Mia Kirshner

Mia Kirshner Headshot

Actress • Activist

Birth Date: January 25, 1975

Age: 49 years old

Birth Place: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Partners: Sam Shepard

Playing women who led twisted lives and harbored dark secrets to perfection, Mia Kirshner displayed great emotional range in roles that often called on her to perform sexually charged scenes in films like "Love and Human Remains" (1993) as a young dominatrix and in "Exotica" (1994) as a teen stripper with a past. Kirshner took a bite out of television with appearances on the high-octane drama "24" (Fox, 2001-2010) as a hired killer and also played a once-vampire mother on the teen series "The Vampire Diaries" (The CW, 2009-17).

But it was her role as Jenny Schecter, a self-indulgent woman, on the groundbreaking series "The L Word" (Showtime, 2004-09) that made Kirshner a star. Drawing upon her many experiences portraying dysfunctional, oversexed characters, she effectively essayed a woman who indiscriminately manipulates to get what she wants. In spite of her character's risqué scenes, Kirshner managed to convey a real sadness and fragility, proving she was undoubtedly one of the best and most intense actresses of her time.

Born on Jan. 25, 1975 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Kirshner came from a family of Holocaust survivors; her journalist father was born in a displaced camp in Germany and her mother was a Bulgarian-Jewish refugee. Kirshner majored in Russian literature at McGill University in Montreal before pursuing an acting career in the early 1990s. One of her first regular gigs was on the television show, "Dracula: The Series" (syndicated, 1990) about two children and their vampire-hunting uncle who go up against a modern-day Dracula. At age 17, Kirshner started taking on highly sexualized, bad-girl types that she would play throughout her career.

She portrayed a young clairvoyant dominatrix in the dark comedy "Love and Human Remains" before her memorable turn as a bisexual teen stripper in Atom Egoyan's "Exotica," a role that called on the actress to convey a maturity well beyond her years.

In 1995, Kirshner had supporting roles in films such as the Southern gothic coming-of-age tale, "The Grass Harp," starring Sissy Spacek and Walter Matthau, as well as in the suspense thriller "Murder in the First" as Kevin Bacon's younger sister. She landed a lead role opposite Vincent Perez in "The Crow: City of Angels" (1996), playing a tattoo artist who helped bring Perez' character back to life. Kirshner revealed a lighter side with a featured role in the gross-out parody "Not Another Teen Movie" (2001) as a mean Catholic schoolgirl who seduces her brother and an elderly woman, a role that spoofed Sarah Michelle Gellar's manipulative New York socialite character in the 1999 drama, "Cruel Intentions."

Kirshner made her American TV debut on the short-lived CBS series "Wolf Lake" (2001-02) before appearing in the action-filled drama, "24" (Fox, 2001-2010) starring Kiefer Sutherland. On "24," Kirshner went back to her roots, playing a conniving bisexual woman who is also a professional assassin.

In 2006, she appeared in Brian De Palma's noir thriller "The Black Dahlia" about two cops whose lives unravel as they investigate the real-life L.A. murder of would-be actress Elizabeth Short (Kirshner), whose tortured, dissected body was famously found in a vacant lot in 1946. The talented actress finally left obscurity behind when she was cast in the critically acclaimed series "The L Word," which centered on a small, close-knit group of lesbians living in Los Angeles.

She played Jenny Schecter, a twenty-something writer from Chicago, IL who moves to Los Angeles to live with her boyfriend but finds herself drawn to a woman. Having played so many mysterious roles in the past gave Kirshner a vast array of feelings to draw; all of which helped bring out the humanity of a woman who lies and cheats incessantly, and was considered the most despicable on the show.

Kirshner's character also had one of the most intense and erotically charged sex scenes (with actress Karina Lombard) on the provocative show which only added fire to Kirshner's growing popularity and made her a favorite pin-up for thousands of lesbians. After the "The L Word" ended, Kirshner did not stray too far from television, guest starring on "The Vampire Diaries" as Elena Gilbert's (Nina Dobrev) long-lost birth mother who was turned into a vampire; a role that well prepared her to play a vampire queen in the feature film blood fest, "30 Days of Night: Dark Days" (2010).

Credits

Star Trek: Strange New WorldsStream

Guest Star
Amanda Grayson
Series
2021
98%

Love, Lights, Hanukkah!Stream

Actor
Christina Rossi
Movie
2020

The College Admissions ScandalStream

Actor
Bethany
Movie
2019

A Swingers Weekend

Actor
Fiona
Movie
2017

Milton's Secret

Actor
Jane Adams
Movie
2016

Reluctant Witness

Actor
Erin Villenueve
Movie
2014

GracelandStream

Guest Star
Ashika Pearl
Series
2013
86%

DefianceStream

Actor
Kenya
Series
2013
77%

The Surrogacy Trap

Actor
Christy Bennett
Movie
2013

I Think I Do

Actor
Julia
Movie
2013

Home & Family

Guest
Talk
2012

Kiss at Pine Lake

Actor
Zoe McDowell
Movie
2012

The BarrensStream

Actor
Cynthia Vineyard
Movie
2012

388 Arletta Avenue

Actor
Amy
Movie
2011

Lost GirlStream

Guest Star
Series
2010
66%

30 Days of Night: Dark Days

Actor
Lilith
Movie
2010

The Vampire DiariesStream

Guest Star
Isobel Flemming
Series
2009
86%

Miss Conception

Actor
Clem
Movie
2008

They Come Back

Actor
Faith Hardy
Movie
2007

etalk

Guest
Show
2006

The Black DahliaStream

Actor
Elizabeth Short
Movie
2006
32%

CSI: NYStream

Guest Star
Deborah Carter
Series
2004

The L WordStream

Actor
Jenny Schecter
Series
2004
57%

The Iris Effect

Actor
Movie
2004

New Best Friend

Actor
Alicia
Movie
2002

24Stream

Guest Star
Mandy
Series
2001
87%

Wolf Lake

Actor
Show
2001

Not Another Teen MovieStream

Actor
Catherine
Movie
2001
31%

Now & Forever

Actor
Angela Wilson
Movie
2001

Hotel Centenario

Actor
Movie
2001

Century Hotel

Actor
Dominique
Movie
2001

D.C.

Actor
Sarah Logan
Show
2000

Cowboys and Angels

Actor
Candice
Movie
2000

Out of the Cold

Actor
Deborah Berkowitz
Movie
1999

Dark Summer

Actor
Dominique Denright
Movie
1999

Saturn

Actor
Sarah
Movie
1999

Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenina

Actor
Kitty
Movie
1997

Mad City

Actor
Laurie
Movie
1997

The Crow: City of Angels

Actor
Sarah
Movie
1996

La Chica de Johnny

Actor
Amy
Movie
1995

Murder in the First

Actor
Adult Rosetta Young
Movie
1995

Johnny's Girl

Actor
Amy Ross
Movie
1995

The Grass Harp

Actor
Maude Riordan
Movie
1995

ExoticaStream

Actor
Christina
Movie
1994
95%

Cadillac Girls

Actor
Page
Movie
1993

Love and Human Remains

Actor
Benita
Movie
1993

Passé oublié

Actor
Movie
1993

My Secret Identity

Guest Star
Series
1988

Danger Bay

Guest Star
Show
1985

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