Natasha Lyonne

Natasha Bianca Lyonne Braunstein is an American actress, director, writer, and producer. She is best known for her starring role as Nicky Nichols in the Netflix comedy-drama series Orange Is the New Black. Lyonne also co-created, executive produces, writes, and directs Russian Doll, for which she received nominations for three Primetime Emmy Awards.

About Natasha Lyonne in brief

Summary Natasha LyonneNatasha Bianca Lyonne Braunstein is an American actress, director, writer, and producer. She is best known for her starring role as Nicky Nichols in the Netflix comedy-drama series Orange Is the New Black. Lyonne also co-created, executive produces, writes, and directs Russian Doll, for which she received nominations for three Primetime Emmy Awards. She has not graduated from high school; she left before her senior year to attend a film program at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. Her father 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. Her grandfather, Morris Buchinger, hid in Budapest as a non-Jew working in a leather factory during the World War II. Her grandmother Ella came from a large family. Only she and her two sisters and two brothers survived, which Lyonne credits to their blond hair and blue eyes. Her mother was born in Paris, France, to Hungarian Jewish parents who were Holocaust survivors.

Lyonne has said she is not close to her mother and has essentially lived independently of her family since age 16. She attended New York University for a short time, studying film and philosophy. Her parents divorced, and Lyonne and her older brother Adam returned to America with their mother. She and her parents moved to Israel, where Lyonne spent a year and a half. During her stay there, Lyonne participated in the production of the Israeli children’s film April Fool, which began her interest in acting. 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. Her other film credits include Everyone Says I Love You, But I’m a Cheerleader, Scary Movie 2, Blade: Trinity, Robots, All About Evil, Sleeping with Other People, Hello, My Name Is Doris, Addicted to Fresno, Antibirth, Yoga Hosers, and Ad Astra.