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Lena Dunham: 5 Things You Don’t Know

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Lena Dunham in "Girls"

Lena Dunham may be a novice, but she’s quickly become one of the most successful people in Hollywood.

The 26-year-old star, creator, director and producer of HBO’s Girls became a critical darling and a fan favorite when the series premiered in April 2012. After just one 10-episode season, the New York native earned three individual Primetime Emmy Award nominations (Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series, Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series and Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series) and a nod in the Outstanding Comedy Series category (with co-executive producers Judd Apatow, Jenni Konner, Ilene S. Landress and Bruce Eric Kaplan).

Related: PHOTOS: The best dressed stars at the Emmy Awards ever!

Here, Us Weekly unearths five need-to-know details about the accomplished young star.

1. She’s already an award winner. Dunham’s 2010 feature film, Tiny Furniture, won Best Narrative Feature at the South by Southwest film festival in Texas. Her sister, Grace, and fine-arts photographer mother, Laurie Simmons, played fictionalized versions of themselves in the movie. Her painter father, Carroll, did not appear on camera because “he’s a really private person,” Dunham told NPR. “I’m ridiculous in my oversharing; my mom and sister are very open but a little more judicious than me.”

2. Her body art on Girls is real. “I don’t necessarily have a covered-in-tattoos personality,” Dunham told the Huffington Post. But after getting inked for the first time, “it got totally addictive. I’d say I had a very active tattooing period from 17 to 21, and since then, I’ve gotten a few tiny things, but I haven’t been tattooed in a while.”

Related: VIDEO: Lena Dunham's character learns her ex-boyfriend is gay on Girls

3. She won’t apologize for the raunchy sex scenes on her show. “Not to blame pornography but I feel like the stuff people have access to is dirtier and dirtier. What used to be illicit, Playboy, is like Kindergarten reading material now,” she told GQ. “I think that contributes and also the idea that people in their twenties are trying to be unique in every way.”

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Lena Dunham, Zosia Mamet, Jemima Kirke and Allison Williams of Hbo’s “Girls” filming on the Streets of Manhattan on May 25, 2012 in New York City.

4. She digs musicians. Us was the first to report that Dunham is dating Fun. guitarist Jack Antonoff, 28. Despite their hectic schedules, “They have a good time when they can get together!” an insider explained. The two made their first public appearance at the rocker’s sister’s presentation during New York Fashion Week in September 2012. 

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5. She lost her virginity during her sophomore year of college. As a student at Oberlin, a small liberal arts school in Ohio, “I really felt like the oldest virgin in town,” Dunham wrote in an essay for Rookie magazine. After doing the deed in her dorm room, “I commended myself for making a healthy, albeit hasty, partner choice,” she added. “It’s amazing how permanent virginity feels, and then how suddenly inconsequential. I barely remembered the sensation, the embarrassment and the urgency.”

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