Mia Kirshner

Mia Kirshner (born January 25, 1975) is a Canadian actress who works in movies and television series.


Kirshner was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, the daughter of Etti, a teacher of English, and Sheldon Kirshner, a journalist who wrote for The Canadian Jewish News.^[1] Kirshner is a granddaughter of Holocaust survivors;^[2] her father was born in a displaced persons camp in Germany in 1946 and met Kirshner's mother, a Bulgarian Jewish refugee, in Israel.^[2] Kirshner studied Russian literature and 20th-century movie industry at McGill University in Montreal.

In 1993, Kirshner played a dominatrix in Denys Arcand's movie Love and Human Remains and won a Genie nomination for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role. The year after she starred in Atom Egoyan's Exotica. In 1996, she appeared in The Crow: City of Angels.

Kirshner appeared in the first three episodes of 24 as bisexual terrorist 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 partially based on Mackenzie Siler from She's All That. In Marilyn Manson's music video for Tainted Love, which was featured on the movie's soundtrack, she has a cameo appearance as her character Catherine Wyler.

In 2006, she starred in Brian De Palma's movie The Black Dahlia, alongside Josh Hartnett, Aaron Eckhart, Scarlett Johansson and Hilary Swank. Kirshner plays a young actress, Elizabeth Short, who was horrifically murdered in 1947. Mia Kirshner is best known for her portrayal of Jenny Schecter on Showtime's hit television drama series, The L Word, a show about the lives of a group of lesbian living in WeHo.

Kirshner has finished working on 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, women and children refugees from places such as Chechnya, Juárez (Mexico) and Malawi, Africa will tell their life stories. The book features original material from well-known comic and graphic artists, including Joe Sacco and Phoebe Gloeckner. It will be published in the U.S by Random House/Pantheon in 2008. It was supported logistically by Amnesty International, which will receive proceeds from the book.
Kirshner was ranked #43 on the Maxim Hot 100 Women of 2002.^[3] She and Beverly Polcyn were nominated for Best Kiss at the 2002 MTV Movie Awards for Not Another Teen Movie.^[4]