• Faith: Judaism
• Career: Actress
• Birthday:  May 13, 1986

Lena Dunham is a director, writer, actress, and producer. She was the creator, writer and star of the HBO TV series "Girls," for which she received several Emmy Award nominations and two Golden Globe Awards. Dunham also directed several episodes of "Girls," becoming the first woman to win the Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directing – Comedy Series. She started her career writing, starring and directing in her semi-autobiographical independent movie "Tiny Furniture," for which she won an Independent Spirit Award for Best First Screenplay. She's since written and directed the 2022 movies "Catherine Called Birdy" and "Sharp Stick."

In 2013, she was included in the annual Time 100 list of the most influential people in the world. The following year, Dunham released her first book, Not That Kind of Girl: A Young Woman Tells You What She's Learned. In 2015, along with "Girls" showrunner Jenni Konner, Dunham created the publication "Lenny Letter," a feminist online newsletter. The publication ran for three years before folding in 2018. She briefly appeared in movies like "This is 40,” "Happy Christmas," and "Supporting Characters." In 2016, she voiced Mary in the film "My Entire High School Sinking Into the Sea," which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. On TV, aside from "Girls," she's played guest roles in "Scandal" and "The Simpsons." In 2017, she played Valerie Solanas in "American Horror Story: Cult."

Dunham's work, as well as her outspoken presence on social media and in interviews, have attracted significant controversy, criticism, media scrutiny and praise throughout her career. Dunham was born in New York City to Laurie Simmons and Carroll Dunham. She attended Friends Seminary before transferring to Saint Ann’s School in Brooklyn in seventh grade, where she met “Tiny Furniture” actress and future “Girls” co-star Jemima Kirke. As a teenager, Dunham also won a Scholastic Art and Writing Award. She attended The New School for a year before transferring to Oberlin College, where she graduated in 2008 with a degree in creative writing.

She has a younger sibling, Cyrus, who appeared in her first film “Creative Nonfiction,” and starred in her second movie “Tiny Furniture.” The siblings were raised in Brooklyn and spent summers in Salisbury, Connecticut. While a student at Oberlin College, Dunham produced several independent short movies and uploaded them to YouTube. Dunham explained, “I didn’t go to film school. Instead, I went to liberal arts school and self-imposed a curriculum of creating tiny flawed video sketches.”

What religion is Lena Dunham?

Dunham's father is Protestant, and her mother is Jewish. Dunham has described herself as feeling "culturally Jewish, although that's the biggest cliché for a Jewish woman to say." She also credited the Modern Hebrew poetry of Yehuda Amichai for helping her connect with her Judaism.