Jemima Kirke

Early life and family

Born in London on 26 April 1985, Jemima Kirke moved to New York when she was 11 years old and was then raised in New York City. She is the daughter of Simon Kirke, the former drummer of the rock bands Bad Company and Free. Her mother is Lorraine Kirke (née Dellal), the owner of Geminola, a vintage boutique in New York City that supplied a number of outfits for the television series Sex and the City. Her character Jessa wore a wedding dress from Geminola in the season finale of the first season of Girls; also, earlier in her career, she was featured along with her sisters in a fashion piece in Teen Vogue in which they wore clothing from the store.

Her father is of English and Scottish descent (the Kirkes being a junior branch of a family of Nottinghamshire landed gentry and descending also from the Gibson-Craig baronets) and her mother is Jewish. Kirke's maternal grandfather, Jack Dellal, was a British businessman of Iraqi-Jewish descent and her maternal grandmother, Zehava Helmer, was an Israeli flight attendant for El Al. Kirke has two sisters, actress Lola Kirke and singer and actress Domino Kirke. She is a cousin of curator Alexander Dellal, shoe designer Charlotte Olympia Dellal and model/photographer Alice Dellal.

Career

Art

Jemima Kirke majored in art as a student and received her Bachelor of Fine Arts in painting from the Rhode Island School of Design in 2008. In late 2011, she held an exhibition titled "A Brief History" through Skylight Projects. In late 2017 to early 2018, she had a show at Sargeant's Daughters, a Lower East Side gallery, where she exhibited portrait-style paintings, some of them neck-up, others full-figure, of women in their wedding dresses. Kirke was inspired by her own divorce and the exhibition also contained a self-portrait of Kirke in her wedding dress and veil. In 2019 she opened a solo show called “SCAMP” at Sargeant's Daughters gallery.

In September 2022, Kirke presented for Batsheva Hay's spring collection at Ben's Kosher Deli.

Acting

Growing up in the West Village, Kirke found herself accepting a number of roles on her friends' projects. Dunham asked Kirke to take on a supporting role in her debut film Tiny Furniture. Kirke and a number of other friends were called upon as a favour to Dunham since there was not enough money to pay professional actors. Although the film turned out to be profitable, Kirke received no payment. Kirke reunited with Dunham in the HBO series Girls, appearing in all six seasons from 2011 to 2017 as the character Jessa Johansson. Kirke next had supporting roles in the dark comedy films Ava's Possessions and The Little Hours. In 2018, Kirke starred alongside her real-life sister Lola Kirke in Emma Forrest's film Untogether. The film premiered at the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival.

In 2011, Kirke appeared in the music video "Wring It Out" for the group Rival Schools. Both this music video and Smile for the Camera were directed by her friend Jordan Galland. In 2017, she appeared in the music video for "Gotta Get a Grip" by Mick Jagger, directed by Saam Farahmand and appeared opposite Alex Cameron in his music video for the song "Stranger's Kiss". In September 2017, Kirke appeared opposite Zayn Malik in his music video for the song "Dusk Till Dawn".

In 2021, Kirke appeared in the Netflix series Sex Education in the role of Hope, headmistress of Moordale Secondary School. In 2021, it was announced that Kirke had accepted a role in Conversations with Friends, a series based on the book of the same name by Sally Rooney, in which she plays Melissa, an older, experienced writer fascinated by a younger couple. In 2023, Kirke starred in the Apple TV+ series City on Fire, based on the book of the same name.

Directing

Kirke's directorial debut was in 2019 when she spearheaded the video for the track "Mama" by her sister Lola Kirke. She would go on to direct other projects including multiple music videos and a short film with Alex Cameron.

Activism

In 2015, Kirke partnered with the Center for Reproductive Rights to create a public service announcement to advance the future of reproductive healthcare. In the PSA, Kirke discusses the abortion she received in college where she could not afford the anesthesia in addition to the procedure and went without.

Personal life

Kirke resides in Brooklyn, New York and East Hampton (town). Kirke has two children from a relationship that began in 2009 and ended in 2017. In an interview from 2024, Kirke stated that she has never been married to her domestic partners but instead referred to them as her "husbands" despite not being legally married to them. Kirke began a relationship with Australian musician and singer songwriter Alex Cameron in July 2017. Cameron has said that his 2019 album Miami Memory is primarily influenced by his relationship with Kirke. The couple has since separated.

Kirke is close friends with Lena Dunham, the creator of Tiny Furniture and Girls. They became friends while attending Saint Ann's School in New York City. Kirke's brother in law is actor Penn Badgley, through her sister Domino.

