By Karu F. Daniels, AOL Black Voices
Zoe Kravitz -- the daughter of former 'Cosby Show' actress Lisa Bonet and Grammy Award winning rocker Lenny Kravitz -- is all grown up now.
And she's making movies, becoming gossip fodder and even trying to step out of her beloved famous parents' foreshadows.
"It's an easy diss when people don't want to like me and want to say that I'm a brat," the 18-year-old beauty said in the new issue of Trace magazine. "You have people who only want to be your friend because of that, or you have those who say, 'Oh, Zoe thinks she is so cool cause her dad is...'"
And though her famous daddy is considered to be music industry royalty, she's no rocker chick. She's following in the acting footsteps of her mom and late grandmother Roxie Roker (of 'The Jeffersons' fame).
Kravitz has a bit part in the recently released romantic comedy 'No Reservations,' which stars Academy Award winner Catherine Zeta Jones, Aaron Eckhart and in-demand newcomer Abigail Breslin.
Her next film project is opposite Oscar winner Jodie Foster in 'The Brave One,' due in theaters next month. "Every time we did a take I would check if it was okay," she said of the film, which is a crime drama about a woman struggles to recover from a brutal attack by setting out on a mission for revenge. "[Jodie] would tell me to let go and just do it. She taught me to be comfortable on set."
Although they are roles of the smaller kind, Kravitz looks at it as a positive. "It's not about the size of the roles, it's about finding things that challenge and intrigue you. If these small roles will allow me to do that then I'm grateful."
Grateful is an adjective not typically associated with budding Hollywood starlets. But gossip and innuendo are commonplace.
When photos of Kravitz drinking a 40-ounce bottle of beer surfaced on the internet, many wanted to believe that the young ingénue was going the way of rehab-mocking, tabloid mainstays Lindsay Lohan, Nicole Richie, Britney Spears and Paris Hilton.
Not so.
"I was 17 in those pictures, and I'm sorry but find me a 17-year-old who has not had some beer?," she rationed.
"I'm together. I'm not an alcoholic, I go to school, I'm not a crazy kid, and I don't do hard drugs. My dad wasn't mad, but he was like 'you can't put your shit out like that.'"
College life, which she's due to begin in just a matter of days, should offer Kravitz a more diverse perspective on real-life matters.
She was recently accepted to State University of New York College at Purchase's Performing Arts program, which she is scheduled to begin this fall.
"Growing up around actors as a kid you want to imitate what the adults are doing," she said of being bit by the acting bug. "But as I got older it was clear to me that I loved it and could do it for a living."


Comments: (138)
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By: Jerome on 8/17/2007 11:39AM
This reminds me of a buddy I had to Distance myself away from. Dude was in and out of prison, robbing, drugs, stabbing, they got him once for rape he beat the charge but I think he probably did it. Now that we are both in our forties, I have two kids in their late teens doing good, my wife and I are successful and planning to move to Florida soon to start a mail order business. My buddy, the last time I saw him last year, was still ranting and raving about racism and the white man keeping him down not giving him a chance. This is the same man who dropped out of school in the tenth grade and called me a pussy because I respect women, graduated from college and treat my wife like a queen. Yeah I had to DISTANCE myself from all of that.
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By: Areatha on 8/17/2007 11:45AM
#131, that sounds so familiar with people I know, some of them in him family even. We are our worst enemy, so you go on Zoe and be successful. Live your life and make something of yourself and leave the haters and do nothings behind. because that's all some people will do, do nothing but bitch and complain. I am often embarrassed by the way we behave and then whine about other people putting us down.
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By: Diane on 8/30/2007 12:46AM
Hopefully, Zoe will surpass all the craziness that the Paris' and Lindsay's are living. Good to see that her parents didnt have her acting as a child. We see how many of them end up unscathed.My youngest child is multi-racial black,white,american indian,phillipino. I'm white but my son considers himself black. I let HIM make that choice. I told him whatever he feels comfortable as is fine with me. Funniest part, tho is that he looks hispanic more than any of the things he truly is..... All I want for my son is that he feels comfortable in his skin, no matter what shade he is... LadyDi
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By: renee ford on 8/25/2007 9:57PM
Lenny is SOO fine and the most beautiful black jew in the world! He looks good every decade and his daughter is almost as beautiful as he is.
