The daughter of actor Geoffrey Lewis, Juliette Lewis began acting professionally in her teen years. Her first national exposure came in 1987 as a regular on the TV sitcom I Married Dora, playing the daughter of series star Daniel Hugh-Kelly. Also in 1987, Lewis took action in court to exempt herself from the California child-labor laws, which limited her five working hours per school day. At age 18, Lewis was Oscar-nominated for her flawless performance as Nick Nolte's troubled daughter in director Martin Scorsese's Cape Fear (1991); many observers felt that her scenes were the only islands of subtlety and credibility in this out-of-control suspenser. Any doubts that Lewis is a mature artist were dispelled with her marrow-chilling performance as a mass murderer in Oliver Stone's Natural Born Killers (1994).