"Frenchified" her name "Joy" to "Joie" as a teenager

Started doing odd jobs for her brother Spike and cooking for the crew while he was making student films at NYU

Film debut in brother's "She's Gotta Have It"

Appeared in Jim Jarmusch's short, "Coffee and Cigarettes"

Acted in Spike's "Do the Right Thing"

Made stage and Broadway debut in "Mule Bone" (as Joy Lee)

Served as an associate producer and co-screenwriter of "Crooklyn", a semi-autobiographical film directed by Spike Lee

Acted in two of Spike's movies "Girl 6" and "Get on the Bus"

Had featured role in "Nowhere Fast", helmed by brother Cinque

Appeared in "Summer of Sam"

Acted in the Off-Broadway drama "The Hologram Theory"; billed as Joie Susannah Lee