Left: Shura Baryshnikov and Jessica Lange arrives to the TNT/TBS broadcast of the 16th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards on January 23, 2010 in Los Angeles, California. Right: Hannah Shepard and Jessica Lange attend the Roundabout Theater’s 2020 Gala on March 02, 2020 in New York City.Photo:Kevin Mazur/WireImage ; Jamie McCarthy/Getty
Kevin Mazur/WireImage ; Jamie McCarthy/Getty
Acclaimed actressJessica Langeencouraged her children — Shura, Hannah and Walker — to work in the arts.
TheCape Fearstar had her first daughter Shura in 1981 with the Latvian dancer and actorMikhail Baryshnikov, whom she dated for six years, from 1976 to 1982. She later welcomed two children with the playwrightSam Shepard, whom she was in a relationship with for nearly 30 years. Hannah was born in 1986, and Walker arrived a year later.
Lange has spoken about how much she loves being a mother, tellingAARPin 2017 that “having children gives you a perspective you didn’t have before.”
“You are no longer the center of the universe. It opened my heart, made me a different person. Every move you make is with someone else in mind," she said.
Here’s everything to know about Jessica Lange’s children: Shura, Hannah and Walker.
Shura Baryshnikov, 44
Jessica Lange and Shura Baryshnikov at a benefit on November 3, 1999.Andrea Renault/Globe Photos/ZUMAPRESS.com/Alamy
Andrea Renault/Globe Photos/ZUMAPRESS.com/Alamy
Shura attended Marlboro College in Vermont, where she focused on American studies, theater and contemporary dance. She was trained in classical ballet when she was younger and continued to follow in both her mother’s and father’s footsteps as she grew older.
She has taught at the Ivy League school since 2011 and has danced with several large companies. Shura has also served as a movement designer for performances such asThe Handmaid’s Taleat Boston Lyric Opera.
The mom of three opened up about Shura’s personality in a 1991Vanity Fairinterview. “Shura has a great sense of herself,” theTootsieactress said. “For a triple Pisces, she’s very grounded … she has an innate understanding that her father and I went out different ways.”
Jessica Lange and Shura Baryshnikov attend the U.S. premiere of Pedro Almodovar’s “Talk to Her” on October 13, 2002 in New York City.Arnaldo Magnani/Getty
Arnaldo Magnani/Getty
Despite having a successful mom and dad, Shura toldSouth Coast Todayin 2018 that she never felt pushed to go into the arts.
“I spent a lot of time trying to avoid [a career in the arts] and then ended up getting pulled back into performing arts,” she said. “My parents took a hands-off approach; there was no pressure to follow in their footsteps.”
Shura called Lange and Mikhail “hugely inspiring individuals,” saying that although she sees them as “just my parents,” she also acknowledges how talented they are.
The dancer made Lange a grandmother with the birth of her two daughters, Adah and Ilse Bryan. Lange is close to her two granddaughters, and according to her interview withAARP, she wrote a children’s book dedicated to them. It started as a Christmas gift to Adah and Isle, and then the doting grandmother decided to publish it.
In June 2022, Shura posted a photo on herInstagramof herself and her partner Nick, announcing they were engaged.
“This beautiful man asked me to marry him, and I said yes,” she wrote. “The beauty of our life together truly astounds me. Nicky, my best friend, it’s you and me babe. The big, big love.”
Hannah Jane Shepard, 39
Jessica Lange and Hannah Jane Shepard attend the Roundabout Theatre Company’s 2018 Gala on February 26, 2018 in New York City.Andrew Toth/Getty
Andrew Toth/Getty
Lange welcomed Hannah Jane Shepard with her then-partner Sam on Jan. 13, 1986.
In a 1991 profile withVanity Fair,Lange briefly talked about Hannah, who was 5 years old at the time, calling her a “powerful personality.”
According to her bio for Women in Media, Hannah went to Sarah Lawrence College, where she studied writing. She received master’s degrees from the National University of Ireland and Fordham University and has always shown an interest in history, the arts and social justice.
Hannah has worked as a researcher, educator and script reader for the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts and The Public Theater, among others. She has also contributed as an archival producer on three documentaries.
Samuel Walker Shepard, 37
Samuel Walker Shepard and Hannah Jane Shepard at the opening night after party for the Roundabout Theatre Company’s production of ’s “True West” on Broadway on January 24, 2019 in New York City.Bruce Glikas/FilmMagic
Bruce Glikas/FilmMagic
Like his siblings, he has ventured into the entertainment industry. Walker was always interested in music and formed a band called The Dust Busters after graduating college.
The group eventually changed its name to The Down Hill Strugglers. Walker sings and plays the fiddle, banjo, guitar and harmonica for the band, which operates out of Brooklyn, New York.
According tothe band’s website, their music “reflects and extends the strong feeling and diversity of sounds found on old commercial and field recordings from as early as the 1920s and 1930s,” and they “carry forward the sounds of the old, rural America.”
source: people.com
