Natasha Lyonne


Natasha Bianca Lyonne Braunstein is an American actress, director, writer, and producer.
Lyonne is best known for her starring role as Nicky Nichols in the Netflix comedy-drama series Orange Is the New Black, for which she received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination, and as Nadia Vulvokov in the Netflix comedy-drama series Russian Doll, which she also co-created, executive produces, writes, and directs. For the latter, she received nominations for three Primetime Emmy Awards.
Lyonne is also known for her role as Jessica in the American Pie film series. Her other films include Everyone Says I Love You, But I'm a Cheerleader, Scary Movie 2, , Robots, All About Evil, Sleeping with Other People, Hello My Name Is Doris, Addicted to Fresno, Antibirth, and Ad Astra.

Early life

Lyonne was born in New York City, the daughter of Ivette Buchinger and Aaron Braunstein, a boxing promoter, race car driver and radio host, distantly related to cartoonist Al Jaffee.
Lyonne's parents were from Orthodox Jewish families, and she was raised Orthodox. Her mother was born in Paris, France, to Hungarian Jewish parents who were Holocaust survivors. Lyonne has darkly joked that her family consists of "my father's side, Flatbush, and my mother's side, Auschwitz." Her grandmother Ella came from a large family, but only she and her two sisters and two brothers survived, which Lyonne credits to their blond hair and blue eyes. Lyonne's grandfather, Morris Buchinger, operated a watch company in Los Angeles. During the war, he hid in Budapest as a non-Jew working in a leather factory.
Lyonne lived the first eight years of her life in Great Neck, New York. She and her parents then moved to Israel, where Lyonne spent a year and a half. During her stay in Israel, Lyonne participated in the production of the Israeli children's film April Fool, which began her interest in acting. Her parents divorced, and Lyonne and her older brother Adam returned to America with their mother. After moving back to New York City, Lyonne attended The Rabbi Joseph H. Lookstein Upper School of Ramaz, a private Jewish school, where Lyonne said she was a scholarship kid who took honors Talmud classes and read Aramaic. She was expelled for selling marijuana at school. Lyonne grew up on the Upper East Side, where she felt she was an outcast. Her mother then moved their family to Miami, where Lyonne attended Miami Country Day School. She never graduated from high school; she left before her senior year to attend a film program at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts. Her high school graduation depended on completing her first year at Tisch, but she left the program because she could not pay the tuition.
She attended New York University for a short time, studying film and philosophy.
Lyonne was estranged from her father, who was a Democratic candidate for City Council for the sixth District of Manhattan in 2013, and lived on the Upper West Side until his death in October 2014. Lyonne has said she is not close to her mother and has essentially lived independently of her family since age 16.

Career

As a young child, Lyonne was signed by the Ford Modeling Agency. At the age of six, she was cast as Opal on Pee-wee's Playhouse, followed by film appearances in Heartburn, A Man Called Sarge, and Dennis the Menace. On working as a very young child actor, Lyonne said: "I didn't have the best parents. I don't think they are bad people. Even if they were ready to have children, it is kind of a wacky idea to put your child in business at six years old."

Film

At 16 years of age, Lyonne was cast in the Woody Allen-directed Everyone Says I Love You. This led to appearances in a variety of films over the next 10 years, including starring roles in the independent features Slums of Beverly Hills, for which she received two Teen Choice Award nominations, and But I'm a Cheerleader. During this time, she appeared as Jessica in the highly successful teen comedy American Pie, reprising the role in two of its sequels. Lyonne's other films during this period included Detroit Rock City, ', Scary Movie 2, The Grey Zone, Kate & Leopold, Party Monster, and '.
Lyonne's subsequent film appearances include All About Evil, ', Girl Most Likely, Loitering with Intent, Sleeping with Other People, Hello My Name Is Doris, Addicted to Fresno, #Horror, Yoga Hosers, Antibirth, The Intervention, and '.
In 2019, she appeared alongside Lucas Hedges and Shia LaBeouf in LaBeouf's autobiographical film Honey Boy.

Theater

Lyonne made her New York stage debut in the award-winning New Group production of Mike Leigh's Two Thousand Years.
She was part of the original cast of the award-winning Love, Loss, and What I Wore, a play by Nora Ephron and Delia Ephron, based on the book by Ilene Beckerman.
In 2010 Lyonne received positive reviews for her performance in Kim Rosenstock's comedy Tigers Be Still at the Roundabout Theatre Company: "a thorough delight in the flat-out funniest role, the grief-crazed Grace, so deeply immersed in self-pity that she has cast aside any attempts at decorum".
In 2011, Lyonne starred opposite Ethan Hawke and Ann Dowd in New Group's production of Tommy Nohilly's Blood From a Stone. The following year, she participated in New Group's benefit performance of Women Behind Bars.
On working in the theater: "There's something about theater that squashes the self-critical voices because you have to be in the moment. I'm glad that I didn't do this before I was ready, before I was capable of showing up every day. That is not a skill set I had before".

