Juliette Lewis Doesn't Mind Being Music's 'Bearded Lady'

No matter how far Juliette Lewis has come with her music, she'll never be able to shake her other, more famous career, especially when it comes to sharing big festival bills. "Playing a lot of these festivals, I'm always the resident freak show," Juliette Lewis tells Spinner. "I joke I'm like the bearded lady cause not only am I female playing what's considered male-dominated rock 'n' roll, but I'm also an actress."

Lewis is well aware when you cross over from film to music you can expect a lot of doubters, but she was prepared to handle it from her acting days. "Because I come from movies I'm used to people going, 'Oh, she's just an ingénue. [Martin] Scorsese plucked that one up and she gave that performance ['Cape Fear'] cause he got it out of her.' And then doing 'Natural Born Killers' and having people go, 'Oh, she's a psychopath. She's crazy and that's why she played that crazy girl.' I'm used to that judgment and rejection."

Even though both music and film have their haters, she does find there is a big difference between the two mediums. "There is something to start a band all on your own and write the songs with your group and then to share the same stages with all these artists [like the Who, the Killers, Muse]," she says. "There is a feeling of being humbled and honored and extremely grateful and I can't believe it."

Lewis recalls one moment that was particularly humbling to her. "The first time I had an audience sing along I didn't quite know what to do cause I'm so used to hardship and obstacles and working for it," she says. "That's what I'm used to, so when people were giving it back I almost cried."