What The Cast Of Girls Is Doing Today

The following article includes references to addiction.

When the HBO dramedy series "Girls" debuted in 2012, it arguably became, in Hannah Horvath's memorable words, "A voice of a generation." Created by and starring Lena Dunham, "Girls" chronicled the waxing and waning friendships of four twenty-something women as they navigate their creative aspirations and love lives while trying to pay the rent in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. 

The exploits of Hannah (Dunham), Marnie Michaels (Allison Williams), Shoshanna Shapiro (Zosia Mamet), and Jessa Johansson (Jemima Kirke) were hardly those of the New York City single gals on "Sex and the City" or the conniving rich kids of "Gossip Girl." Dunham was clear that "Girls" was different. The same year as the hit dramedy's debut, she told The Hollywood Reporter, "'Gossip Girl' was teens duking it out on the Upper East Side and 'Sex and the City' was women who figured out work and friends and now want to nail family life. There was this whole in between space that hadn't really been addressed."

"Girls" ran for six celebrated and controversial seasons before ending in 2017. The show became a cultural touchstone for a specific kind of millennial malaise, and with its stars being so identified with their characters, their post-"Girls" success wasn't guaranteed. Sure, actors like Adam Driver, who played Hannah's boyfriend Adam Sackler, took on blockbuster Hollywood roles in tandem with the series, but for other cast members, only the passing of time could reveal if their tenure on the show was a showbiz fluke or a Tinseltown launching pad. Let's see what the cast of "Girls" is doing today.

Allison Williams' art gallerist-turned-aspiring musician Marnie Michaels could never quite nail being Brooklyn cool. Rocking Ann Taylor separates and chunky statement necklaces while crooning earnest folk rock never made Marnie the darling of Greenpoint, but she sure tried. After "Girls," Williams subverted Marnie's over-polished persona by taking on roles in the thriller and horror genres. In 2017, Williams played Rose Armitage in director Jordan Peele's "Get Out." She told The Guardian of working on the film, "I learned that this element of Marnie-ness that I was having so much trouble shaking was something that I could actually use and weaponize and have fun with. It was so cathartic after years of people being like, that's who you are, that's who you are, that's who you are, I was like OK, you know who else that is? That could also be the most evil person that's ever lived."

Williams continued to thrill audiences in movies like "The Perfection" and "Horizon Line," but her career reached new, frightful heights with the success of 2023's "M3gan." Williams both starred in and executive produced the horror film about a murderous, artificially intelligent life-size doll, and per Variety, "M3gan" exceeded box office expectations. 

Williams' personal life has included some dramatic twists, as well. In 2019, she broke up with husband Ricky Van Veen. That same year, she and her "Horizon Line" co-star, Alexander Dreymon, started dating, and they publicly shared their engagement news in 2022. Williams and Dreymon are also parents to a son, Arlo.

Jemima Kirke is rock and roll royalty — her dad is Free and Bad Company drummer Simon Kirke — and certainly her transatlantic upbringing informed her performance as destructive bohemian Jessa Johansson. Jessa was forever cool and a free spirit, but Jemima is much more grounded in real life. Her acting work after "Girls" has been heavily informed by her personal life, keeping the focus on her two children with ex-husband Michael Mosberg, Rafella and Memphis. In a 2022 interview with The Telegraph, Jemima shared, "The kids are the priority and I have to make sacrifices around them." She added, "You'd think going away for months for a shoot would get easier, but it actually gets worse because I've already missed all that time with them and now I'm adding to it."

While Jemima has acted in mostly smaller projects, including films like "Wild Honey Pie!" "All These Small Moments," and "Untogether," her TV projects have remained more high profile, co-starring in the Netflix limited series "Maniac" and Season 3 of "Sex Education." In 2022, she took on the main role of Melissa Baines in the BBC and Hulu limited series adaptation of the Sally Rooney novel "Conversations with Friends." 

When Jemima Kirke isn't acting, she's painting. A graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design, she's an accomplished artist and has had her own solo exhibitions at the New York City art gallery Sargent's Daughters.

On "Girls," Alex Karpovsky played Ray, a frustrated intellectual and coffee shop manager, and his career has been as quirky as Ray's traveling cardboard cutout of legendary comedian Andy Kaufman. In fact, Karpovsky revealed to The Hollywood Reporter in 2013 that his early performance work was influenced by the late comedian, but being a performer wasn't his initial career trajectory. Karpovsky shared with People that he directed before he acted, and he even had an opportunity to direct a "Girls" episode in 2016. He's since helmed episodes of the Netflix series "Love" and FX's miniseries "Oh Jerome, No."

Although Karpovsky spends time behind the camera, he hasn't ditched his acting career, continuing to land both film and television roles. His movie career has mostly been in the indie world, with parts in movies like "Rosy" and "The Sound of Silence." His TV work is more mainstream, scoring roles in Amazon Prime's Julia Roberts star vehicle "Homecoming" and the Hulu limited series "Angelyne." In 2017, he explained to Slant magazine that many of his performances are deeply personal. Of the characters he's played, Karpovsky said, "A lot of them are kind of different monsters from my own past, with different traits of my youth. ... I can just amplify different sets of things that are preexisting." 

So if you want to get to know Karpovsky, just watch his work — because this star unsurprisingly keeps his personal life under wraps. While he has an Instagram page, he keeps it private.

