Jennifer Love Hewitt was born on February 21, 1979 in Waco, Texas and is the daughter of Patricia Mae (nee Shipp), a speech-language pathologist and Herbert Daniel Hewitt, a medical technician. Hewitt spent most her childhood growing in the neighborhood of Nolanville, Texas. Her parents divorced and she and her only sibling, Todd Hewitt was raised by their mother. As a young girl, Hewitt was already attracted to music that led her to several encounters with the entertainment industry. She was only three-years old when she performed Whitney Houston’s version of “The Greatest Love of All” during a livestock show. The following year she entertained an audience at a restaurant-dance hall with her version of “Help Me Make It Through the Night”. At age five, Hewitt was into tap dancing and ballet and as she reached nine-years old, she became a member of the Texas Show Team which has also toured in the Soviet Union. By the time Hewitt turned ten, talent scouts suggested that she and her family moved to Los Angeles and pursue a career in both singing and acting.
As soon as the family settled in Los Angeles, California, Hewitt has appeared in more than twenty television commercials. Her first big break came as a child actor when she was part of Disney Channel’s new children’s variety show called Kids Incorporated that aired from 1989 to 1991. Back then she was credited in the cast as Love Hewitt and it was also during this time she danced and sang all of the songs for a live action video called “Dance! Workout With Barbie” which was released by Buena Vista.
In 1993, Hewitt played opposite Pierce Brosnan as her daughter in the pilot episode of NBC’s TV series Running Wilde, which featured Brosnan as a reporter for a car magazine where he chronicles his own wild auto adventures. Unfortunately, the series never picked up and the pilot episode was never aired on television. She later went on to play on television in several short-lived television series like as Fox’s Shaky Ground from 1992 to 1993, ABC’s Byrds of Paradise in 1994, and McKenna from 1994 to 1995. Hewitt finally became a young budding star after she landed the role of Sarah Reeves on the popular Fox Television series Party of Five that aired from 1995 to 1999. She continued the same role in the short-lived second season spin-off entitled Time of Your Life where Hewitt was also one of the producers. The show was not as successful as the first and the Time of Your Life was cancelled from airing after only half a season.
Hewitt dabbled with movie appearances and it was in 1992 where she made her film debut in the independent film Munchie. But what is to be Hewitt’s biggest launch pad to Hollywood superstardom came in 1997 after she landed a lead role in the horror-thriller I Know What You Did Last Summer. The film was a huge success in the box-office that it raked in $125 million worldwide, and Hewitt became one of the most popular young stars in the United States along with her co-stars Freddie Prinze Jr., Ryan Phillippe, and Buffy The Vampire Slayer star Sarah Michelle Gellar. She then later appeared in the sequel I Still Know What You Did Last Summer back in 1998 but it was not as successful as the first but nonetheless, it brought in more money on its first opening weekend. Other notable film roles under Hewitt’s belt included the 1998 high-school comedy Can’t Hardly Wait and in the romantic comedy Heartbreakers where she had a starring role with actress Sigourney Weaver in 2001.
Hewitt appeared in The Audrey Hepburn Story in 2000 and it was also during the height of her popularity as one of the hottest young actresses in Hollywood that she was chosen by giant mobile phone company Nokia to become the company’s spokesperson because of her fresh image and wholesome aura. In 2001, she appeared in the music video “Hero” with Latin heartthrob Enrique Iglesias playing as his love interest.
Since September 2005, Hewitt has starred in the television series Ghost Whisperer that was so popular in Australia it had a huge following ever since its introduction while in the United States, the show averages 9-11 million viewers for each new episode shown. Hewitt was offered to play the lead role for Romeo + Juliet but the director felt that she wasn’t fit for the role since she did wasn’t modern looking and eventually the role of Juliet was given to Claire Danes who starred opposite Leonardo DiCaprio. She was also part of the cast for the movie Brokedown Palace but the actress had to give up her role of “Darlene” due to the conflict with her busy schedule and the role landed again to Claire Danes. Hewitt also auditioned for the movie Daredevil as Ben Affleck’s co-starring heroine “Elektra” but the role was given to Jennifer Garner. Hewitt confirmed that she would not pose nude or do nude scenes in movies.
After casting in Party of Five, she signed a record deal with Atlantic Records who rushed her first single and second album entitled Let’s Go Bang. Neither the single nor the album generated much public interest. She was shifting gears with her music and acting career during those times and she later recorded her follow-up album in 1996. The first single, “No Ordinary Love” failed to hit the charts including lame album sales as well. Atlantic Records decided to drop Hewitt and she did not return to the music scene for three years.
In 1999, she recorded the single “How Do I Deal” for the I Still Know What You Did Last Summer Soundtrack. The song became her first hit single as it climbed to the #59 slot on the Hot 100 and #36 on the Top 40 Mainstream. The song also reached #8 in Australia.
In 2002, Hewitt signed a record deal with Jive Records and recorded her fourth album with noted singer-songwriter and record producer Meredith Brooks. Her first single, “BareNaked“, became her biggest radio hit to date when it reached the #24 position on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 chart, #31 on the Adult Top 40 and #25 on the Top 40 Mainstream. It also climbed to #6 in Australia. The success of the single propelled her album to peak at #37 on the Billboard 200 and #31 in Australia. However, it only remained on the chart for three weeks. Hewitt’s follow up single, “Can I Go Now“, failed to dominate the chart in the US while it managed to peak at #12 in Australia.
Since 2003, Hewitt has not been active in the music industry, but a compilation called Cool with You: The Platinum Collection was released in Asia.