Lisa Bonet

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Lisa Bonet

Birth name	Lisa Michelle Boney
Born	November 16, 1967 (age 39) San Francisco, California, United States
Spouse(s)	Lenny Kravitz (1987 - 1993) (divorced)
Notable roles	- Denise Huxtable in The Cosby Show and A Different World - Epiphany Proudfoot in Angel Heart

Lisa Michelle Boney (born November 16, 1967), known professionally as Lisa Bonet, is an American actress. She played the role of Denise Huxtable on The Cosby Show, and its spinoff A Different World. She began acting when she was 11, attending auditions and participating in television commercials.

1 Biography
2 Filmography
3 Footnotes
4 External links

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life

Bonet was born in San Francisco, California to an African American father, Allen Boney, and a Jewish American mother, Arlene.^[1]^[2] Her parents divorced when she was young. She lived most of her life in New York and Los Angeles, where she attended Birmingham High School in Van Nuys, California, and Celluloid Actor's Studio in North Hollywood where she majored in Acting.

[edit] Career

Bonet is known for playing the role of Denise Huxtable on The Cosby Show alongside Bill Cosby and Phylicia Rashad, among others, but Bonet actually began acting when she was 11, attending many auditions and participating in several television commercials before she became a star.

Her character, Denise, was known as a free-spirited girl who loved fashion and music, but didn't want to attend school to pursue either interest. A short stint at Hillman College leads to her heading to Africa, where she meets and marries Navy man Martin Kendall, who comes along with a daughter, Olivia. Denise eventually decides to become a special-education teacher, which she does not. It is revealed on the finale that she is pregnant.

In 1987 she accepted the role of Epiphany Proudfoot in the movie Angel Heart opposite Mickey Rourke, directed by Alan Parker. Her appearance caused controversy and some scenes had to be cut to avoid an X rating.^[3]

Bonet began to accept jobs on straight-to-video releases and made-for-TV movies. She then changed her name legally in 1995 to Lilakoi Moon, deciding to continue using her birth name on the productions she participated in. Soon she started dating yoga instructor Bryan Kest, with whom she had a son, and in 1998 she had a supporting role in Enemy of the State with Will Smith. In 2000 she appeared in the movie High Fidelity. Her most recent film appearance was in Biker Boyz which reunited her with former co-star Kadeem Hardison of A Different World.

In August 2006, Bonet appeared in a week-long A Different World reunion special that aired on Nick At Nite, along with fellow co-stars Hardison, Jasmine Guy, Cree Summer, Dawnn Lewis, Darryl M. Bell, and Sinbad. Bonet co-starred in the 2006 film Whitepaddy, alongside Sherilyn Fenn, Hill Harper, Debra Wilson, Karen Black and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Bonet is also in negotiation for a role in the 2007 Coen brothers film Gambit, also starring Jennifer Aniston, Colin Firth, and Sir Ben Kingsley.

[edit] Personal life

On her 20th birthday, she married singer Lenny Kravitz and went to Las Vegas and eloped. (His mother was the late Roxie Roker of The Jeffersons sitcom fame).

"It was interesting when we were first finding out about each other, that our backgrounds were so similar," Bonet recalled. "When I first told him my mom was Jewish, and he said 'So's my dad,' I thought that was both unusual and enchanting. I felt like, 'Okay, here's someone who really knows how it is.' And I think I trusted him a little more with my feelings and let him inside a little more than I ordinarily would have".^[4]

After giving birth to daughter Zoe Isabella Kravitz in 1988, she and Lenny separated in a bitter breakup and they eventually divorced in 1993.

A hip-hop album dedicated to Lisa Bonet called Felt, Vol. 2: A Tribute to Lisa Bonet was created by Slug (from Atmosphere) and MURS and produced by Ant (also from Atmosphere) and was released on June 12, 2005. This album was the sequel to "Felt: A Tribute to Christina Ricci". Each CD was released lightheartedly, supposedly to resurrect the careers of each struggling B-level actress.