Ebon Moss-Bachrach's recurring character on "Girls," the tragically hip musician Desi, might not have seemed like a launchpad to acting success — but his career is only gaining momentum. After Desi, Moss-Bachrach dabbled in the Marvel universe, co-starring in Netflix's short-lived adaptation of "The Punisher" as Punisher's ally, David "Micro" Lieberman. His career then took a chilling turn with a main role in horror series "NOS4A2," which managed to scare up two seasons on AMC. At the movies, Moss-Bachrach's credits include roles in "Blow the Man Down," "Tesla," and "Lying and Stealing."

Even Moss-Bachrach himself couldn't have predicted how great his 2022 would be for his career. He started the year playing journalist John Carreyrou in the popular Hulu limited series "The Dropout." Then, he appeared in FX's hit "The Bear" as Cousin Richie, the chaotic and bombastic manager of The Original Beef of Chicagoland. He told Vanity Fair of the success of "The Bear," "This sounds so cliche, but we felt like we were making something really special. But you can never anticipate anything like this. You'd be insane to think that." Moss-Bachrach rounded out 2022 with a role in the critically acclaimed "Star Wars" series "Andor." To top it off, he reunited with Lena Dunham, taking a role in her film "Sharp Stick." 

On the personal side of things, Moss-Bachrach is married to photographer Yelena Yemchuck, and they have two daughters together. The family of four didn't seem to mind when the actor interrupted their European summer vacation to do an interview with Entertainment Weekly.

Veteran character actor Becky Ann Baker has claimed playing Hannah's mother, Loreen Horvath, on "Girls" as a career highlight. She told Vulture of the part, "I have to say, I can't even imagine a better job on television. Definitely my best job on television ever." That's high praise considering Baker's TV acting resume has included roles in seminal shows like "Freaks and Geeks" and "Law and Order." Baker also praised the writing on "Girls" as some of the best, telling Yahoo! Entertainment, "The writers for 'Girls' were spectacular. I don't imagine I will ever see that kind of writing again in my lifetime, for me."

Just because "Girls" was a career high mark for Baker — whose performance in the episode "Gummies" was honored with an Emmy nomination — doesn't mean she isn't looking for the next great role. Since "Girls" wrapped, Baker has been working steadily on the big and small screens. She's continued her knack for great character work with roles in hit shows like "The Good Fight," "Billions," and "Big Little Lies." She also acted in the 2022 film "Alone Together" alongside former "Girls" co-star Zosia Mamet. 

Aling the way, Baker has remained married to fellow character actor Dylan Baker. She even shared the benefits of being married to a working actor with Yahoo! Entertainment: "I find being married to an actor really helpful, because if there's something that's upsetting or if I'm nervous about something we have each other's backs and each other's ear."

Jake Lacy made a name for himself in Hollywood playing decent dudes — and his role on "Girls" is no exception. He played Fran Parker during Seasons 5 and 6 of the series, an affable teacher who does his best to make his relationship with Hannah work. After "Girls," Lacy had prominent roles in the Showtime series "I'm Dying Up Here" and the Hulu series adaptation of "High Fidelity." He also acted in movies, such as the action blockbuster "Rampage" and award-season bait like "Being the Ricardos." 

It's only been in recent years that Lacy has subverted his amiable on-screen reputation in more dark and sinister roles. He told AV Club of being typecast, "If you do something relatively well in this business, people are often happy to hire you for that same thing. And that's great as an actor. I always want to have more and different opportunities." In Season 1 of HBO's hit series "The White Lotus," Lacy plays self-centered trust fund bro Shane, an exciting departure for Lacy. In 2022, Lacy definitely scored a different opportunity when he landed the role of real-life kidnapper and pedophile Bob Berchtold in the Peacock limited series "A Friend of the Family." 

Per The New York Times, Lacy and wife Lauren DeLeo moved from Brooklyn to Connecticut with their two kids during the COVID-19 pandemic. As of this writing, Lacy's next project has yet to be announced, but as showrunner Nick Antosca told the outlet, "He has tremendous depth and this range that hasn't been fully used yet."

Funnyman Jon Glaser played the recurring character of Laird, Hannah's downstairs neighbor, in Seasons 2 through 6 of "Girls." At first, it wasn't clear if Laird would become a staple on the show. Glaser told Vulture in 2013 he thought it would be a one-and-done performance, but Laird and his knit cap stuck around, eventually becoming Caroline's boyfriend and father of their child, Jessa-Hannah Bluebell Poem. A talented comedic writer and performer who had written for comedy hits like "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" and "Inside Amy Schumer," Glaser's career didn't miss a beat when his time on "Girls" ended. He's continued to work with Amy Schumer not only on "Inside Amy Schumer," but also her Hulu dramedy series "Life & Beth." Glaser has also guest starred on shows like "Law & Order: SVU" and "Single Drunk Female."

On social media, Glaser has been keeping it weird, where he's done things like washing dishes on his Instagram Live, something he started in 2020 at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. He told Culture, "It really makes me laugh to think that someone might be out there thinking, 'What's he going to wear tonight? What music is he going to play?' I do try as much as I can to just treat it like I'm just washing the dishes, and not giving a 'performance.'" 

In late 2022, Glaser announced the end of "Office Hours East," a spin-off of comedian Tim Heidecker's internet call-in show "Office Hours Live," on Instagram.