Jemima Kirke

Jemima Kirke

british actress

interview by SABINE HELLER
portrait by SKYE PARROTT

 

In a short length of time, the painter and reluctant actress Jemima Kirke has garnered a large amount of attention. This free-spirited, Euro-cool bohemian stars as Jessa Johansson in Girls — HBO’s hit series created by quirky school friend Lena Dunham — in a role easily deemed a caricature of herself. Propelled into the arts by a rock-star father and designer mother, Kirke was the quintessential wild child with a seemingly old soul. Not formally trained in acting, she’s been described as having a raw, innate talent — though true to her self-deprecating nature, she’s quick to joke that she was handed her role on a silver platter. Now a wife and mother, 26-year-old Jemima reveals the making of a natural icon.

 

SABINE HELLER — I know you consider yourself a painter…