---
name: "Lena Dunham"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/lena-dunham"
fi1m_id: "lena-dunham"
imdb_id: "nm2501633"
tmdb_id: 139135
wikidata_id: "Q288359"
roles: ["Director","Actor","Producer"]
born: "13 May 1986"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 4
average_fi1m_score: 79
average_as: "director"
average_over: 2
updated: "2026-10-18T04:30:57.230576+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Lena Dunham

## Identity

Lena Dunham

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/lena-dunham
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** lena-dunham
- **IMDb ID:** nm2501633
- **TMDB ID:** 139135
- **Wikidata ID:** Q288359
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lena_Dunham, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q288359, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2501633/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/139135

Director and actor. Born 13 May 1986 in New York, New York, USA.

## Details

- **Work:** Director, Actor, Producer
- **Born:** 13 May 1986, New York, New York, USA
- **Active:** 2009–present
- **Titles on Fi1m:** 4: 2 acting, 2 directing
- **Average Fi1m score:** 79, as director, over 2 titles
- **Fi1m score by decade:** 2010s 76 (3), 2020s 76 (1)
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lena_Dunham, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q288359, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2501633/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/139135

## Streaming the US now

- **HBO Max:** [*Girls*](https://film.one/tv/girls.md) (82), [*Industry*](https://film.one/tv/industry.md) (76)

For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country.

## Fi1m on Lena Dunham

> Lena Dunham watches flawed young women closely and films their bodies without fuss. We rate her frankness and her patience with difficult characters, but her storytelling can be uneven.

Dunham often keeps the camera still and the frame wide, leaving us time to watch people behave in their surroundings. Sex and bodies receive the same unidealised attention, without being tidied up to flatter the characters. Her recurring subjects are young women negotiating desire and ambition while still trying to work out how to live. We like the patience with people whose behaviour does not always deserve it.

*Tiny Furniture* (2010), which she wrote, directed and acted in, established her semi-autobiographical approach. *Girls* (2012–2017) expanded that work into a series she created, wrote, directed and starred in, following young women in New York. Its limited racial diversity narrows the city it shows us, even when the observation of flawed, privileged characters is sharp. Her collaborators include producer and writing partner Jenni Konner and producer Judd Apatow, a useful reminder not to credit her alone for everything that works.

In *Industry* (2020), those concerns sit inside a banking drama, although Dunham directed the pilot rather than the series as a whole. We were surprised to care about its young bankers, because the performances make ambition complicate the ordinary business of getting through a working day. The office politics give us reasons to keep watching; the sex and excess are less reliable, especially when they push the work aside. We recommend the programme with that reservation, while recognising that its strengths and weaknesses cannot all be attributed to the director who helped get it started.

Her return to contemporary coming-of-age material with *Sharp Stick* (2022) is weakened by uneven construction. *Catherine Called Birdy* (2022), her first period feature, instead adapts a young-adult novel into lively, irreverent comedy. That move suggests there is more to her directing than the semi-autobiographical material that established her, without proving that an adaptation will always suit her better. For a next step beyond the office, we would try *Catherine Called Birdy*.

## Biography

Lena Dunham is an American writer, director and actress. She created, wrote and starred in the HBO series *Girls* (2012–2017), also directing several episodes. She began her career with the independent film *Tiny Furniture* (2010), which she wrote, directed and starred in.

Dunham directed the pilot episode of the HBO/BBC series *Industry* (2020). Her other directing and writing credits include the films *Sharp Stick* (2022) and *Catherine Called Birdy* (2022). She studied creative writing at Oberlin College.

*Sources: theguardian.com, variety.com, imdb.com, britannica.com.*

## On Fi1m (4)

### Performed in (2)

- *Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood* (2019), Fi1m 77, as 'Gypsy' — [page](https://film.one/film/once-upon-a-time-in-hollywood.md)
- *Mildred Pierce* (2011), Fi1m 70, as Nurse 1 — [page](https://film.one/tv/mildred-pierce.md)

### Directed (2) — the average rests on these

- *Industry* (2020), Fi1m 76, Director, Executive Producer — [page](https://film.one/tv/industry.md)
- *Girls* (2012), Fi1m 82, as Hannah Horvath — [page](https://film.one/tv/girls.md)

