Lenka Kripac (born 19 March 1978) is an Australian singer-songwriter and actress best known for her song " The Show", from her debut album, ''Lenka''. " The Show" has been used in numerous advertisements, most notably for Old Navy, as well as the

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television television channel, channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its List of assets owned by Param ...

film '' Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging'' and the 2011 film ''Moneyball''. Her song " Everything at Once" was used in a

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television advertisement and in a Disney Movie Rewards commercial. Her fifth studio album, '' Attune'', was released in 2017.

Early life

The daughter of Czech-born jazz trumpet musician, Jiří Křipač and Australian schoolteacher, Eden, Lenka was raised in the Australian coastal town of Bega until age seven, when her family moved to Sydney, where she received her schooling, acting and music training, and started to work as a highly regarded theatre

actress An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), lit ...

and later musician.

Career

2008–2012: Beginnings and self-titled debut album

As a teenager, Lenka studied acting at the

Australian Theatre for Young People Australian Theatre for Young People (ATYP) is a not-for-profit national youth theatre company located in Woolloomooloo, New South Wales, Australia. It was founded in 1964 by Eleanor Witcombe. History The first committee was formed in 1964 and ...

, where she trained with actress

Cate Blanchett Catherine Elise Blanchett (; born 14 May 1969) is an Australian actor. Regarded as one of the finest performers of her generation, she is known for her versatile work across independent films, blockbusters, and the stage. She has received n ...

. Lenka starred in the Australian ABC-TV drama series '' GP'' as Vesna Kapek in the 1990s. She also hosted '' Cheez TV'' and has guest starred in other Australian TV series, including ''

Home and Away ''Home and Away'' (often abbreviated as ''H&A'') is an Australian television soap opera. It was created by Alan Bateman and commenced broadcast on the Seven Network on 17 January 1988. Bateman came up with the concept of the show during a tr ...

'', '' Wildside'', '' Head Start'', and '' Spellbinder''. She appeared in Australian feature films ''

The Dish ''The Dish'' is a 2000 Australian historical comedy-drama film that tells the story of the Parkes Observatory's role in relaying live television of humanity's first steps on the Moon during the Apollo 11 mission in 1969. It was the top-grossi ...

'' and '' Lost Things'', as well as in theatre productions. Lenka provided the vocals for 2 tracks on

Paul Mac Paul Francis McDermott (born 17 September 1965), who performs as Paul Mac, is an Australian electropop musician, singer-songwriter, producer and music re-mixer. He was classically trained at Sydney Conservatorium of Music. Mac has formed variou ...

's 2005 album ''

Panic Room ''Panic Room'' is a 2002 American thriller film directed by David Fincher. The film stars Jodie Foster and Kristen Stewart as a mother and daughter whose new home is invaded by burglars, played by Forest Whitaker, Jared Leto, and Dwight Y ...

''. As Lenka Kripac, she was a member of the Australian electronic-rock crossover band Decoder Ring for two of their albums. She then moved to

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in 2007. After adopting her first name as her sole artistic name, Lenka released her eponymous debut album on 24 September 2008, with " The Show" (produced by Stuart Brawley) chosen to be the first single release from the set. The album peaked at number 142 on the US ''Billboard'' 200. Her song "Everything at Once" was featured in a Windows 8 ad, becoming a worldwide success. Lenka creates paper art type stop-motion animated music videos for each of her singles with her husband James Gulliver Hancock, a visual artist from Australia, for a deliberately childlike effect. She provided vocals on two tracks ("Addicted" and "Sunrise") on German artist Schiller's album '' Atemlos'', released in Germany on 12 March 2010. In 2011 she released her second album '' Two'' which was inspired by her engagement and is full of romantic love songs. Despite a warm critical reception, the album failed to match the success of her debut album, with ''Two'' reaching peak chart positions of 69 and 88 on the Belgian and Swiss charts respectively. Her third album '' Shadows'' appeared in 2013 after the birth of her son.

2015–present: Subsequent releases and ''Attune''

Her fourth studio album '' The Bright Side'' was released in 2015 and the most featured single in this album became " Blue Skies". A remix version of the song, released on the YouTube remix channel Trap Nation, has over 30 million views on YouTube. Her latest album, '' Attune,'' was released in 2017 and contains the track ''Heal'', which was created in cooperation with Australian singer and author

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.Biography by Andrew Leahey
Retrieved on 16 January 2018 Her most played songs on BBC are "All My Bells Are Ringing", " We Will Not Grow Old", " Everything at Once", "Don't Let Me Fall", and " Trouble Is a Friend".

Personal life

Lenka currently resides in regional

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

, Australia. Lenka is married to visual

artist An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse refers to a practitioner in the visual arts only. However, t ...

James Gulliver Hancock. She announced on 27 September 2011 that she was pregnant. In March 2012, she announced on Twitter that she had given birth to a boy named Quinn. In 2016, she gave birth to her daughter, Etta.

Filmography

Discography

* '' Lenka'' (2008) * '' Two'' (2011) * '' Shadows'' (2013) * '' The Bright Side'' (2015) * '' Attune'' (2017) * ''Recover'' (2020) * ''Discover'' (2020)

References

External links

*
Lenka talks to Flavorpill!

Interview with Lenka

Lenka In SPIN's November Issue
{{Authority control 1978 births Living people APRA Award winners Australian singer-songwriters Australian television actresses Australian television personalities Women television personalities Australian people of Czech descent Musicians from Sydney Actresses from Sydney Australian women pop singers 21st-century Australian singers 21st-century Australian women singers Australian women singer-songwriters Australian indie pop musicians