Lenka Eden Kripac (born 19 March 1978) is an Australian

singer Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define singi ...

songwriter A songwriter is a person who creates musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music genre and film scoring. ...

and

actress An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. ...

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 Old Navy is an American clothing and accessories retailing company owned by multinational corporation Gap Inc. It has corporate operations in the Mission Bay, San Francisco, Mission Bay neighborhood of San Francisco, California. The largest of t ...

, as well as the

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (nicknamed Nick) is an American pay television channel and the flagship property of the Nickelodeon Group, a sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on April 1, 1979, as the first ca ...

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

Windows 8 Windows 8 is a major release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft. It was Software release life cycle#Release to manufacturing (RTM), released to manufacturing on August 1, 2012, made available for download via Microsoft ...

television advertisement and in a Disney Studio All Access commercial. Her fifth studio album, ''

Attune ''Attune'' is the fifth studio album by Australian recording artist Lenka, released on 13 October 2017 by Skipalong Records. "Heal" was released as the lead single from ''Attune'' on 8 September 2017. ''Attune'' includes a paper-art diorama d ...

'', was released in 2017.

Early life

The daughter of

Czechoslovak Czechoslovak may refer to: *A demonym or adjective pertaining to Czechoslovakia (1918–93) **First Czechoslovak Republic (1918–38) **Second Czechoslovak Republic (1938–39) **Third Czechoslovak Republic (1948–60) ** Fourth Czechoslovak Repu ...

jazz trumpet musician Jiří Křipač and an Australian schoolteacher, Eden, Lenka was raised in the Australian coastal town of Bega until age seven, when her family moved to

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

. There she received her schooling, acting and music training, and started to work as a highly regarded theatre actress and later musician.

Career

1994–2007: Early years

As a teenager, Lenka studied acting at the

Australian Theatre for Young People Australian Theatre for Young People (ATYP) is the flagship youth theatre company located in the Walsh Bay Arts Precinct, New South Wales, Australia. It was founded in 1963 by Eleanor Witcombe. History The first committee was formed in 1963 and ...

, where she trained with actress

Cate Blanchett Catherine Élise Blanchett ( ; born 14 May 1969) is an Australian actor and producer. Regarded as one of the best performers of her generation, she is recognised for Cate Blanchett on screen and stage, her versatile work across stage and scre ...

. Lenka starred in the Australian ABC-TV drama series '' GP'' as Vesna Kapek in the 1990s. She also hosted ''

Cheez TV ''Cheez TV'' is an Australian children's cartoon show hosted by Ryan Lappin and Jade Gatt that aired on weekday mornings on Network Ten. It began broadcasting on 10 July 1995 and it ended on 31 December 2004 with the presenters leaving. After ...

'' and has guest starred in other Australian TV series, including ''

Home and Away ''Home and Away'' (''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 trip to Kangaroo Point, N ...

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

The Dish ''The Dish'' is a 2000 Australian historical drama, 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 wa ...

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

'', including its title track. She also served a member of the Australian

electronic Electronic may refer to: *Electronics, the science of how to control electric energy in semiconductors * ''Electronics'' (magazine), a defunct American trade journal *Electronic storage, the storage of data using an electronic device *Electronic c ...

-rock

crossover Crossover may refer to: Entertainment Music Albums * ''Cross Over'' (album), a 1987 album by Dan Peek, or the title song * ''Crossover'' (Dirty Rotten Imbeciles album), 1987 * ''Crossover'', an album by Intrigue * ''Crossover'', an album by ...

band Decoder Ring for two of their albums between 2004 and 2005. She then moved to

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

in 2007.

2008–2012: Self-titled debut album

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 Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, for a deliberately childlike effect. She provided vocals on two tracks ("Addicted" and "Sunrise") on

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

artist

Schiller Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller (, short: ; 10 November 17599 May 1805) was a German playwright, poet, philosopher and historian. Schiller is considered by most Germans to be Germany's most important classical playwright. He was born i ...

's album '' Atemlos'', released in Germany on 12 March 2010. In 2011, Lenka released her second album ''

Two 2 (two) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 1 and preceding 3. It is the smallest and the only even prime number. Because it forms the basis of a duality, it has religious and spiritual significance in many ...

'' 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 Swiss most commonly refers to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Swiss may also refer to: Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss Café, an old café located ...

charts respectively. Her third album ''

Shadows A shadow is a dark area on a surface where light from a light source is blocked by an object. In contrast, shade occupies the three-dimensional volume behind an object with light in front of it. The cross-section of a shadow is a two-dimensiona ...

'' was released in 2013, following the birth of her son.

2015–present: Subsequent releases

Lenka's 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 YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

. Her fifth studio album, ''

'', was released in 2017 and contains the track "Heal", which was created in cooperation with Australian singer and author

Sally Seltmann Sally Mary Seltmann (born Sally Mary Russell, 11 September 1975), is an Australian singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and Record producer. From 2000 to 2009, Seltmann used the stage name, New Buffalo. Under that name, Seltmann wrote, perf ...

.Biography by Andrew Leahey
Retrieved on 16 January 2018 Her most played songs on

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

are "All My Bells Are Ringing", "We Will Not Grow Old", " Everything at Once", "Don't Let Me Fall", and "

Trouble Is a Friend "Trouble Is a Friend" is a song by Australian recording artist and actress Lenka from her debut studio album, '' Lenka'' (2008). It was released on 1 September 2009 as the album's second and final single. The song was written by Thomas Salter an ...

". In 2023 released her sixth studio album, '' Intraspectral''. In 2025, Lenka began the Magenta Tour starting in China.

Personal life

Lenka currently resides in regional

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

, Australia. She is married to visual artist 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

Film

Television

Theatre

Discography

* ''

Lenka Lenka Eden 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 ...

'' (2008) * ''

'' (2011) * ''

'' (2013) * '' The Bright Side'' (2015) * ''

'' (2017) * '' Intraspectral'' (2023)

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 television actresses Australian television personalities Australian 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 21st-century Australian singer-songwriters