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Charlotte Lewis

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For other uses, see Charlotte Lewis (disambiguation).

Charlotte Lewis
Lewis in 2018
Born (1967-08-07) 7 August 1967 (age 57)
Kensington, London, England, United Kingdom
OccupationActress
Years active1984–present

Charlotte Lewis (born 7 August 1967) is an English actress.[1] She is best known as Kee Nang in the 1986 film The Golden Child.

Early life

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Lewis attended Bishop Douglass School in Finchley. Her mother is Irish-English, and her father is half-Chilean and half-Iraqi.[2]

Career

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Lewis made her film debut as a teenager in the 1986 Roman Polanski film Pirates. She followed it that same year with the female lead in The Golden Child alongside Eddie Murphy.[3] Later appearances include the film Tripwire (1990) and Storyville (1992), opposite James Spader. She had a co-starring role in Men of War (1994), alongside Dolph Lundgren, and in the 1995 film Decoy. Lewis appeared in the 2003 film Hey DJ.

Lewis also appeared in a cover-featured pictorial in the July 1993 issue of Playboy magazine.[4]

Lewis acted in the 2019 film Lost Angelas playing Angie Malone, one of the title roles.[5]

Accusation against Roman Polanski

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On 14 May 2010, Lewis and her Los Angeles-based attorney Gloria Allred accused Roman Polanski of having sexually assaulted Lewis when she was 16 years old,[6] while the two were working on Pirates.[7][8] Prosecutors in Los Angeles confirmed that they interviewed Lewis in connection with the allegations. According to Lewis, the incident occurred at Polanski's Paris apartment in 1983.[9]

On 17 May 2010, an article called into question Lewis' testimony by referencing an account of events she gave in an interview with the UK's News of the World, in which she had spoken of a relationship with Polanski, along with several other actors.[10] Later, in December 2019, French magazine L’Obs came back to the News of the World story, relating a "violent campaign to discredit her" in the media. Charlotte Lewis said: "I was completely alone in 2010. No one believed me. They said I was a prostitute, a liar. I'm a little anxious to talk. The media got me so depressed."[11]

Lewis filed a claim for defamation, and Polanski was charged under French law. She told the court, which specialised in media cases, and was concerned with the defamation and not the rape allegation, that she had become the victim of a "smear campaign" that "nearly destroyed" her life. Polanski did not attend any of the hearings, including the verdict given in his favour in May 2024, when he was acquitted of the defamation.[12]

Filmography

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Film

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Year Title Role Notes
1986 Pirates María-Dolores de la Jenya de la Calde
1986 The Golden Child Kee Nang
1988 Dial: Help Jenny Cooper
1989 Tripwire Trudy
1989 The Legend of the Emerald Princess Emerald Princess Short
1990 Stranger in the House Unknown
1991 Healing Hurts Unknown
1992 Storyville Lee Tran
1993 Excessive Force Anna Gilmour
1994 Lipstick Camera Roberta Dailey
1994 Men of War Loki
1995 Embrace of the Vampire Sarah
1995 Decoy Katya
1996 The Glass Cage Jacqueline
1996 Navajo Blues Elizabeth Wyako
1997 Mutual Needs Louise Collier
1999 Every Dog Has Its Day Jill
2003 Henry X Mrs. Morgan
2003 Hey DJ Tai
2019 Lost Angelas Angie Malone

Television

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Year Title Role Notes
1988 Crime Story Mai Lan "Femme Fatale"
1990–1991 Broken Bridges Priscilla Mather Recurring role
1991 Bare Essentials Tarita TV film
1992 Sketch Artist Leese TV film
1993 Red Shoe Diaries Claire "Midnight Bells"
1995 Seinfeld Nina "The Switch"
1996 Viper Evangeline Raines "White Fire"
1996 Renegade Kate "The Pipeline"
1999 Highlander: The Raven Jade "The Frame"

References

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  1. ^ "Charlotte Lewis". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. 2008. Archived from the original on 19 September 2008. Retrieved 14 April 2011.
  2. ^ "Roman Polanski's New Protégée, Charlotte Lewis, Star of Pirates and All of 18". People Magazine Vol. 26 No. 4. 28 July 1986. Retrieved 22 March 2012.
  3. ^ Angeli, Michael. "Brit Force". Playboy. 40 (7) pp. 132–140. July 1993. ISSN 0032-1478.
  4. ^ Playboy cover, July 1993
  5. ^ LePire, Bobby (29 March 2019). "Lost Angelas". Film Threat. Retrieved 10 April 2019.
  6. ^ "UK News & Business Directory". Printwords.co.uk. 15 May 2010. Archived from the original on 25 August 2011. Retrieved 14 April 2011.
  7. ^ Alpert, Lukas I. (15 May 2010). "New Polanski sex shock". New York Post. Retrieved 14 April 2011.
  8. ^ Lee, Ken (14 May 2010). "New Accuser Alleges Sexual Abuse by Roman Polanski". People. Archived from the original on 15 May 2010. Retrieved 14 April 2011.
  9. ^ Deutsch, Linda (14 May 2010). "Charlotte Lewis: Roman Polanski Molested Me When I Was 16". HuffPost. Archived from the original on 17 May 2010. Retrieved 14 April 2011.
  10. ^ Pape, Eric (17 May 2010). "Roman Polanski Accuser, Charlotte Lewis, Lying?". The Daily Beast. Retrieved 20 September 2018.
  11. ^ ""Charlotte Lewis a accusé Roman Polanski : « On a dit que j'étais une prostituée, une menteuse »"". L’Obs. 12 December 2019. Retrieved 3 March 2020.
  12. ^ "Roman Polanski acquitted of defamation". The Guardian. 14 May 2024. Retrieved 23 October 2024.
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