Lestrange life: Zoë Kravitz goes from X-Men to Fantastic Beasts
Instead of living in the shadows of her showbiz parents, Kravitz has worked hard to stamp her mark in Hollywood
You’d be forgiven for thinking that Zoë Kravitz owes her acting success to her mother, Cosby Show alumni Lisa Bonet. But as Kravitz’s rock-god father Lenny’s own forays into Hollywood make clear, when it came to the silver screen, he was certainly no slouch either – dad Kravitz appeared in films such as Zoolander and The Hunger Games.
“My father is a huge film buff, and he and my mother often went to see art-house movies in small theatres. They would bring me along, even when I was still pretty young,” the 29-year-old says. “I received a great education in independent and foreign films, and that has always stayed with me.”
This cultured upbringing may go some way to explaining the youngest Kravitz’s own varied back catalogue. From superhero flicks ( X-Men: First Class) to sci-fi franchises ( The Divergent Series ) and comedy capers (Rough Night), Kravitz’s career has skirted through innumerable genres. But the past year can surely be termed the star’s breakthrough.
Yet no one project epitomises that shift better than the universally acclaimed and culturally significant HBO drama Big Little Lies. As the bohemian Bonnie Carlson – “I was more inspired by my mother when it came to playing Bonnie” – Kravitz saw herself take part in arguably the most female-driven show in TV history, alongside Reese Witherspoon, Nicole Kidman, Laura Dern and her former Divergent co-star Shailene Woodley.
“It’s so rare to work with so many incredibly talented women,” Kravitz says. “It’s a completely different kind of environment to work on a set and bond with your female co-stars. But the best thing is that we’re able to tell these kinds of stories from a woman’s perspective and audiences need to see more of that.
“That kudos undoubtedly goes to Nicole and Reese as the driving forces behind it all. I’ve come off this series so inspired by their purpose and determination in producing this exciting, female-centric project. It has inspired me to keep moving ahead with my own stuff, my own plans to produce and direct. I feel so energised about it,” she says.