A slender, pretty, sleepy-eyed black former juvenile player, Lisa Bonet came to the fore as Denise Huxtable Kendall, the eldest child on the hugely popular family sitcom “The Cosby Show” (NBC). With her luxuriant hair, seductive charm and relaxed manner, she was chosen to star in a successful spin-off series, “A Different World”, with which she stayed for a year before returning to “The Cosby Show”. Bonet attracted media attention for her on-the-set tiffs with co-star Bill Cosby as well as her role as a voodoo princess in Alan Parker’s “Angel Heart” (1987). Her steamy love scenes with Mickey Rourke had to be trimmed down so the initially X-rated feature could be reclassified and released with studio support.
Bonet began taking acting lessons at age 13 and guest-starred in an episode of “St. Elsewhere”. She soon landed a recurring role on the CBS sitcom “The Two of Us” (1982) which led to her casting as Denise Huxtable. After a post-”Cosby” sojourn, she returned to acting as Patrick Dempsey’s love interest in the low-budget feature “Bank Robber” (1993). Subsequently, Bonet appeared in the direct-to-video release “Dead Connection” (1994), as a vindictive woman posing as a journalist to track a serial killer. She was also a single mother living on a barren planet in the SciFi Channel’s “New Eden” (1995). The actress returned to the big screen in the thriller “Enemy of the State” (1998) and appeared as one of the former girlfriends of John Cusack’s character in “High Fidelity” (2000). In 2003, Bonet was cast in the much anticipated action feature “Biker Boyz,” which co-starred Laurence Fishburne and Derek Luke. Bonet also has occasionally directed music videos, most notably “Whatever It Takes” for Gardner Cole in 1991.
- Also Credited As:
Lilakoi Moon, Lisa Boney
- Born:
on 11/16/67 in San Francisco, California
- Job Titles:
Actor, Lyricist, Music video director
Family
- Daughter: Zoe Isabella Kravitz. born on December 1, 1988; father, Lenny Kravitz
- Father: Allen Boney. part-black, part-Cheroke; separated from Bonet’s mother in December 1968; divorced; remarried
- Mother: Arlene Boney. Caucasian; Jewish; separated from Bonet’s father in December 1968; divorced; died of ovarian cancer in 1999 at age 59
Significant Others
- Husband: Lenny Kravitz. met in 1986; married in November 1987; separated in March 1991; Bonet filed for divorce on April 13, 1993; son of actress Roxie Roker and news producer Sy Kravitz
- Companion: Brian Kest. together since November 1992
Education
- Celluloid Actor’s Studio, North Hollywood, California, acting
- Reseda High School, Reseda, California
Milestones
- 1984 Played Denise Huxtable (later Denise Huxtable Kendall) on popular NBC sitcom, “The Cosby Show”
- 1987 Made feature film acting debut, as Epiphany Proudfoot, in “Angel Heart”
- 1991 Directed music video, “Whatever It Takes” for Gardner Cole
- 1995 Starred in “New Eden”, a TV-movie for the SciFi Channel
- 1998 Returned to feature films in supporting role in “Enemy of the State”
- 2000 Cast as a singer and former girlfriend of John Cusack’s character in “High Fidelity”, helmed by Stephen Frears
- 2003 Portrayed Queenie in the action feature “Biker Boyz”
- Appeared nude in Rolling Stone magazine
- Left “A Different World” and returned to the cast of “The Cosby Show”
- Left “The Cosby Show” for one year to star in spinoff series, “A Different World”
