Dua Lipa’s actress sister Rina, 20, is hailed ‘the Gen Z star ‘you need to know’ by Tatler

Ultimate cool girl Dua Lipa is a global superstar with a string of Grammys, No.1s and magazine covers to her name. 

But her younger sister Rina is poised to join her in the spotlight. 

The budding actress, 20, has modelled for Red Valentino, bagged a Nasty Gal collaboration and has just landed her first major role in a horror film. 

She has also been hailed the ‘Gen Z It Girl you need to know’ by Tatler magazine.

But despite her dazzling success, Rina, who has 921,000 Instagram followers remains grounded. 

She spent lockdown at her parents’ home in Kilburn, north London, lives in a house share and celebrated her birthday at Soho Farmhouse with ‘real friends’ from school who knew her before her sister found fame. 

Star on the rise: Rina Lipa, 20, the lookalike younger sister of pop sensation Dua, 26, has modelled for Red Valentino, bagged a Nasty Gal collaboration and landed her first major role in film. She has also been hailed the ‘Gen Z It Girl you need to know’ by Tatler (photo shoot above)

Strike a pose: Rina appears in Tatler in a breathtaking Andreas Kronthaler for Vivienne Westwood gown, above. She spoke of how her sister is her ‘best friend’ and a role model

Sister, sister! Dua and Rina strike a pose in their bikinis while on a girls’ holiday this year

No.1 fan: Dua and Rina Lipa in their finery at a party in 2019. Rina regularly posts about her older sister’s success and spoke of how she admires her work ethic – and wardrobe

Growing up: Born in London to Kosovar-Albanian parents who fled conflict and political instability in the Balkans, the siblings (Dua and Rina pictured) spent their early years in the UK

‘My parents praise us, but when we’re home we still have to help lay the table and do the washing up,’ Rina told the society bible, explaining how they stay down-to-earth. 

Not to say she doesn’t rub shoulders with celebrities. Dua, 26, Rina and their brother Gjin, 15, an aspiring music producer, are close friends with Bella and Gigi Hadid. It certainly helps that Dua has been dating Anwar Hadid, 22, for two years. 

Born in London to Kosovar-Albanian parents who fled conflict and political instability in the Balkans, the Lipa siblings spent their early years in the UK. 

Their father Dukagjin, a former rocker who shares his daughter’s love of music, is the son of well-known historian Seit Lipa, who served as head of the Kosovo Institute of History. 

‘Once the Serbians came in, they wanted a lot of the historians to rewrite the history of Kosovo,’ Lipa told the Observer in 2018. ‘To change it – that Kosovo was always part of Serbia and never part of Yugoslavia.

‘And my grandfather was one of those people who wouldn’t, so he lost his job, because he didn’t want to write a history that he didn’t believe to be true.’ 

Famous friends: Dua Lipa and Rita Ora’s grandfathers (left and right, respectively) enjoying a drink in Kosovo in the 1960s in a throwback image, which has been circulating social media

Proud parents: Their father Dukagjin, a former rocker who shares his daughter’s love of music, is the son of well-known historian Seit Lipa, who served as head of the Kosovo Institute of History. Pictured, on his wedding day to wife Anesa, with whom he shares three children 

Young love: Before leaving Kosovo, Dukagjin was training to be a dentist, and Anesa, a lawyer, but they gave up their professions to flee their home country in search of somewhere safer to raise a family. Pictured, the couple in a throwback snap shared on Instagram

Jet-set: When Rina was six, the family moved to Pristina after Dukagjin, who had finished his business course, was offered a job in as a marketing manager. Pictured, with her mother

He was an acquaintance of Besim Sahatçiu, the late grandfather of pop star Rita Ora, who was born in Pristina. This week Dukagjin shared a photo of the two men enjoying lunch together in the 1960s.

Seit died of a heart attack in 1999, the year the Kosovo War ended. Besim died in 2005. 

