Lena Dunham

Lena Dunham

Active - 2007 - 2023  |   Born - May 13, 1986 in New York, New York, United States  |   Genres - Comedy, Drama, Romance

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Biography by AllMovie

Comedian, actress and writer Lena Dunham caught the attention of greats in her industry when she wrote, direct, and starred in her first film, Tiny Furniture in 2010, winning Best Narrative Feature at the South by Southwest Music and Media Conference. The then 24 year old had studied creative writing at Oberlin College, and soon scored a production deal with HBO for her own series, Girls, executive produced by Judd Apatow. Dunham wrote, directed, and starred in the series, and would garner much acclaim and numerous awards and nominations for the show.

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Factsheet

  • First short film, Dealing (2006), premiered at the Slamdance Film Festival in Park City, UT; first feature, Creative Nonfiction (2009), played at South by Southwest in Austin, TX.
  • In 2009, was named one of the 25 New Faces of Independent Film by Filmmaker magazine. 
  • Made breakthrough by writing, directing and starring in Tiny Furniture (2010), a low-budget indie hit shot in 18 days in her family's New York apartment (it also starred her sister and mother, the photographer Laurie Simmons); it won an Independent Spirit Award for Best First Screenplay and the Narrative Feature Award at South by Southwest.
  • Created HBO's Girls, which premiered in 2012 and costars high-school friend Jemima Kirke, who was also in Tiny Furniture.
  • Other work includes the Web series Tight Shots and Delusional Downtown Divas.