Natasha Lyonne

'Natasha Lyonne' (qv) is an American stage, film, and television actress.As a young child, she was signed by the Ford Modeling Agency and, at the age of six, she was cast as "Opal" on _Pee-wee's Playhouse (1986)_ (qv), which was quickly followed by film appearances in _Heartburn (1986)_ (qv), written by 'Nora Ephron' (qv), directed by 'Mike Nichols' (qv); _A Man Called Sarge (1990)_ (qv); and _Dennis the Menace (1993)_ (qv), with 'Walter Matthau' (qv) and 'Christopher Lloyd' (qv). At the age of 16, 'Woody Allen' (qv) cast her as his and 'Goldie Hawn' (qv)'s daughter in _Everyone Says I Love You (1996)_ (qv), alongside 'Julia Roberts' (qv), 'Edward Norton' (qv), 'Natalie Portman' (qv), which led to appearances in almost 30 films over the next 10 years, including starring roles in the independent films _Slums of Beverly Hills (1998)_ (qv) and _But I'm a Cheerleader (1999)_ (qv). Lyonne's other films included _Detroit Rock City (1999)_ (qv); _Scary Movie 2 (2001)_ (qv); _The Grey Zone (2001)_ (qv), directed by 'Tim Blake Nelson' (qv); 'James Mangold' (qv)'s _Kate & Leopold (2001)_ (qv); _Party Monster (2003)_ (qv); _Die, Mommie, Die! (2003)_ (qv) and _Blade: Trinity (2004)_ (qv), as well as TV appearances on shows including NBC's _Will & Grace (1998)_ (qv). Lyonne is perhaps best-known for her roles in the "American Pie" films as the wise-cracking "Jessica".After a short hiatus in 2008, due to well-documented health and legal struggles, Lyonne returned to work, making her New York stage debut in the award-winning New Group production of 'Mike Leigh' (qv)'s "Two Thousand Years" and in the films _The Immaculate Conception of Little Dizzle (2009)_ (qv) and _Goyband (2008)_ (qv). Since then, Lyonne has steadily worked in the New York theatre scene, in film and on television. Films include _All About Evil (2010)_ (qv) with 'Thomas Dekker' (qv); 'Abel Ferrara' (qv)'s _4:44 Last Day on Earth (2011)_ (qv) with 'Willem Dafoe' (qv); and upcoming projects _Girl Most Likely (2012)_ (qv) (aka "Imogene") with 'Kristen Wiig' (qv), 'Darren Criss' (qv), 'Matt Dillon' (qv) and 'Annette Bening' (qv); _The Rambler (2013)_ (qv) with 'Dermot Mulroney' (qv); _Clutter (2013)_ (qv) with 'Carol Kane' (qv) and 'Kathy Najimy' (qv); _He's Way More Famous Than You (2013)_ (qv), written by 'Halley Feiffer' (qv) and directed by 'Michael Urie' (qv), with 'Ben Stiller' (qv) and 'Jesse Eisenberg' (qv). TV appearances include the hit series, _New Girl (2011)_ (qv) and _Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999)_ (qv). On stage, she was in the original cast of 'Nora Ephron' (qv) and 'Delia Ephron' (qv)'s award-winning "Love, Loss, and What I Wore" with 'Samantha Bee' (qv), 'Tyne Daly' (qv), 'Katie Finneran' (qv) and 'Rosie O'Donnell' (qv) and in the original cast in Los Angeles at Geffen Playhouse with 'Tracee Ellis Ross' (qv), 'Carol Kane' (qv) and 'Rita Wilson' (qv).She received rave reviews in 'Kim Rosenstock' (qv)'s "Tigers Be Still", directed by 'Sam Gold' (qv), with 'Reed Birney' (qv), 'Halley Feiffer' (qv), 'John Magaro' (qv) at the Roundabout Theatre Company and returned this past season to the New Group stage with 'Ethan Hawke' (qv), 'Gordon Clapp' (qv) and 'Daphne Rubin-Vega' (qv) in 'Tommy Nohilly' (qv)'s "Blood From a Stone". Most recently, she participated in New Group's benefit performance of "Women Behind Bars", with 'Charles Busch' (qv), 'Josh Hamilton' (qv), 'Cynthia Nixon' (qv), 'Rhea Perlman' (qv) and 'Rosie O'Donnell' (qv).Natasha was born Natasha Bianca Lyonne Braunstein in New York City, New York, to Ivette (Buchinger) and Aaron Braunstein, who is a talk radio host, boxing promoter, and race car driver. She is from a Jewish family. Her maternal grandparents, originally from Hungary, were Holocaust survivors who moved to Paris, France, where Natasha's mother was born.::jodisc