Contents
* 1 Early life
* 2 Career
* 3 Philanthropy
* 4 In popular culture
* 5 Filmography
* 6 References
* 7 See also
* 8 External links
Early life
Kirshner was born in Toronto, Ontario, the daughter of Etti, a teacher, and Sheldon Kirshner, a journalist who writes for The Canadian Jewish News. Kirshner is a granddaughter of Holocaust survivors; her father was born in a displaced persons camp in Germany in 1946 and met Kirshner's mother, a Bulgarian Jewish refugee, in Israel. Kirshner had a middle class upbringing and studied Russian literature and 20th-century movie industry at McGill University in Montreal. Her younger sister, Lauren Kirshner, a writer, was involved in the I Live Here project.
Career
Kirshner found a talent agent at the age of 12, and was acting professionally by the age of 15. She made her film debut in 1993 in Denys Arcand's Love and Human Remains. She convinced her father to sign a “nudity waiver” to play a dominatrix. Kirshner won a Genie nomination for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role. The following year, she starred in Atom Egoyan's Exotica. In 1996, she appeared in The Crow: City of Angels.
Kirshner also appeared in the first three episodes of 24 as the bisexual assassin Mandy in 2001. She would later reprise the role for the second season's finale and in the latter half of the show's fourth season. Also in 2001, Kirshner played Catherine Wyler, The Cruelest Girl in School, in Not Another Teen Movie. The character is primarily a spoof of Kathryn Merteuil (played by Sarah Michelle Gellar) in Cruel Intentions, and was partially based on Mackenzie Siler (played by Anna Paquin) from She's All That. In Marilyn Manson's music video for "Tainted Love", which was featured on the movie's soundtrack, she made a cameo appearance as her character Catherine Wyler.
In 2004, Kirshner was cast as author Jenny Schecter, a main character in the drama series The L Word. She remained with the show for all of the show's six seasons through 2009.
In 2006, she starred in Brian De Palma's The Black Dahlia in which she plays the young aspiring actress, Elizabeth Short, who was mysteriously mutilated and murdered in 1947. Kirshner will star in 30 Days of Night: Dark Days which began filming in the fall of 2009. In 2010, she was cast as Isobel Flemming, a guest role on The Vampire Diaries.
Philanthropy
In October 2008, after 7 years in production, Kirshner published the book I Live Here,which she co-produced with ex-Adbusters staffers Paul Shoebridge and Michael Simons,as well as writer James MacKinnon. In the book, four different groups of women and children refugees from places such as Chechnya, Juárez, Burma and Malawi tell their life stories. The book features original material from well-known comic and graphic artists including Joe Sacco and Phoebe Gloeckner. It was published in the U.S. by Random House/Pantheon. It was supported logistically by Amnesty International, which will receive proceeds from the book. After the release of the book, the Center for International Studies at MIT invited Kirshner to run a 4-week course on I Live Here in January 2009.
In popular culture
Kirshner was ranked #43 on the Maxim Hot 100 Women of 2002. She and Beverly Polcyn were nominated for Best Kiss at the 2002 MTV Movie Awards for Not Another Teen Movie.
Filmography
Film Year↓ Title↓ Role↓ Notes
1989 War of the Worlds Jo Episode: "Loving the Alien"
1990 Danger Bay Catherine Walker Episode: "Live Wires"
1990 Dracula: The Series Sophie Metternich 1990–1991 (21 episodes)
1991 My Secret Identity Alana Porter Episode: "My Other Secret Identity"
1991 Sweating Bullets Cathy Paige Episode: "Runaway"
1992 Sweating Bullets Sandy Episode: "Stranger in Paradise"
1992 Road to Avonlea Emily Everett-Smythe Episode: "High Society"
1992 Are You Afraid of the Dark? Pam/Dora Pease Episode: "The Tale of the Hungry Hounds"
1993 Cadillac Girls Page
1993 Love & Human Remains Benita
1994 Exotica Christina
1995 Johnny's Girl Amy TV movie
1995 Grass Harp, TheThe Grass Harp Maude
1996 Crow: City of Angels, TheThe Crow: City of Angels Sarah
1996 Murder in the First Adult Rosetta Young
1997 Mad City Laurie
1997 Anna Karenina Kitty
1999 Saturn Sarah
1999 Out of the Cold Deborah Berkowitz
2000 Innocents Dominique Denright
2000 Kissed by an Angel Candice
2001 Century Hotel Dominique
2001 According to Spencer Melora
2001 Not Another Teen Movie Catherine Wyler
2001 24 Mandy 3 episodes
2001 Wolf Lake Ruby Cates 2001–2002 (9 episodes)
2002 New Best Friend Alicia Campbell
2002 Now & Forever Angela Wilson
2003 24 Mandy Episode: "Day 2: 7:00 a.m.-8:00a.m."
2003 Party Monster Natasha
2004 Iris Effect, TheThe Iris Effect Rebecca
2004 L Word, TheThe L Word Jenny Schecter 2004–2009 (70 episodes)
2005 24 Mandy 3 episodes
2006 Black Dahlia, TheThe Black Dahlia Elizabeth Short
2007 They Come Back Faith Hardy TV movie
2008 Miss Conception Clem
2009 Cleaner, TheThe Cleaner April May Episode: "Does Everybody Have a Drink?"
2009 CSI: NY Deborah Carter Episode: "Dead Reckoning"
2010 Vampire Diaries, TheThe Vampire Diaries Isobel Flemming 4 episodes
2010 30 Days of Night: Dark Days Lilith
Mia Kirshner
Mia Kirshner
Mia Kirshner
Mia Kirshner
Mia Kirshner
