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Biography
Lisa Bonet was born in San Francisco but has lived most of her life
in New York and Los Angeles, where she attended Reseda High School
and Celluloid Actor's Studio. Lisa is the child of a Jewish mother
and a black father, who was a music teacher. Her parents divorced
when she was young and she began acting in commercials at the age
of 11. At age 16 she landed the role of Denise Huxtable in the hit
comedy series "The Cosby Show." The show made her a popular
actress. In the mid-'80s, she met 'Lenny Kravitz' (qv) at a New
Edition concert in Los Angeles. At the time, Lenny was a
struggling, unknown musician who went by the name Romeo Blue. It
wasn't long after they started dating when Lisa and Lenny's
relationship was all over the tabloids. The two lovers were said to
be soulmates, as they both shared a neo-hippie persona and
bi-racial background (Lenny is also half-black, half-Jewish). In
1987, Lisa and Lenny got married (they went to Las Vegas and
eloped) and they had a daughter named Zoe in 1988. By 1989, Lenny
had landed a record deal and recorded his first album, "Let Love
Rule." Lisa co-wrote a couple of songs on the album and she was
said to be the inspiration for most of the album. Lisa even
directed Lenny's first video for "Let Love Rule." But Lisa and
Lenny's relationship was full of problems from the start, including
intense scrutiny from the media and Lenny's reported infidelities.
It was around this time that Lisa made a deliberate attempt to shed
her "goody-two-shoes" Cosby daughter image by making the
controversial movie "Angel Heart," where she had racy nude and sex
scenes. The backlash from making "Angel Heart" is rumored to have
prompted Lisa's exit from "The Cosby Show." But with Bill Cosby's
help, Lisa landed on another comedy series, "A Different World," in
which she starred as a student at a mostly black university. But
perhaps due to her personal problems, Lisa began showing up late
for work (or sometimes not at all), and she was fired from the
series. She and Lenny separated in a bitter breakup and they
eventually divorced in 1993. Lenny's second album, "Mama Said,"
filled with songs about heartache, is said to be mostly about Lisa.
After her divorce from Lenny, Lisa faded from the high-profile
stardom she had experienced when she was in a relationship with
him, while Lenny became more famous than his ex-wife. No longer an
in-demand actress, Lisa occasionally made B-movies, many of which
went straight to video. In 1992, Lisa started dating yoga
instructor Bryan Kest. They began living together and had a child
in the mid-'90s. It was around this time that Lisa legally changed
her name to Lilakoi Moon, although she still uses the name Lisa
Bonet for her entertainment career. Lisa has said that she has
deliberately cut back on acting so that she could spend more time
with her family. However, she did make a brief return to the
spotlight in 1998 by co-starring with Will Smith in the big-budget
hit movie "Enemy Of The State", and had an important role in "High
Fidelity" in 2000. Lisa has since become friends with her
ex-husband Lenny again. And in an "aren't we all just one big happy
family" situation: Lisa's best friend is 'Cree Summer' (qv), a
former co-star on "A Different World" who released an album
produced by her long-time friend 'Lenny Kravitz' (qv). It was Lisa
who suggested that Lenny produce the album and Lisa directed a
promotional video for the album. Lisa currently lives in the Los
Angeles area with her children.
Biography courtesy of the Internet Movie Database (www.imdb.com).
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Lisa Bonet
