Jenny Lewis

Early life

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.

Acting career

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.

Music

Rilo Kiley

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 "wise" 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.

Solo career

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.

On January 23, 2019, Lewis announced the release date of her new album On the Line would be March 22, 2019. The lead single "Red Bull & Hennessy" garnered positive acclaim.

On June 9, 2023, Lewis released a new album, Joy'All. She'd started writing for Joy'All while on tour to promote On the Line, shortly before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Work resumed on the album in early 2021, when Lewis participated in a virtual songwriting workshop hosted by Beck. The album was produced by Dave Cobb, who Lewis met while visiting Lucius at RCA Studio A in Nashville, Tennessee.

Other projects and collaborations

In 2002, Lewis was asked to contribute vocals for the band The Postal Service before eventually becoming a full-fledged member, sharing vocals and instrumentation in their live shows. She toured with the band in 2013 and again in 2023.

In 2003, Lewis contributed vocals to several tracks on the Cursive album The Ugly Organ.

In 2005, Lewis contributed to the UNICEF benefit song "Do They Know It's Hallowe'en?", along with Sennett and Jimmy Tamborello.

In 2006, Lewis made a cameo in Episode 25, Season 1 of Bob Dylan's Theme Time Radio Hour, and six of her songs (three with the Watson Twins and three with Rilo Kiley) were featured in various episodes of the show.

Lewis contributed vocals to various songs on Johnathan Rice's 2007 album Further North, and she appeared in the music video for "We're All Stuck Out In The Desert (And We're Gonna Die)".

She provided vocals for a track on Dntel's Dumb Luck LP, released in 2007.

In 2008, Lewis contributed backing vocals to several songs on the Elvis Costello and the Imposters album Momofuku.

Later that year, Lewis voiced the role of the assistant director for Walt Disney Pictures' animated film Bolt (2008), and she also provided the song "Barking at the Moon".

Lewis makes an appearance on the track "Hard Enough", taken from the 2010 album Flamingo by fellow Las Vegan Brandon Flowers.

In 2013, Lewis created the music score for Tribeca Film's feature Very Good Girls. She provided original music and also included older music from her previous band, Rilo Kiley, such as the song "Go Ahead".

Other bands

In 2010, Lewis formed the duo Jenny and Johnny with her then-boyfriend, musician Johnathan Rice, and the pair released an album titled I'm Having Fun Now on Warner Bros. Records. Rice and Lewis wrote the song "Cold One" for the 2015 film Ricki and the Flash.

In 2016, the trio Nice as Fuck, comprising Lewis, Erika Forster (of Au Revoir Simone), and Tennessee Thomas (of The Like), debuted at a Bernie Sanders benefit. The group opened on a number of tour dates for M. Ward.

Filmography

Discography

Rilo Kiley

Rilo Kiley (1999)

Take Offs and Landings (2001)

The Execution of All Things (2002)

More Adventurous (2004)

Under the Blacklight (2007)

Rkives (2013)

Solo

Rabbit Fur Coat (2006) (with The Watson Twins)

Acid Tongue (2008)

The Voyager (2014)

On the Line (2019)

Joy'All (2023)

Jenny & Johnny

I'm Having Fun Now (2010)

Live at Third Man Records (2010)

Nice as Fuck

Nice as Fuck (2016)

Other appearances

Bright Eyes – Lifted or The Story is in the Soil, Keep Your Ear to the Ground (2002, Saddle Creek)

Cursive – The Ugly Organ (2003, Saddle Creek)

The Postal Service – Give Up (2003, Sub Pop)

The Good Life – Album of the Year (2004, Saddle Creek)

The Watson Twins – Southern Manners (2006)

Dntel – Dumb Luck (2007, Sub Pop)

Whispertown 2000 – Livin' in a Dream (2007)

Elvis Costello and the Imposters – Momofuku (2008, Lost Highway Records)

Whispertown 2000 – Swim (2009)

Brandon Flowers – "Hard Enough" from Flamingo (2010, Island/Vertigo)

Wavves – Afraid of Heights (2013)

EZTV – Calling Out (2016)

She & Him – Christmas Party (2016)

Paul Shaffer – Paul Shaffer & The World's Most Dangerous Band (2017)

King Tuff – The Other (2018)

Vampire Weekend – "2021" (2019)

The Cactus Blossoms — "Everybody" (2022)

Videography

Rilo Kiley – "The Frug" (1999, directed by Morgan J. Freeman)

Rilo Kiley – "Wires and Waves" (filmed 2001/released 2007, directed by Morgan J. Freeman)

Rilo Kiley - "Bulletproof" (2001, directed by Liam Lynch)

The Postal Service – "The District Sleeps Alone Tonight" (2003) (Backing Vocals)

Rilo Kiley – "Portions for Foxes" (2004, directed by Brian Lazzaro)

Rilo Kiley – "It's a Hit" (2005, directed by Andrew Bruntel, Matt Enlow)

The Postal Service – "We Will Become Silhouettes" (2005, directed by Jared Hess)

Jenny Lewis with the Watson Twins – "Rise Up with Fists!!" (2006, directed by Autumn de Wilde)

Rilo Kiley – "The Moneymaker" (2007, directed by Autumn de Wilde)

Rilo Kiley – "Silver Lining" (2007, directed by Autumn de Wilde)

Jenny Lewis – "Black Sand" (2009, directed by Justin Mitchell)

Jenny Lewis – "See Fernando" (2009, directed by Alan Tanner)

Jenny Lewis – "Carpetbaggers" (2009, directed by Justin Mitchell)

Jenny and Johnny – "Big Wave" (2011, directed by Autumn de Wilde)

The Postal Service – "A Tattered Line of String" (2013, directed by AB/CD/CD) (Backing Vocals)