Filmography

Film

Television

Music videos

References

References

1. "Jemima Kirke".
2. Rosen, Christopher. (23 April 2012). "Jemima Kirke, 'Girls' Star, On Periods, Collaborations And Sex Scenes". HuffPost.
3. Miller, Julie. (9 April 2012). "Q&A: Girls Co-Star Jemima Kirke on Tattooing Lena Dunham and Playing It Cool Through Her Awkward Phase". [[Vanity Fair (magazine).
4. "Jemima Kirke". Allmovie.
5. (24 June 2012). "Jemima Kirke".
6. [http://www.freewebs.com/simonkirke/interviewsreviews.htm Interviews & Reviews – Simon Kirke Official Website] {{webarchive. link. (31 May 2012 . Freewebs.com. Retrieved 21 August 2012.)
7. "Geminola".
8. Rubin, Julia. (27 June 2013). "Exclusive! Jemima Kirke and Her Stylish Sisters Model for Their Mom's Store".
9. A Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Landed Gentry, 9th edition, Sir Bernard Burke, 1898, pp. 845-846
10. A ''Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Peerage and Baronetage'', 95th edition, ed. E. M. Swinhoe, Burke's Peerage, 1937, p. 483
11. Pang, Jeanine Celeste. (18 March 2014). "Jemima Kirke's Paintings of Girls".
12. Aylmer, Olivia. (12 October 2017). "Joan Didion (and Her Sunglasses) Take New York Film Festival by Storm". Vanity Fair.
13. Nate Bloom. (27 April 2012). "Jews in the News: Jews Rock Hall of Fame, A Minyan of Marvel Heroes".
14. "Jews in the News: Jews Rock Hall of Fame, A Minyan of Marvel Heroes".
15. Weber, Mia. (29 October 2014). "Soul Sisters: Jemima Kirke & Domino Kirke".
16. Kaufman, Amy. (11 August 2015). "Lola Kirke steps out of sister Jemima's shadow in Noah Baumbach's 'Mistress America'".
17. Jacobs, Laura. (26 April 2016). "Introducing Vanity Fair's Sisters Issue, Featuring the McCartneys, Waterhouses, Wojcickis, and Many More". [[Vanity Fair (magazine).
18. (14 April 2015). "30 fun facts about Jemima Kirke: How She Landed Her Role on 'Girls'".
19. "Jemima Kirke - Exhibitions - Sargent's Daughters".
20. "Skylight Projects". artslant.com.
21. [http://www.sargentsdaughters.com/ Sargeant's Daughters]
22. Eckardt, Stephanie. "Jemima Kirke Is More Than Ready to Talk About Her Divorce". W Magazine.
23. "Jemima Kirke Original Works For Sale Online".
24. "Instagram".
25. (14 September 2022). "Batsheva Spring 2023 Ready-to-Wear Collection".
26. Vilensky, Mike. (14 March 2012). "The Art of Being 'Girls' Co-Star Jemima Kirke". [[The Wall Street Journal]].
27. Cusumano, Katherine. "Jemima and Lola Kirke Are Really Tired of People Commenting on How They Look". W Magazine.
28. photofinishrecords. (25 February 2011). "Rival Schools- Wring It Out (Official Music Video)". YouTube.
29. (2021-02-17). "The next Normal People? Conversations with Friends cast finally revealed".
30. (2021-05-02). "Conversations With Friends: 7 Quick Things We Know About The Hulu Series".
31. Lind, Emily Alyn. (2023-05-02). "Jemima Kirke joined the cast of Apple TV+'s "City on Fire"".
32. (2019-08-21). "Lola Kirke Previews New EP With Disturbing 'Mama' Video".
33. Martoccio, Angie. (2019-03-14). "Jemima Kirke and Alex Cameron on Their Satirical New Short Film".
34. (14 April 2015). "Why 'Girls' Star Jemima Kirke Talks About Her Abortion In A New PSA".
35. Ronan, Alex. (April 14, 2015). "Jemima Kirke Talks About Her Abortion".
36. Pang, Jeanine Celeste. [https://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/24/t-magazine/jemima-kirke-workout-brooklyn-strength.html "Jemima Kirke’s Workout Thwarts the Usual Fitness Trends"] {{Webarchive. link. (21 February 2019 , ''[[: The New York Times Style Magazine]]'', March 24, 2015. Accessed February 21, 2019. "Four years ago, with a post-baby body that she couldn’t quite shake despite the help of popular workout classes like Pure Barre and the Tracy Anderson Method, the ''Girls'' actor Jemima Kirke stumbled upon Brooklyn Strength, a Pilates and fitness studio in Brooklyn Heights, near her home in Carroll Gardens, N.Y.")
37. Zhong, Fan. (April 2012). "Naughty Girl: Jemima Kirke's Wild-Child-Role in HBO's ''Girls''". [[W (magazine).
38. "Jemima Kirke Welcomes Second Child". People.
39. Heller, Corrinne. (14 January 2017). "Girls' Jemima Kirke and partner Michael Mosberg Split: Reports".
40. Stone, Natalie. (14 January 2017). "Girls' Jemima Kirke and Husband Michael Mosberg Split After 7 Years of Marriage".
41. (24 June 2023). "Jemima Kirke | Girls & City on Fire | Not Skinny but Not Fat".
42. Corinne, Heller. [http://www.eonline.com/au/news/865504/girls-alum-jemima-kirke-and-musician-alex-cameron-show-pda-in-nyc "Girls Alum Jemima Kirke and Musician Alex Cameron Show PDA in NYC"] {{Webarchive. link. (28 March 2018 , ''[[E!]]'', New York, 5 July 2017. Retrieved on 28 March 2018.)
43. (2019-09-13). "Alex Cameron Releases 'Miami Memory'".
44. (2023-05-15). "Jemima Kirke on the Girls revival, sex scenes and Apple's City on Fire".