Lena Dunham had a distinctively original voice and vision that sparkled on the big screen with her first feature film, "Tiny Furniture" (2010), a well-crafted existential comedy about a recent college graduate with had no career goals, no love life, and no place to call her own. The much buzzed about film put the spotlight on Dunham, who at the time was a relative newcomer in the film world. Prior to making "Tiny Furniture," Dunham had quickly built a name with critically acclaimed movies such as "Creative Nonfiction" (2009) that mirrored her college experiences, as well as the popular online series "Delusional Downtown Divas" (2009), a hilarious parody of the shenanigans of new artists in Manhattan. Thanks to "Tiny Furniture," Dunham was catapulted to sudden fame and suddenly able to create her comedy series "Girls" (HBO, 2012- ) with Judd Apatow, making her one of her generation's most insightful and groundbreaking young filmmakers.
Lena Dunham was born on May 13, 1986 in New York City to a family of artists; her mother, Laurie Simmons, was one of the first contemporary American photographers who created elaborately staged narrative photographs. Dunham started writing short and feature films earnestly during her junior year at Ohio's Oberlin College, where she graduated with a creative writing degree in 2008. In 2009, Dunham premiered the Web TV series "Delusional Downtown Divas," a satire that she wrote, directed and starred in, which followed three art brats desperately trying to break onto the scene by wearing carefully planned, ridiculous outfits. The parody steadily gained a cult following, and after a few episodes had aired, the Guggenheim commissioned several shorts and a live performance from Dunham and her co-stars. That same year, Dunham released her first feature film, "Creative Nonfiction," a comedy/drama about a college student so consumed by a frustratingly ambiguous love affair that she neglects a screenplay that she needed to finish in order to graduate.
Dunham continued writing and directing, and in 2010, scored an indie hit with the feature film comedy, "Tiny Furniture," a low-budget, semi-autobiographical story about a recent college grad, Aura, who is dumped by her boyfriend and goes back to her family's artsy TriBeCa loft to live with her overachieving younger sister and famous artist-photographer mother, played by Dunham's real-life sister, Grace, and mother, respectively. Feeling confused and unsure about what to do next, Aura's day-to-day routine consists mostly of attempts to snag the attention of a handsome yet insipid chef. With very few directing credits to her name, Dunham managed to create a truly independent film that showcased her charm and originality, as well as successfully brought to life the complicated female dynamics that drove most of the film. While the movie received mixed reviews, some viewers found it difficult to completely sympathize with the lead character, as she was in such a privileged position. Regardless, it also nabbed two Independent Spirit Awards nominations in 2010 for Best First Feature and Best First Screenplay. Dunham next played a nurse in the award-winning miniseries, "Mildred Pierce" (HBO, 2011) and was a Barista in the indie horror flick, "The Innkeepers" (2011).
In the same year that "Tiny Furniture" made an impact, Dunham began working on an HBO comedy series in collaboration with star-making director, Judd Apatow. The show the pair created was "Girls" (HBO, 2012- ), a New York-centric comedy where Dunham starred as Hannah, a twenty-something who endures a series of challenges and enjoys just as many triumphs while navigating the Big Apple with her small group of friends. The series earned a great deal of hype for her collaboration with Apatow as well as for co-star Allison Williams, daughter of "NBC Nightly News" anchor Brian Williams, with Dunham earning Emmy nominations for writing, directing and acting. By year's end, having been celebrated throughout the year for her unique vision and voice, Dunham received a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Comedy Series.