Television

Lyonne has made guest appearances on the series Grounded for Life, Weeds, New Girl, Will & Grace, and '.
Since 2013 she has appeared as Nicky Nichols on the critically acclaimed Netflix series Orange Is the New Black. The role is Lyonne's first television job as a series regular. She received a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series in 2014, and has twice been awarded the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series, along with her co-stars.
In 2014 Lyonne was cast in Amy Poehler's NBC comedy pilot Old Soul, directed by David Wain. In 2016 she began voicing the character Smoky Quartz on the Cartoon Network show Steven Universe. She has also appeared as various characters on IFC's sketch comedy series Portlandia. In 2018 she voiced the character Gaz Digzy on Adult Swim's comedy series
'. More recently she has voiced characters on The Simpsons and Netflix's Big Mouth.
Her performance in the 2019 Netflix series Russian Doll has been praised as "astonishing". Alan Sepinwall of Rolling Stone called it "brilliant". The series as a whole received 13 Emmy nominations including Outstanding Comedy Series, Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for Lyonne's performance as Nadia Vulvokov, and Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series.

Directing and producing

In 2017, Lyonne was approached by Kenzo's creative directors Carol Lim and Humberto Leon to direct the 5th installment in their short film series. For this, her directorial debut, she began writing a script with Maya Rudolph in mind to star. The surrealist short film was titled Cabiria, Charity, Chastity and starred Rudolph, Fred Armisen, Greta Lee, Leslie Odom Jr., and Macaulay Culkin.
In September 2017, Lyonne's project Russian Doll was given an 8-episode straight to series order by Netflix. The comedy, co-created and executive produced by Lyonne, Amy Poehler, and Leslye Headland, premiered on February 1, 2019. Lyonne has multiple roles in the series. She is credited as the lead actress and is one of the executive producers of the series with directorial and writing credits.
In 2018 Lyonne co-founded the production company Animal Pictures with Maya Rudolph.
Lyonne also directed an episode of Orange Is the New Black for its seventh and final season, as well as an episode of Hulu's Shrill titled "WAHAM".
Lyonne also directed an episode of High Fidelity titled "Weird...But Warm."

Personal life

Lyonne lives in New York City. When she was 18, Lyonne used the paycheck from her work on Everyone Says I Love You to buy a small apartment near Gramercy Park. At this time, she skipped her senior year of high school to attend NYU. She has a double major in film and philosophy.
Lyonne has been in a relationship with Saturday Night Live alumnus Fred Armisen since 2014.
During the early 2000s, Lyonne experienced legal problems and was arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol, and for incidents involving her neighbors. In 2005 she was evicted by her landlord, actor Michael Rapaport, following complaints by other tenants about her behavior.
In 2005 Lyonne was admitted to Beth Israel Medical Center in Manhattan under a pseudonym, suffering from hepatitis C, a heart infection, and a collapsed lung; she was also undergoing methadone treatment for heroin addiction. In January 2006 a warrant was issued for her arrest after she missed a court hearing relating to her prior problems. Her lawyer said an emergency had arisen but did not give details. Later that year Lyonne was admitted to a drug and alcohol treatment center, and she appeared in court afterward. A judge sentenced her to conditional discharge.
Lyonne underwent open-heart surgery in 2012 to correct heart valve damage caused by her heart infection, which could have resulted in sudden death if untreated. She recovered from the surgery, and discussed her past health problems on The Rosie Show in March 2012.