## Complete filmography (57)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *It Gets Worse* (2026), series, Actor — coming soon, [page](https://film.one/tv/it-gets-worse.md)
- *Choked* (2026), Executive Producer
- *House of Criticism* (2026), Actor
- *Notice Me* (2026), Producer
- *I Wish You All the Best* (2025), as Ms. Lyons
- *Too Much* (2025), series, as Nora South · Executive Producer, Director, Writer, Creator
- *Treasure* (2024), as Ruth · Executive Producer
- *Orgasm Inc: The Story of OneTaste* (2022), Executive Producer
- *Catherine Called Birdy* (2022), Executive Producer, Director, Screenplay
- *Sharp Stick* (2022), as Heather · Screenplay, Director, Producer
- *Honeydew* (2021), as Delilah
- *Genera+ion* (2021), series, Executive Producer, Writer
- *Music* (2021), as Administrator on Phone with Zu (voice)
- *The Stand In* (2020), as Lisa
- *Industry* (2020), series, Director, Executive Producer — Fi1m 76, [page](https://film.one/tv/industry.md)
- *Who Will You Be?* (2020), Director
- *Memory Xperiment: Kathy Acker* (2020), Thanks
- *Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood* (2019), as 'Gypsy' — Fi1m 77, [page](https://film.one/film/once-upon-a-time-in-hollywood.md)
- *Camping* (2018), series, Executive Producer, Writer, Creator
- *Tokyo Project* (2017), Executive Producer
- *100 Years* (2017), as Narrator (voice) · Producer, Director
- *My Entire High School Sinking Into the Sea* (2016), as Mary (voice)
- *My Art* (2016), as Meryl
- *Sky* (2016), as Billie
- *Suited* (2016), Producer
- *7 Days in Hell* (2015), as Lanny Denver
- *Thank You and Sorry* (2015), series, Actor
- *The One I Love* (2014), Thanks
- *Happy Christmas* (2014), as Carson
- *Cover Girl* (2014), Writer
- *Choose You* (2013), Writer
- *Best Friends* (2013), Director, Writer
- *Supporting Characters* (2013), as Alexa
- *This Is 40* (2012), as Cat
- *Nobody Walks* (2012), Writer
- *The Hostess With the Leastest* (2012), Director
- *Girls* (2012), series, as Hannah Horvath · Executive Producer, Writer, Director, Creator — Fi1m 82, [page](https://film.one/tv/girls.md)
- *Scandal* (2012), series, as Susanne Thomas
- *Finding Your Roots* (2012), series, Actor
- *The Innkeepers* (2012), as Barista
- *American Horror Story* (2011), series, as Valerie Solanas
- *Mildred Pierce* (2011), series, as Nurse 1 — Fi1m 70, [page](https://film.one/tv/mildred-pierce.md)
- *Tiny Furniture* (2010), as Aura · Director, Writer
- *Gabi on the Roof in July* (2010), as Colby
- *The House of the Devil* (2009), as 911 Operator (voice)
- *Family Tree* (2009), Actor
- *The Viewer* (2009), as The Voice
- *Creative Nonfiction* (2009), as Ella · Writer, Director
- *The Pleasure of Being Robbed* (2008), Thanks
- *Dealing* (2007), as Georgia · Director
- *Open the Door* (2007), Director, Writer
- *Hooker on Campus* (2007), as Hooker · Director, Editor
- *The Fountain* (2007), Director
- *Pressure* (2006), Director, Writer
- *The Simpsons* (1989), series, as Candace (voice) — Fi1m 88, [page](https://film.one/tv/the-simpsons.md)
- *Good Sex*, Director, Writer, Producer
- *Going Infinite*, Writer

## Gallery

- ![Lena Dunham](https://film.one/media/person/22742/gallery-4887440d1b9c.jpg) Lena Dunham — Elena Ternovaja, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cc/Lena_Dunham_2024_%28facecrop%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![US Dramatic Jurors, 2016 Sundance Film Festival Awards, Park City UT](https://film.one/media/person/22742/gallery-c170f998f19b.jpg) US Dramatic Jurors, 2016 Sundance Film Festival Awards, Park City UT — PunkToad from oakland, us, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6d/Avy_Kaufman_and_Lena_Dunham_%2824694743339%29.jpg/1280px-Avy_Kaufman_and_Lena_Dunham_%2824694743339%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Avy Kaufman (left) and Lena Dunham (right). US Dramatic Jurors, 2016 Sundance Film Festival Awards, Park City UT.](https://film.one/media/person/22742/gallery-c322f096ecf9.jpg) Avy Kaufman (left) and Lena Dunham (right). US Dramatic Jurors, 2016 Sundance Film Festival Awards, Park City UT. — PunkToad from oakland, us, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/65/Avy_Kaufman_and_Lena_Dunham_at_the_Sundance_Film_Festival_%28crop%29.jpg/1280px-Avy_Kaufman_and_Lena_Dunham_at_the_Sundance_Film_Festival_%28crop%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Laurie Simmones and Lena Dunham (2010)](https://film.one/media/person/22742/gallery-872a256b1e23.jpg) Laurie Simmones and Lena Dunham (2010) — HimmelrichPR, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a9/Laurie_Simmones_and_Lena_Dunham_-_2010_%2839714590720%29.jpg/1280px-Laurie_Simmones_and_Lena_Dunham_-_2010_%2839714590720%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Lena Dunham](https://film.one/media/person/22742/gallery-5673ca123c77.jpg) Lena Dunham — Image via TMDB
- ![Lena Dunham](https://film.one/media/person/22742/gallery-8aac9b3acac6.jpg) Lena Dunham — Image via TMDB
- ![Star of HBO Girls. 2/20/16 (2016)](https://film.one/media/person/22742/gallery-4b14739c6b22.jpg) Star of HBO Girls. 2/20/16 (2016) — Greg2600, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/64/Lena_Dunham_%2825109471712%29.jpg/1280px-Lena_Dunham_%2825109471712%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Lena Dunham at MFF 2010. Photo by Alison Harbaugh for the Maryland Film Festival](https://film.one/media/person/22742/gallery-f959846bac60.jpg) Lena Dunham at MFF 2010. Photo by Alison Harbaugh for the Maryland Film Festival — MarylandFilmFestival (original)
Supernino (derivative work), CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/93/Lena_Dunham_%28cropped%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)

## Awards

### Other awards — 2 won

- Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directing – Comedy Series 2012: Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directing – Comedy Series (won), for *Tiny Furniture*
- Film Independent Spirit Awards 2011: Film Independent Spirit Awards (won), for *Tiny Furniture*

*From Wikidata, which records wins more completely than nominations.*

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/lena-dunham