Zoë Kravitz (birthname:
Zoë Isabella Kravitz) is a wide-ranging actor, musician, and filmmaker who has engaged in both indie movies and studio blockbuster franchises, starting with supporting roles in director Scott Hicks’ culinary comedy-drama,
No Reservations (2007), starring Catherine Zeta-Jones and Aaron Eckhart, followed by Kravitz landing a supporting role under Neil Jordan’s direction in the thriller,
The Brave One (2007), starring Jodie Foster, Terrence Howard, Naveen Andrews, and Mary Steenburgen, and released by Warner Bros. for a middling $69 million global gross.
Kravitz was cast by director Craig Lucas for the indie comedy-drama,
Birds of America (2008), starring Matthew Perry, Ben Foster,
Ginnifer Goodwin, and Lauren Graham, and released by Myriad Pictures after premiering at the Sundance Film Festival.
Kravitz was in the cast of another Sundance Film Festival premiere, director-writer Shana Feste’s indie drama,
The Greatest (2009), starring Pierce Brosnan,
Susan Sarandon,
Carey Mulligan,
Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Jennifer Ehle, and
Michael Shannon, but losing money for distributor Paladin. Kravitz was cast in another money-losing drama premiering at Sundance,
Twelve (2010), starring Chace Crawford,
Rory Culkin, Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, Emma Roberts, Billy Magnussen,
Jeremy Allen White, and Finn Wittrock, and released by Hannover House and Gaumont in France.
Zoë Kravitz was cast in a major supporting role by directors/writers Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck for their well-received comedy-drama,
It’s Kind of a Funny Story (2010), with Keir Gilchrist, Emma Roberts, Zach Galifianakis,
Viola Davis, Lauren Graham, and Jim Gaffigan, and released to poor returns ($6.5 million against $8 million costs) by Focus Features after appearing at the Toronto Film Festival. Kravitz then landed her first starring role in the U.S. drama from director/writer/producer Victoria Mahoney,
Yelling to the Sky (2011), with Jason Clarke, Tim Blake Nelson, Shareeka Epps, and Gabourey Sidibe, and premiering in competition at the Berlin Film Festival.
Kravitz was in her first of several superhero blockbusters in the role of the mutant with dragonfly wings, Angel Salvadore, with co-writer/director Matthew Vaughn’s sequel,
X-Men: First Class (2011), starring James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Rose Byrne, January Jones, Oliver Platt, and Kevin Bacon, and released to a fair return of $353.6 million for 20
th Century Fox. Kravitz co-starred opposite
Will Smith, Jaden Smith, and Sophie Okonedo in
M. Night Shyamalan’s much-derided sci-fi movie,
After Earth (2013), losing money for Columbia Pictures/Sony Pictures Releasing with a $244 million return against $130 million costs.
Zoë Kravitz was cast in the recurring role of Christina in the
Divergent franchise, starting with the Neil Burger-directed
Divergent (2014), starring Shailene Woodley,
Theo James, Ashley Judd, Kate Winslet, and Maggie Q; then
The Divergent Series: Insurgent (2015) and
The Divergent Series: Insurgent (2016), both directed by Robert Schwentke and starring Woodley, with the series grossing a cumulative $765 million globally for Lionsgate.
Kravitz co-starred with Robert Sheehan,
Dev Patel, Robert Patrick, and Kyra Sedgwick in writer-director Gren Wells’ debut feature,
The Road Within (2014), an English-language remake of the Ralf Huettner-directed German drama,
Vincent will Meer (2010). Kravitz joined the solid cast of filmmaker Andrew Niccol’s acclaimed war-on-terror drama,
Good Kill (2014), with
Ethan Hawke, Bruce Greenwood, Jake Abel, January Jones, and Peter Coyote, and released by IFC Films after premiering at the Venice Film Festival.
Zoë Kravitz played a supporting role in writer-director Rick Famuyiwa’s acclaimed Los Angeles comedy-drama,
Dope (2015), starring
Shameik Moore, Tony Revolori, Kiersey Clemons, Kimberly Elise, Tyga, and ASAP Rocky, and profited distributor Open Road Films ($18 million gross on $7 million costs) after premiering at the Sundance Film Festival. Kravitz joined Australian filmmaking maestro George Miller’s spectacular dystopian sequel,
Mad Max: Fury Road (2015), starring
Tom Hardy, Charlize Theron,
Nicholas Hoult, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, and Riley Keough, grossing $380.4 million globally for Warner Bros., earning rave reviews, and winning six Oscars.
