Jessica Lange's daughters and son have followed in her creative footsteps
Acclaimed actress Jessica Lange encouraged her children — Shura, Hannah and Walker — to work in the arts.
The Cape Fear star had her first daughter Shura in 1981 with the Latvian dancer and actor Mikhail Baryshnikov, whom she dated for six years, from 1976 to 1982. She later welcomed two children with the playwright Sam 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, telling AARP in 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, 43
Lange and Mikhail welcomed Aleksandra Lange Baryshnikov, who goes by Shura, on March 5, 1981.
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.
Lange's elder daughter is the head of Movement at the Brown University/Trinity Repertory Company MFA Program in Acting and Dancing and has a long résumé.
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 as The Handmaid’s Tale at Boston Lyric Opera.
The mom of three opened up about Shura's personality in a 1991 Vanity Fair interview. “Shura has a great sense of herself,” the Tootsie actress said. “For a triple Pisces, she’s very grounded ... she has an innate understanding that her father and I went out different ways.”
Despite having a successful mom and dad, Shura told South Coast Today in 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 way we lived was inspiring; we were always surrounded by creative people,” she said. “It’s part of the fabric of who I am whether conscious of it or not.”
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 with AARP, 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 her Instagram of 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, 38
Lange welcomed Hannah Jane Shepard with her then-partner Sam on Jan. 13, 1986.
In a 1991 profile with Vanity 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, 36
Lange’s youngest child, Samuel Walker Shepard, was born on June 14, 1987. He goes by Walker rather than Samuel.
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 to the 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.”
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