Portrait of Lena Dunham

Birthday profile

Lena Dunham

Lena Dunham, American actress, director, and screenwriter

Born
May 13, 1986
Age in 2026
40
Zodiac sign
Taurus
Birth year
1986

About Lena Dunham

Lena Dunham is an American writer, director, actress, and producer. She is the creator, writer, and star of the HBO television series Girls (2012–2017), for which she received several Emmy Award nominations and two Golden Globe Awards. Dunham also directed several episodes of Girls and became the first woman to win the Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directing – Comedy Series. She started her career writing, directing, and starring in her semi-autobiographical independent film Tiny Furniture (2010), for which she won an Independent Spirit Award for Best First Screenplay. She has since written and directed the 2022 films Sharp Stick and Catherine Called Birdy. In 2025, she created the Netflix series Too Much starring Megan Stalter. In 2014, Dunham released her first book, Not That Kind of Girl: A Young Woman Tells You What She's "Learned". In 2015, along with Girls showrunner Jenni Konner, Dunham created the publication Lenny Letter, a feminist online newsletter.

Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.

Lena Dunham timeline

  1. She started her career writing, directing, and starring in her semi-autobiographical independent film Tiny Furniture (2010), for which she won an Independent Spirit Award for Best First Screenplay.
  2. She is the creator, writer, and star of the HBO television series Girls (2012–2017), for which she received several Emmy Award nominations and two Golden Globe Awards.
  3. In 2014, Dunham released her first book, Not That Kind of Girl: A Young Woman Tells You What She's "Learned".
  4. In 2015, along with Girls showrunner Jenni Konner, Dunham created the publication Lenny Letter, a feminist online newsletter.

The world when Lena Dunham was born

Lena Dunham was born in 1986. The year snapshot below places that birthday in its cultural and historical setting: the music and films people were following, the headlines shaping public life, and the everyday prices families encountered.

Culture in 1986

  • #1 song"That's What Friends Are For" – Dionne Warwick & Friends
  • Top moviePlatoon
  • Top TV showThe Cosby Show
  • Best-selling bookIt – Stephen King

Headlines and milestones

  • Major sports momentMaradona's "Hand of God" goal at the World Cup
  • Top headlineSpace Shuttle Challenger disaster
  • Technology milestoneChernobyl nuclear disaster in Soviet Ukraine
  • Defining fadTop Gun aviator sunglasses
  • Notable inventionDisposable camera
  • World population4.94 billion

United States snapshot

  • U.S. leaderRonald Reagan
  • Sports championNew York Mets (World Series)
  • Also wonBoston Celtics (NBA)
  • U.S. population240.1M

1986 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in Lena Dunham's birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure19862026
Gas$0.93$3.45/gal
Average home$80,300$435,000
Average income$29,458$67,500
Minimum wage$3.35$7.25/hr (federal)
Movie ticket$3.71$11.95
Postage stamp$0.22$0.73
Population240.1M341 million

Sources and editorial standards

This profile combines a biographical source with structured birthday and historical context. Sources recorded for this profile: Wikipedia, IMDb. See our editorial policy for sourcing, corrections, and review standards.

Read the source biography on Wikipedia. Wikipedia text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.