Kravitz starred opposite Emile Hirsch in director/writer Gary Michael Schultz’s crime thriller,
Vincent N Roxxy (2016), with Emory Cohen, Zoey Deutch, and
Kid Cudi, and released by Vertical Entertainment after premiering at the Tribeca Film Festival. Kravitz joined another—but very different—superhero franchise voicing Catwoman in Warner Animation Group/DC Entertainment’s and director
Chris McKay’s funny Lego Movie spin-off,
The Lego Batman Movie (2017), with the voices of Will Arnett, Zach Galifianakis,
Michael Cera, Rosario Dawson, and Ralph Fiennes, and earning $312 million in global grosses for Warner Bros.
Zoë Kravitz co-starred with Lola Kirke and John Cho in director/writer Aaron Katz’s mystery,
Gemini (2017), with
Greta Lee and Ricki Lake, and premiering at the South by Southwest Film Festival before a limited release by Neon in the U.S. and by Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions’ Stage 6 Films outside the U.S. Kravitz displayed her comic stylings in the girls-night-out black comedy,
Rough Night (2017), starring
Scarlett Johansson, Kate McKinnon, Jillian Bell, and Ilana Glazer, and earning a fair $47 million gross (against $26 million costs) for Columbia Pictures/Sony Releasing, and then Kravitz jumped aboard a failed sci-fi project distributed to poor box office with the Jonathan Baker and Josh Baker-directed
Kin (2018), co-starring
Jack Reynor, Carrie Coon, Dennis Quaid, and James Franco.
Kravitz landed a supporting in yet another franchise sequel, the David Yates-directed and J.K. Rowling-written
Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald (2018), the tenth movie in Rowling’s Wizarding World (including the Harry Potter series) co-starring
Eddie Redmayne,
Jude Law, Johnny Depp, Katherine Waterston, Dan Fogler, and
Ezra Miller, and turning a profit for Warner Bros. with a solid $655 million global gross.
Kravitz continued her tour of franchises with a voice role as Peter Parker’s wife in the first animated Spiderman movie from Marvel/Columbia Pictures/Sony Pictures Animation and the imaginative animation team of Phil Lord and Christopher Miller,
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018), co-starring the voices of
Shameik Moore, Jake Johnson,
Hailee Steinfeld,
Mahershala Ali, Brian Tyree Henry, Lily Tomlin,
Nicolas Cage, and
Liev Schreiber, under the co-direction of Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey, and Rodney Rothman, and delivering a strong global return of $384.3 million.
Zoë Kravitz proceeded from her striking starring role in director Steven Soderbergh’s nod to Hitchcock’s
Rear Window (1954), the HBO Max-streaming
Kimi (2022), to return to the iconic role of Selina Kyle/Catwoman—only this time in live-action form—in co-writer/director Matt Reeves’ elegant and imposing version of the DC Comics hero,
The Batman (2022), starring Robert Pattinson,
Paul Dano,
Colin Farrell, Jeffrey Wright, John Turturro, Peter Sarsgaard, and Andy Serkis, earning three Oscars nominations, rave reviews and an outstanding $772 million worldwide gross.
Zoë Kravitz stepped up to the twin roles of director and writer for her feature filmmaking debut, the psychological thriller,
Blink Twice (2024), starring Naomi Ackie,
Channing Tatum, Christian Slater, Simon Rex,
Adria Arjona, Kyle MacLachlan, Haley Joel Osment, Geena Davis, and Alia Shawkat, produced through MGM and released by Amazon MGM Studios (in the U.S.) and Warner Bros. (ex-U.S.).
Kravitz co-starred with Thomasin McKenzie in the U.S./Canada horror movie,
Self-Portrait (date to be announced), directed by Mona Fastvold and co-written by Fastvold, Brady Corbet, and Rachel Lyon, and then Kravitz joined Austin Butler and
Regina King in director
Darren Aronofsky’s screen version of author/writer Charlie Huston’s 1990s New York City crime novel,
Caught Stealing (date to be announced).