Who Is Hannah Jane Shepard, Sam Shepard’s Daughter?

Hannah Jane Shepard was born on January 13th, 1986. Her parents are Sam Shepard and Jessica Lange, who are both well-known figures in the entertainment industry.

Despite her parents’ fame, Hannah has made a name for herself as an archival producer and respected professor in academia. However, much of her personal and professional life remains unknown to the public.

Hannah Jane Shepard Is Currently 37 Years Old

It was on 13 January 1986 that Hannah Jane Shepard was born, which means she is currently 37 years old. She was birthed to her parents, Jessica Lange and Sam Shepard, and was brought up in a healthy and lovely environment together with her brother, Samuel Walker Shepard.

As regards her education, Shepard went to Sarah Lawrence College, where she studied writing. From there, she went on to obtain master’s degrees from the National University of Ireland and Fordham University.

Hannah Jane Shepard’s Parents Were Never Married

 

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Hannah Jane Shepard’s parents had a relationship that lasted for many years, right from the early 1980s to the late 2000s, but this did not lead to marriage. The pair began their relationship, which was mostly tumultuous, in 1982 after first meeting on the set of the film Frances.

Before that time, she was married to a photographer, Paco Grande, a man she met in 1967 before getting married in 1970. The marriage lasted until the early 1980s when they went their separate ways, and then their divorce was finalized in 1982. After she left Paco, Lange started yet another relationship with Choreographer Mikhail Baryshnikov.

Still, the relationship lasted only a short while before her onscreen love story with Sam translated to real life. On his part, Sam was previously married to O-Lan Jones, whom he met through her stepfather. They got married in 1969, but they officially divorced in 1985, by which time he had already started seeing Lange for three years.

Sam, who revealed to friends through a letter that it saddened him to have left his first wife and kid for Lange, also revealed that he loved her in a way he could not describe. The pair got engaged at a point while they were together, but by 2004, things went out of control due to Shepard’s drinking, bad habits, and fiery temperament. Nonetheless, they remained together for the sake of their children until 2009, when they went their separate ways.

Hannah Jane Shepard Was Not The Only Child Of Her Parents

As indicated, Hannah Jane Shepard is not the only child between Sam Shepard and Jessica Lange in their many years together. She has a younger brother, Samuel Walker Shepard. Born on 14 June, Samuel is also a very popular individual who, beyond his parents’ fame, has become known as a Musical artist.

The 37-year-old is a member of the American musical band—the Down Hill Strugglers alongside Jackson Lynch and Eli Smith. Walker is the Guitarist of the band, which has released 7 albums thus far, including The Dust Busters (2009), Show Me The Way to Go Home (2014), and Lone Prairie (2017).

Hanna Shepard also has some more siblings from her parents’ previous marriages. She is a half-sister to American choreographer Shura Baryshnikov. Shura was born from the failed marriage of Lange to Mikhail in 1981.

Her much older half-sibling is Jesse Mojo Shepard. The famous playwright was born to her father from his short-lived marriage to O-Lan Jones in May 1970, which means he is currently 53 years old.

Hannah Jane Shepard’s Father Died In 2017

On 27 July 2017, Hannah and her other family members suffered the loss of their patriarch, Samuel Shepard Rogers III, after he lost his life in Midway, Kentucky, United States. At the age of 73, Sam reportedly succumbed to a progressive nervous system disease known as Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or ALS.

His death came to many as a surprise as neither the legendary actor and playwright nor his family members made it known that he was suffering from an illness. It was later revealed that he had been down with the condition for up to a year before it took him away.

Hannah remained very close to her father until he died. It was reported that while working on his last book, Spy Of The First Person, he became so sick that he could no longer hold the pen. At that point, he used a voice recorder for his sister or Hannah to transcribe.

Hannah Jane Shepard Works In The Academic Field

While many might have expected that Hannah Shepard would cut a career in the entertainment business just as her parents and siblings, she has decided, on the contrary, to pitch her tent as an academician.

A professor, she has been involved in a lot of things including as a researcher, an educator, researcher, and script reader. Through the years, she has worked with numerous institutions, such as the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts and the Museum of the City of New York. Hannah has also worked with The Public Theater and the Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History.

It should come as no surprise that she has been able to combine what she does with the filmmaking. Hannah is known as an archival researcher and producer because she was raised in such a setting. She has collaborated on projects with directors like Nancy Buirski and Catherine Gund as a result.

Shepard has received accolades and recognition for a number of his accomplishments in the past. Her honors include the FOCAL Jane Mercer Researcher of the Year Award nomination for 2019 and the Loomie Prize from the history department at Fordham University for her thesis “Vanished in Plain Sight: Scots-Irish Presbyterians in Wisconsin, 1830-1890.”