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By: Lyricist23 on 8/29/2007 5:10AM
I think that Zoe is a beautiful young woman. God bless her in everything she seeks out to do. I hope that the tabs don't ruin her career before she even starts it. Lenny looks great, and I have always loved his music. Lisa hasn't aged gracefully tis true, but what's a girl to do? She definately doesn't look like she turned to the knife or Botox! She's just doin her.
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By: I on 8/28/2007 11:19PM
Well, no one has stated the obvious, Lisa hasn't aged well due to the white blood running through her veins. You know that if she were just a few shades darker, you wouldn't see those crows feet around her eyes and laugh lines around her mouth. She's a hippie so she won't be running to get botox injections. Hey, don't get mad, I'm just stating the facts.
P.S. i hope Zoe's acting skills come from her grandmother, cuz Lisa was quite corny, I was so happy when she left A Different World.
NY
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By: Beonte on 9/19/2007 8:29PM
How is Lisa & Lenny black? Why are some black people so dumb? What science proves that one white person & one black person having a child together makes the child balck? I don't understand that if your mixed race what makes you light skinned. I'm not dark but my friends are mixed race & they have complexions more similar to white sun tanned people than black people so why are mixed race people called light skinned? Are black people that ashamed of pure looking black people or full African people that they need to recruit mixed race people? Tiger Woods is Half Asian so what makes him more black. Black people need to focus on accepting people for who they are & praising God. Why do black people care so much about mixed race people calling themselves not black. There are many black people who don't even get notice as beautiful cause they are toooo black but as soon as they see a mixed race person they want to call them black why? Does it make black people feel better to call mixed race people black cause that is all they think is nice about the black race? I think if you go back to Africa you will clearly see there are not many black women who look like Zoe without being mixed. How would you feel if the white/jewish race started claiming her. She can't be split in half. All we can do is accept mixed race people as both & not force mixed people to choose.
On the other side what does it do to our black race calling mixed race people black? Look at the amount of black people in films and music videos. They are either light skinned or mixed race. Is that how you black people want it then? In order for you to be accepted as black & suitable to be considered as beautiful to starr in a film or video you have to be black but look almost white? You black people need to know what it is to be black & move the hell on. Mixed people were called black in the day cause black women brought them up that way cause the white fathers didn't want to claim them. Come on, look how diffrent it is today. Mixed children are being born out of choice to white mothers so of course white people are claiming mixed race people. So why are they black? Many white people look at mixed race people as mixed race cause they can clearly see the diffrence between a black person with no white features & a mixed race girl with plenty European features. The only thing that makes a mixed race person black is there darker skin than a white person but Asian people are not black. Black is when you can trace the majority of genes back to Africa. Not one mixed race person is able to do that. White people will even have mixed race people in their family cause we have moved on. White people have mixed race sisters, brothers, aunties, ucles, mothers etc. Now could that be possible if they were black? The only reason why white people will look at Mixed race people as black is if a mixed race person in the past has told them that they want to be considered as black. White people don't want to come off as racist so they say whateva we want them to say when it comes to the black issue but in reality they know that no mixed race person is black. It is a joke for some of you uneducated black people to think so. These mixed people wouldn't be alive today & look the way they do if they were black. They are not just light black people they are a diffrent race all together- deal with it BLACK FOLKS.
Mixed race people should be proud to be all races they are & should never say they are black. It makes it harder for us real black people to get recognised if everytime people are thinking that to be black you have to have white/Asian features too.
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By: cc on 9/24/2007 12:50PM
I for one am very happy this child of lisa and lenny has grown up with more sence of value them most young people ( white or black) Lisa has done a wonderful job even if Lisa had some problems which I never heard about
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