Natasha Lyonne (born April 4, 1979) is a film and television actress.
Early life
Lyonne was born Natasha Braunstein in New York City, the daughter of Yvette Lyonne, a product licensing consultant, and Aaron Braunstein, a native of Brooklyn who worked as a boxing promoter.123 Lyonne grew up in an Orthodox Jewish household and lived in Israel with her family during her childhood;4 her maternal grandparents were Holocaust survivors.15 When her parents divorced, Lyonne moved back to New York and lived with her mother and older brother Adam in a one-bedroom apartment. In New York, Lyonne attended Ramaz, a private Jewish school. Her mother then moved to Miami, where Lyonne attended and graduated from Miami Country Day School.
Career
Lyonne began acting at an early age with her first role as "Opal" on Pee-wee's Playhouse. She appeared in the 1990 film A Man Called Sarge during the time her family lived in Israel.
Lyonne is perhaps best known for her roles in the first two American Pie films as the wise-cracking Jessica. She has also appeared in more than 30 other movies, including starring roles in the independent films Slums of Beverly Hills and But I'm a Cheerleader. Lyonne also appeared in Party Monster in 2003, a dramatization of the Michael Alig story. As the character Brooke, Lyonne donned a fat suit and dreadlocks. She also played a blind biologist in Blade: Trinity.
After an extended hiatus, Lyonne filmed Goyband in New York City with Adam Pascal, Amy Davidson, Cris Judd, Dean Edwards, Tibor Feldman, and Tovah Feldshuh.
In January 2008, she appeared in a Broadway play, Two Thousand Years.6
Lyonne worked on the thriller 13_(film) with a release date of 2010. Other cast members include Mickey Rourke, Ray Liotta and Jason Statham.7
Lyonne last working on dark-comedy/ horror flick All About Evil in San Francisco, which was written by and directed by San Francisco late-night movie host and short film producer Joshua Grannel.8
Personal life
Lyonne dated actor Edward Furlong, whom she met on the set of Detroit Rock City, from 1998 to 2000. She became friends with actor Michael Rapaport in 1997 and later rented an apartment in a building he owned on East 18th Street. In 2005, Rapaport evicted her 9 and wrote an account of the matter in that May's issue of Jane. 10
Singer and former neighbor Rufus Wainwright wrote a song about her called "Natasha" included on his 2003 album Want One.
In August 2005, the New York Post reported that Lyonne was in Beth Israel Medical Center in Manhattan under a pseudonym, and had been there for over a month after being transferred from Bellevue Hospital.citation needed She reportedly suffered from hepatitis C, a heart infection, and a collapsed lung. She was also undergoing methadone treatment and allegedly had track marks on her body.11
In December 2006, Lyonne appeared in court to face the 2005 charges. A judge sentenced her to conditional discharge. Since then, she has completed four films.12
Filmography
References
Spoonful of Sugar - Natasha Lyonne's Sweet Comeback by Shira Levine http://www.heebmagazine.com/articles/view/173
External links