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), which was quickly followed by film appearances in Se acabó el pastel (1986), written by Nora Ephron, directed by Mike Nichols; A Man Called Sarge (1990); and Daniel el travieso (1993), with Walter Matthauand Christopher Lloyd. At the age of 16, Woody Allen cast her as his and Goldie Hawn's daughter in Todos dicen I Love You (1996), alongside Julia Roberts, Edward Norton,Natalie Portman, which led to appearances in almost 30 films over the next 10 years, including starring roles in the independent films Colgados en Beverly Hills (1998) and But I'm a Cheerleader (1999). Lyonne's other films included Cero en conducta (1999); Scary Movie 2 (2001); La zona gris (2001), directed by Tim Blake Nelson; James Mangold's Kate & Leopold (2001); Party Monster (2003); Die, Mommie, Die! (2003) and Blade: Trinity(2004), as well as TV appearances on shows including NBC's Will y Grace (1998). 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's "Two Thousand Years" and in the films The Immaculate Conception of Little Dizzle (2009) and Goyband (2008). Since then, Lyonne has steadily worked in the New York theatre scene, in film and on television. Films include All About Evil (2010) with Thomas Dekker; Abel Ferrara's 4:44 Last Day on Earth (2011) withWillem Dafoe; and upcoming projects Casi perfecta (2012) (aka "Imogene") with Kristen Wiig, Darren Criss, Matt Dillon and Annette Bening; The Rambler (2013) with Dermot Mulroney; Clutter (2013) with Carol Kane and Kathy Najimy; He's Way More Famous Than You (2013), written by Halley Feiffer and directed by Michael Urie, with Ben Stiller andJesse Eisenberg. Recent TV appearances include the hit series, New Girl (2011) and Ley y orden: Unidad de víctimas especiales (1999). On stage, she is in the original cast of Nora Ephron and Delia Ephron's award-winning "Love, Loss, and What I Wore" with Samantha Bee, Tyne Daly, Katie Finneran and Rosie O'Donnell and in the original cast in Los Angeles at Geffen Playhouse with Tracee Ellis Ross, Carol Kane and Rita Wilson.
She received rave reviews in Kim Rosenstock's "Tigers Be Still", directed by Sam Gold, with Reed Birney, Halley Feiffer, John Magaro at the Roundabout Theatre Company and returned this past season to the New Group stage with Ethan Hawke, Gordon Clapp andDaphne Rubin-Vega in Tommy Nohilly's "Blood From a Stone". Most recently, she participated in New Group's benefit performance of "Women Behind Bars", with Charles Busch, Josh Hamilton, Cynthia Nixon, Rhea Perlman and Rosie O'Donnell. - IMDb Mini Biography By: jodisc
Trivia
Attended Yeshiva High School in Manhattan, where she acted in a school production of "The Magic Garden."
Arrested by Miami Beach police on charges of driving under the influence of alcohol, careless driving and leaving the scene of an accident. Her rented Dodge ran off the road into a traffic sign. She was arrested about 1:45am and released after posting a bond during the day. Her statement to the arresting officer was, "I'm a movie star. Can I talk to my entertainment lawyer?" [August 2001]
She and her family briefly lived in Israel (where she filmed A Man Called Sarge (1990)). After her parents divorced, she moved back to New York with her mother and brother while her father remained in Israel.
Rufus Wainwright's song "Natasha" is written about her.
In New York City's Beth Israel Hospital's intensive care unit. Reportedly suffering from hepatitis C, a heart ailment and a collapsed lung. [August 2005]
Was originally set to play Candy in Los renegados del diablo (2005), but was replaced byElizabeth Daily.
Has lived on her own since 16.
Was originally cast as Audie in the film Audie & the Wolf (2008) but was replaced by Tara Price.
After dropping out of NYU's Tisch School at age 17, she bought her own apartment, a penthouse with wraparound terrace in Manhattan's Gramercy Park area, using two semesters worth of tuition to make the down payment.
Her parents are both of Ashkenazi Jewish descent. Her maternal grandparents, Ella (Netzer) and Morris Buchinger, both originally from Hungary, were Holocaust survivors.
Her character in Orange Is the New Black (2013) mentions making El exorcista (1973) jokes while being strapped down in the rehab clinic, which is a reference to her role inScary Movie 2 (2001).
Close friends with her Orange Is the New Black (2013) co-stars, Laura Prepon and Taylor Schilling.
Personal Quotes
My life is very much in the present today. And that's what theater is all about.
[re New York] I have a real love affair with the city. I just feel like when you're up or when you're down, the city really cushions you. I feel like I just have such the blood and bones of a New Yorker that I can almost imagine better, like, giving up the fight and not being able to afford the city and going out West, keeping a small place here, and then when I'm like 80, coming back here, living on the park and going to the theater. For the matinee.
I would have done well as a gypsy child, I think. A circus baby. I coulda played a great street urchin or ragamuffin. Or just been one. I certainly liked entertaining people and making jokes, but I don't know necessarily if that's what your child is prone to that you should necessarily put them in a real working industry at six years old. By the time I was 16, I was already an exhausted cynic.
I mean, I didn't have a 28-day drug problem. I had a take-five-years-off drug problem. [Because of] "my well-publicized drug problem, there was many years I couldn't get work...I mean, life is very short but life is also very long. I don't know that there's such a rush. I think I also needed a break just in terms of the child actor in me was tired. I mean, I'd been working from, like, 6 to 24, pretty much nonstop.
[on performing her role as a cat-loving school teacher in 'G.B.F'] If you're at all a reasonable human being when you're 34 years old, you don't read scripts looking at the children's parts. I don't really feel like I need to be a teenager ever again. It's really a miracle that I made it out alive. I'm doing all right being in my 30s - I think I'm hitting my sweet spot. I'm glad to have already come of age.
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