filmmaker Sy Kravitz, and maternal grandmother, Arlene Litman, were both Jewish. Zoë identifies as a secular Jew.

Kravitz's parents married in 1987 and divorced six years later, in 1993, when she was five. She lived with her mother in Topanga Canyon, and then moved to Miami at age eleven to live with her father, spending summers with her mother. Kravitz has a younger half-sister, Lola Iolani Momoa, and half-brother, Nakoa-Wolf Manakauapo Namakaeha Momoa, from her mother's remarriage to actor Jason Momoa. Her godfather is movie producer Bruce Cohen, and her godmother is actress and singer Cree Summer.

Kravitz attended Miami Country Day School and then Rudolf Steiner School in Manhattan, New York, where she graduated in 2007. Kravitz began studying that year at the acting conservatory at the State University of New York at Purchase. She left college after a year and moved to Brooklyn, New York to work in films. She struggled with anorexia and bulimia throughout high school, until around age 24.

2007–10: Career beginnings

Kravitz landed her first film role while in high school, playing a babysitter hired by Catherine Zeta-Jones' character in the 2007 romance, No Reservations. That same year, she played a teenage prostitute in the action thriller, The Brave One. She starred in Jay Z's music video for the single "I Know" in 2008, and was featured singing in will.i.am's music video, "We Are The Ones", in support of U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama. That year Kravitz appeared in the film Birds of America, a dramedy about a dysfunctional family starring Matthew Perry.

She co-starred in the independent ensemble drama The Greatest, which premiered at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival. Kravitz played a character addicted to grief counseling groups.

She completed work on the coming-of-age film, Yelling to the Sky, in 2009, starring with Gabourey Sidibe and Tim Blake Nelson. The directorial debut of Victoria Mahoney, it premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival in February 2011. Kravitz played Sweetness O'Hara, a troubled 17-year-old from Queens, New York.

In 2010, she appeared in It's Kind of a Funny Story, a coming-of-age film adapted from the 2006 novel by Ned Vizzini. Also that year, Kravitz appeared in Twelve, adapted from the cult novel of the same name by Nick McDonell, about a group of wealthy, reckless teens from the affluent Upper East Side of Manhattan. It premiered at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. Kravitz starred as Evie Wallace, a high school sex columnist, in the teen comedy Beware the Gonzo. The film premiered at the 2010 Tribeca Film Festival.

2011–present: Acting breakthrough

In 2011, she appeared in a six-episode arc of the Showtime television series Californication, playing Pearl, an uninhibited musician who recruits Becca (cast-member Madeleine Martin) into her all-girl band, Queens of Dogtown.

She co-starred as Angel Salvadore, one of the superhuman teen mutants, in X-Men: First Class, based on the Marvel Comics characters the X-Men. The film is a prequel to the X-Men film series, and is set in the 1960s during the Cuban missile crisis. Kravitz filmed in London and performed wire work for her role, to simulate her character's ability to fly.

In late 2011, she completed work on the film Treading Water, starring opposite Douglas Smith. She co-starred in After Earth. The M. Night Shyamalan-directed film was released on May 31, 2013.

Kravitz co-starred in Divergent, an adaptation of the young adult novel of the same name. She played Christina, a character in a futuristic society divided into five factions. Shailene Woodley starred in the film, and Neil Burger directed. Kravitz reprised her role in the film series' sequels, Insurgent and Allegiant.

She starred in the independent drama, The Road Within (2014), with Robert Sheehan and Dev Patel. The film was a remake of the 2010 German film Vincent Wants to Sea. Kravitz also filmed Pretend We're Kissing in Toronto in late-2013, playing Autumn, an agoraphobic, bisexual hippie. The romantic comedy co-stars Dov Tiefenbach.

Kravitz appeared alongside January Jones, Ethan Hawke, and Jake Abel in Good Kill (2014), a drama about a warfare drone operator, directed by Andrew Niccol. Kravitz co-starred as the love interest in the comedy-drama Dope, which premiered at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival. She also co-starred in Mad Max: Fury Road, by Australian filmmaker George Miller. Originally scheduled to begin shooting in Australia in early 2011, production was postponed to 2012, and the film was ultimately released in 2015. She filmed Viena and the Fantomes, opposite Dakota Fanning, as well as Vincent-N-Roxxy with Emile Hirsch. Kravitz will also star in Black Belle, playing a gunslinger in the American Old West.

Modeling and fashion

Kravitz has modeled in fashion magazines such as French Jalouse, Venus Zine and Elle. She was named the face of Vera Wang's Princess fragrance in 2009, appearing on the website and in advertisements for the brand. Kravitz starred in a campaign for fashion designer Alexander Wang in 2010, and represented Vera Wang's new Preppy Princess fragrance in 2011. In 2013, Kravitz released a jewelry line in collaboration with the Swarovski crystal company. She used ethnic and vintage jewelry, and her birthstone, Turquoise, as inspiration for her designs. She became the face of Brooklyn-based designer Alexis Bittar's jewelry line in 2015.

Music

Kravitz began making music at the age of 16. She fronted the New York/Philadelphia-based band Elevator Fight, which she formed in 2009. The band performed at the South by Southwest music festival and on the main stage of the Roots Picnic in Philadelphia in June 2009, along with The Roots, TV On The Radio, and The Black Keys. She stated in 2011 that her music is a hobby. She also performed with the cabaret troupe The Citizens Band.

Kravitz started the band Lolawolf while in Los Angeles filming The Road Within. Made up of members of the band Reputante, Lolawolf released an eponymous EP and debuted at the Mercury Lounge in November 2013. The band was named after Kravitz' younger siblings, Lola and Nakoa-Wolf. They released their debut album, Calm Down, on October 21, 2014, and supported Lily Allen, Miley Cyrus, and Warpaint on tour in 2014.

Personal life

Kravitz lives in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. The song "Flowers for Zoë," included on her father's second album Mama Said, was written as a tribute to then two-year-old Zoë.