7 days ago
- Entertainment
- South China Morning Post
Who is Spike Lee's wife Tonya Lewis Lee? The ex-lawyer married the director a year after meeting him and adapted his film She's Gotta Have It into a Netflix show – now she's an entertainment exec
Apple TV+ is on a roll. After the explosive premiere of Seth Rogen's The Studio, which features cameos from the likes of
Martin Scorsese and
Charlize Theron , the streaming giant released the highly anticipated documentary Number One on the Call Sheet. The two-part series celebrates the legacy and continued success of Black actors in Hollywood.
Director Shola Lynch, producer Datari Turner, actress Ruth Negga, actor-producer Jamie Foxx and director-executive producer Reginald Hudlin at the LA premiere of Apple TV+'s Number One on the Call Sheet, in Hollywood in March. Photo: AFP
The show stars icons like Denzel Washington,
Jamie Foxx , Viola Davis and
Eddie Murphy , who recount their journeys in Hollywood and share interesting anecdotes via interviews. Murphy reveals that when he told Sidney Poitier he'd been offered the role of Alex Haley in the 1992 film Malcolm X, the legendary actor and film director told him, 'You are not Denzel, and you are not Morgan. You are a breath of fresh air, and don't f*** with that!' – meaning that he should not take up the role. The comedian and star of Beverly Hills Cop (1984) admitted he 'didn't know if it was an insult or a compliment'. Ultimately, Malcolm X
director Spike Lee excluded Haley's character after taking over from Norman Jewison.
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Spike Lee made his directorial debut with the dramedy She's Gotta Have It (1986). Photo: AP
Lee's latest film is the neo-noir crime thriller Highest 2 Lowest (2025), starring
Denzel Washington and
A$AP Rocky , and adapted from Akira Kurosawa's High and Low (1963). Amid the headlines about his work, Lee's personal life is also drawing interest.
So who is Spike Lee's wife Tonya Lewis Lee, entertainment executive, founder of wellness brand Movita Organics, and the author of three children's books?
Tonya Lewis Lee's background
Like her husband Spike Lee, Tonya Lewis Lee is a native of New York. Photo: @tonyalewislee/Instagram
Lewis Lee was born and raised in Yonkers, New York, not far from Brooklyn, where her husband is from, per People. She studied liberal arts at Sarah Lawrence College in New York, before gaining a law degree from the University of Virginia.
How did she meet Spike Lee?
Spike Lee and Tonya Lewis Lee at the 2018 premiere of A Star is Born, in Venice. Photo: AP
Lewis Lee always wanted to go into the entertainment industry, but after graduating from law school in 1991, she moved to Washington to work as a lawyer, per People magazine. In 1992 she attended the Congressional Black Caucus dinner, where she
met Spike Lee . They were dating by the end of the year, and when they got married in New York in 1993,
Stevie Wonder performed at the wedding. The couple share two children – daughter Satchel, 30, and son Jackson, 28 – who are also in the entertainment industry.
Tonya Lewis Lee works in Hollywood
