Natasha Bianca Lyonne

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natasha_Lyonne

Natasha Bianca Lyonne Braunstein (born April 4, 1979), better known as Natasha Lyonne, is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Jessica in the American Pie series and her appearances in the films Everyone Says I Love You, Slums of Beverly Hills, But I'm a Cheerleader, and Blade: Trinity. She currently portrays Nicky Nichols in the Netflix series Orange Is the New Black, for which she received a nomination for the 2014 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series.

Early life Lyonne was born in New York City, New York, the daughter of Ivette Braunstein (née Buchinger) and Aaron Braunstein, a boxing promoter and radio host,[3] who was distantly related to cartoonist Al Jaffee.

Lyonne's mother was born in France;[4] both of Lyonne's maternal grandparents were Holocaust survivors. Lyonne sometimes darkly jokes that her family consists of "my father's side, Flatbush, and my mother's side, Auschwitz." Her grandmother Ella came from a large Jewish Hungarian family but only she and her two sisters and two brothers survived, which Lyonne credits to their blonde 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 grew up in an Orthodox Jewish household. She spent the first eight years of her life living in Great Neck, New York.

When Lyonne was 8 years old, her parents moved to Israel, where Lyonne spent a year and a half. Her parents divorced, and Lyonne and her older brother Adam returned to America with their mother. After this move back to New York City, Lyonne attended Ramaz School, also known as 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 the family to Miami, where Lyonne graduated from Miami Country Day School.

Lyonne was estranged from her father, who lived on the Upper West Side until his death in October 2014 and in 2013 was a Republican candidate for City Council for the 6th District of Manhattan. Lyonne has said she is not close with her mother and has essentially lived independently of her family since age 16.

When she was 18 years old, Lyonne used the paycheck from her work on the Woody Allen film, Everyone Says I Love You to buy a small apartment near Gramercy Park. She attended New York University for a very short time, studying film and philosophy.

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

Lyonne at a screening of The Immaculate Conception of Little Dizzle

When she was 16, Woody Allen cast her in Everyone Says I Love You, which led to appearances in almost 30 films over the next 10 years, including starring roles in the independent films Slums of Beverly Hills and But I'm a Cheerleader. Lyonne's other films include Detroit Rock City, Scary Movie 2, The Grey Zone, Kate and Leopold, Party Monster, and Blade: Trinity. She has also made television appearances on shows such as NBC's Will and Grace. In what is perhaps her most well known role, she appeared as Jessica in the American Pie film series.

Lyonne made films The Immaculate Conception of Little Dizzle and Goyband. Since then, Lyonne has worked steadily in the New York theatre scene, as well as in film and television. Her newer film appearances include All About Evil, 4:44 - Last Day on Earth, Girl Most Likely, The Rambler, and Clutter.

Theater

Lyonne made her New York stage debut in the award-winning New Group production of Mike Leigh's Two Thousand Years.

Lyonne was in the original cast of the award-winning Love, Loss, and What I Wore, a play written by Nora Ephron and Delia Ephron and based on the book by Ilene Beckerman. She received rave 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."[19][20]

In 2011, Lyonne was in Tommy Nohilly's Blood From a Stone, from the New Group.

Lyonne 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 at The Paley Center For Media's PaleyFest 2014 Honoring Orange Is The New Black Lyonne has made guest appearances on the series Weeds, New Girl, and Law & Order Special Victims Unit.

In late 2012, Lyonne was reported to be developing a TV series for Fox Television about a young girl, who, fresh out of rehab and committed to starting a new life as a sober, responsible adult, is forced to move in with her conservative brother and young family.

She is currently starring as Nicky Nichols in the critically acclaimed Netflix original series Orange Is the New Black, for which she has received positive reviews. The role is Lyonne's first television show as a series regular. She received her first Primetime Emmy nomination for the role in 2014.

As part of the 2014 pilot season, Lyonne has been cast in Amy Poehler's NBC comedy pilot, Old Soul. The pilot also stars Ellen Burstyn and will be directed by David Wain, written/exec produced by Poehler.

Personal life

Lyonne lives in New York City's East Village. She and Saturday Night Live alumnus Fred Armisen began dating in 2014; Lyonne confirmed they had ended their relationship in April 2022.

Legal issues

August 2001: Lyonne was arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol after she ran her rented car onto a Miami Beach sidewalk, hitting a road sign and causing minor damages. In August 2002, Lyonne pled guilty to drunk driving and paid $1,000 in fines and court fees, performed 50 hours of community service, took part in a victim's panel organized by Mothers Against Drunk Driving, was placed on probation for one year, and had her license suspended for one year.

2003: Lyonne was evicted by her landlord, actor Michael Rapaport, following numerous complaints by other tenants about her behavior.

December 2004: Lyonne was arrested after verbally threatening her neighbor, breaking a mirror in the neighbor's apartment, and threatening to molest the neighbor's dog. She spent a night in jail before being arraigned on charges of criminal mischief, harassment, and trespassing. The details of this incident did not become publicly known until two years had passed. In April 2005, an arrest warrant was issued for Lyonne for failure to appear in court on the charges. Prosecutors say she attended court, but arrived an hour late and only stayed for 30 minutes. Police were unable to locate Lyonne until her hospitalization was reported in August. Charges were later dropped.

Health issues

2006: Lyonne was in the Caron Foundation, a drug and alcohol treatment center, and appeared in court after missing several court dates to face earlier charges of mischief, trespass and harassment. A judge sentenced her to conditional discharge.

2012: Lyonne underwent open heart surgery to correct damage caused by her heart infection. She quickly recovered from the surgery, and discussed her past health problems on The Rosie Show in March 2012.