arquette was born in chicago, illinois. she is the daughter of lewis arquette, an actor, and brenda olivia "mardi" (née nowak), an actress, poet, theater operator, activist, acting teacher, and therapist. arquette's mother was jewish, the daughter of a holocaust survivor from poland and russia. arquette's father was of english, french-canadian, german, irish, scottish, swiss and welsh descent and a convert to islam from catholicism, and was related to explorer meriwether lewis. her paternal grandfather was comedian cliff arquette; her siblings are actors rosanna, alexis, richmond, and david arquette.