Who is Jemima Kirke, indie actress and painter who dynamites the rock’n’roll series City on Fire?

Gen Z discovered her in season 3 of 
Sex Education
, on Netflix, as Hope Haddon, the deceptively cool new principal of Moordale… Others succumbed to his deep gaze in Apple TV+’s new series,
City on Fire
, a story of murder, mysterious fires and rock concerts illuminated by his sexy, grunge presence. But we has never forgotten the bohemian charm and evanescent nonchalance of Jemima Kirke, 38 years old, aka Jessa in the series Girls (2012-2017) written by her friend Lena Dunham. The latter has stated several times in interviews that she was inspired by the fierce personality of her BFF Jemima Kirke, whom she met during her private school years, to create the role of Jessa Johansson. This young New Yorker, at once globetrotter, acerbic, exuberant and seductive, is undoubtedly one of the most complex and fascinating characters in the series HBO. A series of rare intelligence that has Translated brilliantly the indecision of an entire generation, and which is experiencing a revival on social networks where the looks of the show’s actresses are posted.

Jemima Kirke, unforgettable bohemian heroine of Lena Dunham’s Girls series

Thousands of millennials have identified with the attraction to danger (drugs and frantic bacchanals), the difficulty of settling down – professionally and romantically – as well as Jessa’s sensitive skin. Jemima Kirke’s atypical beauty, worthy of a Botticelli and magnified by sexy hippie looks, perfectly embodied the spirit of her neighborhood, Brooklyn. And his gaze, always a little elsewhere, held up an idealized mirror to the adolescent anxieties of the time. In the six seasons in which she appeared, Jessa grabbed viewers with her mysterious air and persistent soul vagueness. She seemed to go through life as a tourist, or a tightrope walker, without any career plan, or life. A poetic attitude that also seems to inhabit the actress, evolving on the fringes of the Hollywood canon.

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Jemima Kirke (@jemima_jo_kirke)

Jemima Kirke exudes, in real life, the same kind of charisma that is both wild and offbeat as the character who made her famous. She looks like those girls you meet on the Lower East Side who always seem to be animated by a thousand and one exciting projects. Born in 1985 in London, the Brit was raised in New York by a father, Simon Kirke, a drummer in the rock bands Bad Company and Free, and a mother, Lorraine Dellal, who runs a second-hand shop called Geminola. It was this vintage store in the Big Apple that provided many of the looks from
Sex and the City
as well as a wedding dress from Jessa in Girls. At a very young age, Jemima Kirke, who quickly took on the features of a West Village version of Bardot, played the role of model by wearing the clothes found by her mother. But the first love of the young girl, whose adolescence was marked by rebellion and drugs – she underwent rehab at the age of 19 –  was art. She studied after her bachelor’s degree at a design school in Rhode Island. And at the end of her studies, she organized an exhibition entitled A Brief History. The first of many. 

Jemima Kirke, a Painter

Today, the New Yorker still paints. She imagines tortured portraits of women with sad eyes wearing wedding dresses and veils. Their lack of smiles questions the meaning of an institution  – marriage –  that may be outdated. The artist also directs pregnant women who always look melancholic. Sometimes she represents herself, other times actress or artist friends. The New Yorker is inspired by her long relationship with a lawyer that ended in divorce . She had two children with this man who is very different from her and her pregnancies seem to be at the center of her expressive and touching paintings. Haunted by procreation, Jemima Kirke has also spoken publicly about the abortion she had at university, for which she could not afford anesthesia. This is a way of raising public awareness of a taboo procedure that is unfortunately still being debated in some states of his country.

A leading actress in generational series, from Sex Education to Conversations With Friends

If Jemima Kirke defines herself above all as an artist, she is best known in France for her career as an actress, which she seems to approach as a dilettante despite her presence in generational successes such as series Girls, Sex Education,
Conversations with Friends, 
the adaptation of Sally Rooney’s event book and the very rock 
City on Fire
, now streaming on Apple TV+. She first acted in films of friends such as the brilliant Tiny Furniture (2010), directed with three pieces of string by Lena Dunham and in which she starred voluntarily. She also appears in dark and trashy feature films such as Ava’s Possessions (2015) or The Good Sisters (2017). 

As a good rocker’s daughter, Jemima Kirke has also been seen a lot in videos such as those of the punk band Rival Schools, Mick Jagger (Gotta Get A Grip, 2017) and Zayn Malik (Dusk Till Dawn, 2017). His most magnetic performances? The sublime and disconcerting ones of the actress in the videos of her ex-husband, the crazy Australian crooner Alex Cameron, and in particular in the video for Stranger’s Kiss (2017). As on their respective Instagram accounts, the couple staged themselves in an artistic, sensual and strange way, reminiscent of the charisma and passion of the mythical Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love. Recently divorced, the New Yorker is more free and uninhibited than ever on her Instagram account, multiplying nude grunge looks, cutting-edge fashion events and fiery parties. Nonconformist, cool, talented and funny, Jemima Kirke appears as the best friend of her dreams.

Season 1 of the series City on Fire (2023) Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage with Jemima Kirke is available on Apple TV+.