Before leaving Kosovo, Dukagjin was training to be a dentist, and Anesa a lawyer, but they gave up their professions to flee their home country in search of somewhere safer to raise a family.

They settled in Hampstead, north London. To earn money, Dukagjin and Anesa picked up jobs waiting tables at cafes and bars. Her father took night classes in business and Anesa retrained in travel and tourism. 

‘I’ve seen my parents work every day of my life,’ Dua once said. ‘While I was going to school they were going to school.’ 

School days: On their return to London, Rina enrolled at Parliament Hill School in Gospel Oak, pictured. At the weekends she took classes at Sylvia Young Theatre School

Close-knit: Dua with her mother Anesa, brother Gjin, sister Rina and father Dukagjin in 2019

Exploring the world: Rina, centre, with Dua, their parents and brother in New York in 2019 

When Rina was six, the family moved to Pristina after Dukagjin, who had finished his business course, was offered a job in as a marketing manager. 

‘Our parents spoke Albanian to us, so I didn’t need to learn the language,’ Rina said. ‘It was more of an issue for my sister: she could speak it but she could read and write it.’ 

The 20-year-old also spoke of ‘worshipping’ her older sister. 

‘I’d try to dress like her, I’d steal her clothes,’ she said. ‘When I wore them, I’d feel older. It’s still like that, I go through her closet and say, “Mmm, you haven’t worn that in a while.” She’s like, “Oh God, bring that back!”‘

Yet the sisters were separated when, at the age of 15, Dua asked her parents for permission to return to London, believing that is where she needed to be to forge a music career. 

Under the spotlight: By the time Rina was taking her A-Levels in 2017, Dua was a full blown pop sensation, with mega hit New Rules under her belt. Pictured, Rina in an Instagram snap

Fashionista: The 20-year-old poses in a trendy co-ord set in a photo shared on Instagram

Rina said: ‘My parents didn’t let her go easily – it was all done in a very controlled way. She had to get back at certain times and she lived with a family friend. But it was hard. I missed her. She worked very, very hard. I really looked up to her for that and I do to this day.’

Despite the distance, Dua remained close to her family and her mother even flew to London for parents’ evenings. 

Five years later, the family returned to London, with Rina enrolling at Parliament Hill School in Gospel Oak. At the weekends she took classes at Sylvia Young Theatre School.

By the time Rina was taking her A-Levels in 2017, Dua was a full blown pop sensation, with mega hit New Rules under her belt.  

The following year the singer became the first female artist to be nominated for five BRIT Awards at the age of just 22. She won two. 

By her side: Pop star Dua embraces younger sister Rina in a photo shared on Instagram

Big name brands: Rina Lipa modelling her collaboration with fashion e-tailer Nasty Gal in 2019

The awards kept on coming. Her 2018 single One Kiss with Calvin Harris peaked at No.1 in the UK and won her the 2019 BRIT Award for Song of the Year. 

In March 2020 Dua released her second album Future Nostalgia, which topped the charts in 15 countries including the UK. Dua has also won three Grammy Awards and one American Music Award. 

The January issue of Tatler is on sale now

Dua, who says she feels both Kosovan and British, also co-founded the Sunny Hill Foundation with her father, who now heads up Republika Communications Agency, based in Bucharest. 

The Foundation has given away 100,000 euros to charities and cultural events in Kosovo and runs the Sunny Hill Festival, which was headlined by Dua Lipa in 2018.  

She has also given back to her family: buying her parents a home in Kilburn. 

That is where Rina spent much of 2020 after lockdown threw her plans for breaking into the acting industry into a spin. 

The plus side, however, was that she got to see much more of her ‘best friend’ Dua than she had done in ‘God knows how long’.  

Now she is looking ahead to her first major role, in a film directed by Gianluigi Carella, and what the future might hold. 

She added: ‘It’s the first major project for me. I’d been in front of so many amazing casting directors but now it’s finally real.’ 

The January issue of Tatler is on sale now