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Lena Dunham
Dunham at the 2012 Tribeca Film Festival premiere of Supporting Characters
Born	(1986-05-13) May 13, 1986 (age 38) New York City, New York, United States
Education	Oberlin College (BA)
Occupation(s)	Actress, writer, director, comedienne
Parent(s)	Laurie Simmons Carroll Dunham

Lena Dunham (/ˈlinə ˈdʌnəm/ LEE-nə dun-um; born May 13, 1986) is an American filmmaker and actress. She wrote and directed the independent film Tiny Furniture (2010), and is the creator and star of the HBO series Girls. In 2012, she was nominated for 4 Emmy Awards for Girls.

Early life

Dunham was born in New York City. Her father, Carroll Dunham, is a painter of "overtly sexualised pop art", and her mother, Laurie Simmons, is a photographer and designer who creates "disquieting domestic tableaux" with dolls. Dunham's father is Protestant, and according to Dunham, a Mayflower descendant; Dunham's mother is Jewish. She has a younger sister, Grace, who is a model and student at Brown University and who starred in Dunham's first film Tiny Furniture. As children, both Lena and Grace were babysat by photographers Sherri Zuckerman and Catherine McGann.

Dunham attended Saint Ann's School in Brooklyn, New York, where she met Tiny Furniture actress and Girls co-star Jemima Kirke. She graduated from Oberlin College in 2008, where she studied creative writing.

Career

Dunham's 2010 feature film, Tiny Furniture, won Best Narrative Feature at South by Southwest Music and Media Conference. Dunham herself plays the lead role of Aura.

Dunham's television series, Girls, was greenlit by HBO in early 2012. The show is executive produced by Judd Apatow. Three episodes were screened to positive response at the 2011 South by Southwest Festival. The first season premiered April 15, 2012, and has garnered Dunham four Emmy nominations for her roles in acting, writing, and directing the series.

Dunham had a cameo in the movie Supporting Characters, along with her Tiny Furniture co-star Alex Karpovsky.

On October 8, 2012, Dunham signed a $3.5 million deal with Random House to publish her first book, an essay collection called Not That Kind of Girl: A Young Woman Tells You What She's Learned.

Dunham appeared in a controversial video advertisement promoting President Barack Obama's reelection, delivering a monologue to camera, which, quoted in The Atlantic, tried "...to get the youth vote by comparing voting for the first time to having sex for the first time".

Filmography

Awards and nominations

References

1. "Lena Dunham's Big Dreams Rest On 'Tiny Furniture'". National Public Radio. December 6, 2010.
2. "Lena Dunham". Argotistonline.co.uk. Retrieved 2012-10-14.
3. Walker, Tim (October 6, 2012). "Lena Dunham: Could she be the voice of a generation? - Profiles - People". The Independent. Retrieved 2012-10-14.
4. ^ Mead, Rebecca (November 15, 2010). "Downtown's Daughter". The New Yorker. Condé Nast: 38–45. Retrieved April 7, 2012.
5. Storey, Kate (May 7, 2012). ""Dunham talks race" article on the NY Post Website". Nypost.com. Retrieved 2012-10-14.
6. "The Most Boobs Ever: Lena Dunham and Judd Apatow in Conversation | Heeb". Heebmagazine.com. Retrieved 2012-10-14.
7. Melissa Silverstein (November 12, 2010). "Interview with Lena Dunham – Writer/Director of Tiny Furniture | Women & Hollywood". Womenandhollywood.com. Retrieved 2012-10-14.
8. "'Girls' writer lays bare women's insecurities". Jewish Journal. April 25, 2012. Retrieved 2012-10-14.
9. Howard, Caroline (November 12, 2010). "Names You Need to Know in 2011: Lena Dunham", Forbes
10. Tiny Furniture cast and crew. TinyFurniture.com.
11. Maura, Sophie. "Lena Dunham Profile - Filmmaker". Marie Clare. Retrieved February 8, 2011
12. "Lena Dunham's Show 'Girls' Picked Up By HBO". Huffington Post. January 7, 2011.
13. Alexis, Nadeska. "Lena Dunham’s ‘Girls’ Picked Up by HBO". Black Book. January 7, 2011, Retrieved February 8, 2011.
14. Nussbaum, Emily. "It's Different for 'Girls'" New York Magazine, April 1, 2012.
15. "Supporting Characters | Film Review". Slant Magazine. April 26, 2012. Retrieved 2012-10-14.
16. Bosman, Julie. "Lena Dunham Signs Book Deal for More Than $3.5 Million", The New York Times, October 8, 2012
17. Franke-Ruta, Garance (October 25, 2012). "Lena Dunham's New Obama Ad—As Controversial As Everything She Does?". The Atlantic.

External links

• Lena Dunham at IMDb
• Lena Dunham on Fresh Air in 2012
• Lena Dunham on Fresh Air in 2010
• New York Magazine on Girls
• Criterion Collection Essay "Tiny Furniture Out There" by Phillip Lopate

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• Ill-formatted IPAc-en transclusions
• American Jews
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• Female film directors
• Female television directors
• Living people
• Oberlin College alumni
• Film directors from New York City
• Women screenwriters
• Women television writers
• 1986 births
• Actors from New York City
• Writers from New York City