Leah Lewis (born December 9, 1996[1][2][3][4]) is an American actress. She is best known for her roles as Georgia "George" Fan in The CW series adaptation of Nancy Drew (2019–2023) and Ellie Chu in the Netflix comedy-drama film The Half of It (2020). She also has starred in her voice lead role as Ember Lumen in the Pixar animated film Elemental (2023).

Leah Lewis
Lewis in July 2023
Born (1996-12-09) December 9, 1996 (age 27)
Shanghai, China
NationalityAmerican
EducationOlympia High School
OccupationActress
Years active2005–present

Early life and education edit

Lewis was adopted from an orphanage in Shanghai when she was eight months old and raised in Windermere, Florida.[5] Her younger, non-biologically related sister, Lydia, was later adopted from the same orphanage. Their parents, Frederick and Lorraine Lewis, are both realtors.[6]

Leah discovered performing arts at Crenshaw School in Orlando, Florida. She also attended Thornebrooke Elementary School in Ocoee, Florida; she also attended Southwest Middle School in Orlando, Florida as well as Gotha Middle School. She and her mother moved back and forth between Los Angeles and Orlando during her teen years. At 17, she went back to Orlando to finish high school at Olympia High School and then moved back to Los Angeles by herself at 20.[7]

Career edit

At a young age, Lewis started acting in commercials. Once her family moved to Los Angeles, she acted in the 2012 Nickelodeon film, Fred 3: Camp Fred as the character Spoon.[7]

In 2013, she auditioned for the fourth season of The Voice, singing "Blown Away" by Carrie Underwood. None of the coaches turned their chairs, meaning that she did not make it onto the show.[5][8]

In 2015 and 2016, she was featured in the Disney shows Best Friends Whenever and Gamer's Guide to Pretty Much Everything.[7] She also was a main character on season 2 of the Michelle Trachtenberg-produced Go90 web series, Guidance.[9]

Once she moved back to Los Angeles after graduating from high school, she began booking roles in TV shows like Station 19 and The Good Doctor.[7]

Lewis had a recurring role in The CW series Charmed. She then later joined the main cast of another The CW show, a 2019 TV adaptation of Nancy Drew on which she plays Georgia "George" Fan, based on the original character George Fayne.[7]

Her first major film role was as the lead character, Ellie Chu, in the 2020 Netflix film, The Half of It.[10][1][11] Lewis has starred alongside Mamoudou Athie in the 2023 Pixar animated film Elemental directed by Peter Sohn, which she voiced the character Ember Lumen in her main role of the film.[12][13][14][15] She also has joined the cast in the 2024 Paramount animated film The Tiger's Apprentice, where she voiced Räv.[16][17]

Personal life edit

Beyond acting, Lewis sings, plays guitar, and does photography.[18][19] In May 2016, she began dating singer and actor Payson Lewis.[20][21] The couple coincidentally share the same last name.[22][23]

Filmography edit

Film edit

Year Title Role Notes
2007 Nanking Banner Girl
2020 The Half of It Ellie Chu
How to Deter a Robber Heather Williams
2023 Elemental Ember Lumen (voice) [13]
2024 The Tiger's Apprentice Räv (voice) [17]

Television edit

Year Title Role Notes
2006 The New Adventures of Old Christine Tess Episode: "The Passion of the Christine"
Paloozaville Leah
2012 Fred 3: Camp Fred Spoon Television film
Madison High Peyton Hall Pilot
2013 The Voice Herself - Contestant Blind Auditions
2015–2016 Gamer's Guide to Pretty Much Everything Lika 2 episodes
2016 Best Friends Whenever Alex Episode: "Girl Code" 
2018 Light as a Feather Gabby Darwish Episode: "Innocent as a Lamb" 
The Good Doctor Katherine "Kitty" Kwon Episode: "Tough Titmouse"
Charmed Angela Wu 3 episodes
2018–2019 Station 19 Shannon 2 episodes
2019 The Gifted Young Clarice Episode: "home"
2019–2023 Nancy Drew Georgia "George" Fan Main role
2021 It's Pony Max (voice) 2 episodes
2022–present Batwheels Cassandra Cain / Batgirl (voice) Main role

Web edit

Year Title Role Notes
2016 Sing It! Sophie Chu Recurring role; 6 episodes
Teens React Herself 2 episodes
Guidance Liddy Main role (season 2)
2018 My Dead Ex Amber Episode: "The Z Word" 

Music videos edit

Song Year Artist Notes
"Love Generation" 2005 Bob Sinclar featuring Gary Pine [24]

Awards and nominations edit

  Year   Award   Category   Work   Result  Ref.
2013 Young Artist Awards Best Performance in a TV Movie, Miniseries, Special or Pilot - Leading Actress Fred 3: Camp Fred Nominated [25]
2016 Best Performance in a TV Series - Guest Starring Actress Gamer's Guide to Pretty Much Everything Nominated [26]
Young Entertainer Awards Best Guest Starring Young Actress - Television Series Best Friends Whenever Nominated [27]

