'Girls' Cast: Where Are They Now?
"Something I'm really proud of, is I look at this show, and we all started when we were between 22 and 25," Lena Dunham, who played twentysomething aspiring writer Hannah Horvath on Girls, shared. "It would have been very easy for all of us to go, 'Yeah, we're just going to fashion shows and taking free trips to St. Barth's,' but these women have made a really strong commitment to use their platform for something powerful. No one has used this new attention just to acquire handbags."
Since creating and starring on the hit series, Dunham has released a book (and has more in the works!), launched newsletter Lenny (which shut down in October 2018) and is writing and directing projects, including the 2022 films Sharp Stick and Catherine Called Birdy, to "make space for giving great roles to other women and diverse women."
Fans either love her or hate Hannah's longtime best friend, Marnie — and Allison Williams totally gets it. "This is something I've had inner battles about because it's something that I dislike about Marnie," Williams told the Los Angeles Times in 2014 of her character's aversion to following "girl code." "But it's something that makes her really human."
As for what Williams has been up to since stepping into Marnie Michaels' shoes? The Yale graduate tied the knot in 2015, advocated for education charity Horizons National, welcomed her first child in 2022 and starred in the horror films Get Out (2017) and M3GAN (2023).
Known as the free spirit of the Girls group, Jemima Kirke's Jessa led a nomadic life up until she decided to settle down in New York. Much like her character, Kirke learned valuable lessons during her time on the show.
"In acting you are always asking yourself why you do things, why you make the choices you make," revealed Kirke, who attributes the demise of her seven-year marriage to acting. "Everything means something. And so then you start looking at your own life in that way."
Since her time as Jessa, Kirke went on to marry singer-songwriter Alex Cameron in 2020 and appeared in TV projects like season 3 of Sex Education and Hulu's Conversations with Friends.
In an interview with Bustle, Zosia Mamet broke down the evolution of her character, first introduced as Jessa's fast-talking, fashion-obsessed cousin.
"I think for the first two or three seasons, you saw her going by what she sort of thought she should want, and I think part of growing up, you start to think, 'What do I want? What do I actually want out of this life?' " she said. In season 5, Shoshanna decides to pack up and move to Japan for her dream job in an effort to "have an adult life."
Since starring in Girls, Mamet married Evan Jonigkeit, starred alongside Kaley Cuoco on HBO Max's The Flight Attendant and curated her first essay book (My First Popsicle: An Anthology of Food and Feelings) in November 2022.
He may play Darth Vader's successor, Kylo Ren, in the most recent Star Wars trilogy, but Adam Driver first gained buzz playing Dunham's on-screen polarizing love interest (and Kirke's seasons later). With each story line, however, Driver's character became all the more complex, eliciting some sympathy from viewers rather than the obligatory eye rolls he received in season 1.
He called filming his last scene in the series "bittersweet" and surreal. "I don't think it will really hit me 'til the next summer when I'm not doing it," Driver said in 2016.
Since his time as Adam Sackler, the actor went on to score Oscar nominations for BlacKkKlansman (2018) and Marriage Story (2019), and also appeared in House of Gucci (2021), White Noise (2022) and 65 (2023). Driver has been married to partner Joanne Tucker since 2013, and announced in February 2023 that they are expecting their second child together.
Andrew Rannells kicked off his regular stint on Girls as Hannah's best friend and eventually, much like the rest of the show's characters, found himself.
"Everyone was anxious to see how things were going to wrap up, and I know we were all really pleased," Rannells told PEOPLE of the show's final season. "We all have solid, cohesive endings. I was personally so satisfied with Elijah's."
Since starring on the HBO show, Rannells was the first of several high-profile replacement actors for the highly coveted lead role in Broadway's Hedwig and the Angry Inch in 2014, and went on to play King George III in Hamilton, Whizzer in Falsettos and then Larry in the 2018 Broadway revival of The Boys in the Band, where he met his boyfriend Tuc Watkins. The couple both reprised their roles in Netflix's 2020 film adaptation. In 2022, Rannells co-hosted the Costume Designer Guild Awards alongside Casey Wilson.
'Girls' Cast: Where Are They Now?
Complicated relationships among friends, lovers and partners punctuated the six seasons of HBO's dramedy about the experiences of young, self-important women in NYC. We're catching up with the Girls cast since its April 2017 series finale
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