Filmography

Film

YearTitleRoleNotes
1986HeartburnRachel's NieceUncredited
1989April FoolNatasha
1990A Man Called SargeArab Girl
1993Dennis the MenacePolly
1996Everyone Says I Love YouDjuna "DJ" Berlin
1998Slums of Beverly HillsVivian Abromowitz
1998Krippendorf's TribeShelly Krippendorf
1998Modern VampiresRachel
1999American PieJessica
1999Detroit Rock CityChristine Sixteen
1999'Crystal "White Girl" Van MeutherAlso associate producer
1999But I'm a CheerleaderMegan Bloomfield
1999The Auteur TheoryRosemary Olson
2001Plan BKaye
2001Fast SofaTamara Jenson
2001Scary Movie 2Megan Voorhees
2001American Pie 2Jessica
2001The Grey ZoneRosa
2001Kate & LeopoldDarci
2002Comic Book VillainsJudy Link
2002Zig ZagJenna the Working Girl
2002Night at the Golden EagleAmber
2003Die, Mommie, Die!Edith Sussman
2003Party MonsterBrooke
2004America BrownVera
2004MadhouseAlice
2004'Sommerfield
2005RobotsLoretta Geargrinder
2005My Suicidal SweetheartGrace
2008Tricks of a WomanSally
2009The Immaculate Conception of Little DizzleTracy
2009JellyMona Hammel
2009GoybandFani
2009Running Away with BlackieMotel ClerkShort film
2009Outrage: Born in TerrorMolly
2009HeterosexualsEllia
2010All About EvilDeborah Tennis
2011Tina
2011Night ClubMrs. Keaton
2012American ReunionJessica
20137EYael
2013He's Way More Famous Than YouHerself
2013The RamblerCheryl
2013G.B.F.Ms. Hogel
2013Girl Most LikelyAllyson
2013ClutterLisa Bradford
2014Loitering with IntentKaplan
2015Addicted to FresnoMartha Jackson
2015Sleeping with Other PeopleKara
2015Hello, My Name Is DorisSally
2015Bloomin Mud ShuffleJock
2015#HorrorEmma
2016Yoga HosersTabitha Collette
2016The InterventionSarah
2016Darby ForeverThe Baddest GirlShort film
2016AntibirthLouAlso producer
2016Adam Green's AladdinMom
2016The Realest RealHerselfShort film
2016Jack Goes HomeNancy
2017Girlfriend's DayMiss Taft
2017HandsomeDet. Fleur Scozzari
2017Cabiria, Charity, ChastityJulesShort film
Also producer, writer, and director
2018A Futile and Stupid GestureAnne Beatts
2018FamilyJuggalette
2018Show DogsMattie
2018DouloRenaShort film
2019Honey BoyMom
2019Ad AstraTanya Pincus
2019Uncut GemsBoston Player Personnel
2020IrresistibleJanet De Tessant
TBAThe United States Vs. Billie HolidayTallulah BankheadPost-production

Television

YearTitleRoleNotes
1986Pee-wee's PlayhouseOpal6 episodes
2000Will & GraceGillianEpisode: "Girl Trouble"
2000If These Walls Could Talk 2JeanneTelevision film
2001Night VisionsBethany DanielsEpisode: "If a Tree Falls"
2002Grounded for LifeGretchenEpisode: "Relax!"
2007The Knights of ProsperityFemale Co-StarEpisode: "Operation: Rent Money"
2009Loving LeahEstherTelevision film
2011New GirlGretchenEpisode: "Wedding"
2011'Gia EskasEpisode: "Educated Guess"
2012WeedsTiffani2 episodes
2013'Mrs. BarbatoEpisode: "Comic Con-Air"
2013–2019Orange Is the New BlackNicky NicholsMain role; 81 episodes
Directed episode: "The Hidey Hole"
2015GirlsRickeyEpisode: "Iowa"
2015Comedy Bang! Bang!KatieEpisode: "Dax Shepard Wears a Heather Grey Shirt and Black Blazer"
2015Sanjay and CraigChido Episode: "Bike-o Psycho/Boulder Rollers"
2015–2016Inside Amy SchumerVarious2 episodes
2015–2018PortlandiaVarious5 episodes
2016The $100,000 PyramidHerselfEpisode: "Natasha Lyonne vs. Terry Crews"
2016–2019Steven UniverseSmoky Quartz 3 episodes
2016–2019The SimpsonsSophie 3 episodes
2018–presentGaz Digzy Main role; 20 episodes
2018CorporateGretchenEpisode: "Corporate Retreat"
2018Animals.VHS Copy of Can't Hardly Wait Episode: "Stuff"
2018–2019Big MouthSuzette 3 episodes
2019–presentRussian DollNadia VulvokovMain role; 8 episodes
Also producer, writer, and director
2019Documentary Now!Carla MeolaEpisode: "Long Gone"
2019An Emmy for MeganHerselfEpisode: "New Minimum Length"
2019ExplainedNarrator Episode: "Pirates"
2019Steven Universe FutureSmoky Quartz Episode: "Guidance"
2019CakeGretchenEpisode: "Cache Flow"
2019John Mulaney & the Sack Lunch BunchHerselfTelevision special
2020ShrillDirected episode: "WAHAM"
2020Awkwafina Is Nora from QueensWoman in Hair SalonEpisode: "Not Today"
Directed episode: "Paperwork"
2020High FidelityDirected episode: "Weird... But Warm"
2020Crossing SwordsNorah Episode: "Eat Plague Love"

Music video

Awards and nominations