Jemima Kirke Talks GIRLS, Gritty Old New York & Motherhood

We recently had a chance to talk to some of the cast of GIRLS, from Alex Karpovsky and Jake Lacy, to Zosia Mamet. Today, a chat with Jemima Kirke, who plays the free-spirited Jessa on the show.

Your character has had a tough ride the last couple of seasons. Has it been difficult playing her through her struggle with addiction? It depends on what you feel difficult is. Difficulty for me is when I don’t have much to work with and I’m just doing silly gag lines. It’s fun, and I do enjoy doing it, but in some way is more difficult for me to feel fulfilled by that. I like doing the more layered stuff.

Have you been surprised by Jessa's progression over the last couple of seasons? Yeah, I have, but nicely surprised. When Lena told me about me and Adam [Driver] being friends—I never saw that coming, but I loved it because I’d never gotten to work with him. Not even in passing. We'd say a line occasionally. And I was very happy to have such a focused storyline where one single thing was in my narrative. That’s really fun for me to play. But I was a bit surprised that it veered so drastically away from the absurd, from her being just this flamboyant character that becomes someone much more real.

And you’ve also had the benefit of acting with these fun guest stars, like Richard E. Grant and Zachary Quinto. I’ll tell you, that is the best education I could get. I get thrown into the ring with these major professionals. And I haven’t taken an acting class. I hadn't acted ever, and I feel like I got the best learning experience from acting opposite them. I love it. I love that I always get the guest stars.

I guess you sort of fell into acting, you were in Tiny Furniture as a favor to Lena, and then..? Exactly. There’s nothing more to that story, really. I remember Lena was casting the pilot and she knew I didn’t want to do it, so she was auditioning actors for the show for Jessa. And then every couple of weeks she would ask me, "Sure you don’t wanna do it?" Finally she was like, "Please do it." And I said, "Fine, but please don’t make me a big character. Can I just have a walk-on every couple episodes if it gets picked up? I want to be background information," you know? And she was like, "Yeah. Sure."

How was the character pitched to you? It was pitched to me very much based off of my Tiny Furniture character. There was no real pitch other than that, and then Lena and I sat down and talked over the details of how they would be different.

And you have two children—how has it been balancing motherhood with the show? I mean, you don’t balance it. You just run back and forth like a mad woman. Sometimes things suffer. Sometimes my work suffers. Sometimes I don’t get to hang out with my kids. You’re constantly making decisions, and making choices, and then that feels one way so you adjust it the next time and you promise you’ll put them to bed every night, and then you can’t really do that. It’s a mess. But I would rather be working than be, for me, a stay at home mother. I couldn’t do it.

Has motherhood set you apart at all from your co-stars? No more than it sets me apart from my friends, or from anyone I know intimately and doesn't have kids. I can’t get up and go somewhere with you. You can’t text me to go to the museum on Saturday. I can’t go. I can’t do anything at 7 p.m. I can do 5 or 9. We’re either having a late night or an early, early one. And I’m fine with that.

What was your experience like growing up in the city, and do you hope that your children get to mimic it? What did you not like about it? I loved growing up in the city. You do get to see, especially in New York City, such a variety of people, such a variety of worlds, and I love that. I want that for my daughter—I say her because she’s the oldest, but I want both my kids to see people from all walks of life, and have acceptance for them. You get un-ignorant real quick when you live in New York. I also had to be quite savvy at the same time, in terms of walking to school and whatever. You’ve got to have your wits about you. You dodge weird people, that’s a skill you have to develop when you live in New York. To be focused and walk, and not get distracted. You can really get distracted.

What’s the most surprising thing you’ve seen about the city’s change over the last, oh, 20 or so years? I mean, downtown is where I grew up. Downtown is a lot less interesting than it was before. 20 years ago when I was a kid, there was a much bigger range of people there. You had all kinds of people on the street. Now I feel like a lot of people are tourists or fashion people, or all in their 20’s. I miss the grit a little bit, in that area. But that doesn’t mean it’s gone, it’s just migrated somewhere.

Right. And you live in Brooklyn now? Where do you live? Carroll Gardens. I love it. I grew up in the West Village, I think it’s just as beautiful as the West Village. I love any place with real old houses, because I’m such a looker on the street. I walk slow. I do not walk like a New Yorker, but I walk like I love New York. I walk slow, I look at everything, I stop and read the "Lost Cat" posting, I look in the window. So there’s a lot to look at in my neighborhood in terms of that. It’s a little bit stroller-heavy for me, but I’m one of them, so I can’t complain.

How much of you is in Jessa? I feel like I am growing alongside her. It has been so long that I’ve known her. I can’t say that my growth and her growth are totally unrelated, because Lena is so privy to my life and she does weave those things in sometimes. So I think she is someone who had—like me, I did make a drastic turn from immaturity, from being sort of selfish, partying, [being] a little bit of a hot mess, to having kids.

Not that kids is the way to change your life around, because many people have kids and don’t change their lives around, and many people don’t need to have kids to change their life around. But that’s how it happened for me. It was such an extreme that I almost had to dial back a little bit and adjust. I went from being really immature to [having] adult responsibilities. And that was tough for me. Now I do have to find a balance between being a mom and being my age.

I guess this is a weird question, but why is Jessa friends with the other three? That’s a weird question but I like it. I think that Jessa is only friends with them because of the longevity. I think she’s friends with Hannah—it’s just the longest standing relationship. It’s probably the person who liked her the most out of everyone, who stuck around through her bullshit, so there’s longevity in that one. And Shoshana is her cousin, and Marnie is friends with her indirectly. They got close, they know each other through Hannah. So I think these are people who, especially Hannah and Shoshana, are people who stuck around for her. Shoshana does sort of have some insight into her, she’s known her since she was a kid, and Hannah, for whatever reason, keeps her around. And, but I don’t think other than them, Jessa has friendships really. I think she knows a lot of people, but these are the only ones that stick around.