References edit

  1. ^ a b Feller, Madison (May 2, 2020). "'The Half Of It' Star Leah Lewis Really Wanted to Cry During That Dumpling Scene". ELLE. Archived from the original on May 5, 2020. Retrieved May 3, 2020.
  2. ^ leahmlewis (December 9, 2018). "Turning 22 means CHAAANGGGE. This is the year. Low key, last year was the year too. 21 brought so much love into my life. The growth is worth a smile and a half. The experiences exceeded what I'd ever expect the year to have had, and the people have made my last year feel like the best most entertaining rom-com. I am so happy and so grateful to experience life. Thank you. Here's a ridiculous video of me ripping off my 21 year old skin". Instagram. Archived from the original on December 25, 2021.
  3. ^ "Payson Lewis on Instagram: "the absolute happiest of birthdays goes out to this spectacular cosmic ray of star shine; the one that keeps this big goofy smile glued to…"". Instagram. Archived from the original on December 25, 2021. Retrieved May 4, 2020.
  4. ^ "Leah Lewis - Rotten Tomatoes". www.rottentomatoes.com. Archived from the original on December 12, 2019. Retrieved May 3, 2020.
  5. ^ a b "The Voice 2013". IMDb. Archived from the original on September 4, 2021. Retrieved May 3, 2020.
  6. ^ Mason, Aiden (October 13, 2019). "10 Things You Didn't Know about Leah Lewis". TVOvermind. Archived from the original on April 11, 2020. Retrieved April 9, 2020.
  7. ^ a b c d e Freed, Tim (January 2, 2020). "Actress Leah Lewis discovered her passion while growing up in Windermere". Orange Observer. Archived from the original on April 11, 2020. Retrieved April 9, 2020.
  8. ^ Phillips, Hedy (April 27, 2020). "Leah Lewis Auditioned For The Voice". POPSUGAR Celebrity. Retrieved May 4, 2020.
  9. ^ "Guidance - TV Review". www.commonsensemedia.org. December 16, 2018. Archived from the original on May 17, 2021. Retrieved May 4, 2020.
  10. ^ Vlessing, Etan (April 22, 2019). "Leah Lewis, Alexxis Lemire to Star in Alice Wu's 'The Half of It' Teen Romance for Netflix". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on May 1, 2020. Retrieved April 9, 2020.
  11. ^ "Netflix's "The Half of It" Star Leah Lewis Explains Why Ellie Chu's Story Is Vital to the Coming-of-Age Canon". Teen Vogue. May 2020. Archived from the original on November 1, 2020. Retrieved May 2, 2020.
  12. ^ Webster, Andrew (November 17, 2022). "Elemental's first teaser trailer is a steamy meet-cute from Pixar". TheVerge. Retrieved November 17, 2022.
  13. ^ a b Radulovic, Petrana (May 16, 2023). "How The Good Dinosaur's director found his perfect Elemental cast". Polygon. Archived from the original on May 17, 2023. Retrieved May 16, 2023.
  14. ^ "'Elemental' Trailer: Pixar Unveils an Eye-Popping New World Where Fire, Earth, Water and Air Co-Exist". Variety. November 17, 2022.
  15. ^ "'Elemental' Teaser Trailer Introduces Disney-Pixar Audiences to Element City's Fire, Water, Land and Air Residents (Video)". TheWrap. November 17, 2022.
  16. ^ Milligan, Mercedes (December 7, 2023). "Teaser: 'The Tiger's Apprentice' Brings Mythical Martial Arts Tale to Paramount+ on Feb. 2". Animation Magazine. Retrieved December 7, 2023.
  17. ^ a b Kit, Borys (November 10, 2020). "'Half of It' Star Leah Lewis Joins Henry Golding in Paramount Animation's 'The Tiger's Apprentice' (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved April 13, 2023.
  18. ^ Phillips, Hedy (April 27, 2020). "Leah Lewis Is a Budding Photographer". POPSUGAR Celebrity. Retrieved May 4, 2020.
  19. ^ "Ellie Chu in 'The Half of It' Is Leah Lewis' Breakout Role". Distractify. April 10, 2020. Archived from the original on May 16, 2020. Retrieved May 4, 2020.
  20. ^ "Leah Lewis on Instagram: "1 year down, forever to go. @paysonlewis"". Instagram. Archived from the original on December 25, 2021. Retrieved May 4, 2020.
  21. ^ Phillips, Hedy (April 27, 2020). "Leah Lewis Has Been With Her Boyfriend For Years". POPSUGAR Celebrity. Retrieved May 4, 2020.
  22. ^ "5 things to know about Leah Lewis, star of Netflix's The Half of It". South China Morning Post. May 8, 2020. Archived from the original on May 9, 2020. Retrieved May 9, 2020.
  23. ^ "Who is Leah Lewis dating? Is Payson Lewis her boyfriend?". PopBuzz. Retrieved May 9, 2020.[permanent dead link]
  24. ^ "Leah Lewis's Tweet". Twitter. Retrieved May 27, 2020.
  25. ^ "34th Annual Young Artist Awards - Nominations / Special Awards". archive.is. April 17, 2016. Archived from the original on April 17, 2016. Retrieved May 9, 2020.
  26. ^ "Nominations » Young Artist Awards". April 24, 2016. Archived from the original on April 24, 2016. Retrieved May 9, 2020.
  27. ^ "Young Entertainer Awards Submissions". www.youngentertainerawards.org. Archived from the original on November 15, 2019. Retrieved May 9, 2020.

External links edit