Biography

With curly blonde hair, a winning smile and a world-weary delivery, Natasha Lyonne successfully made the transition from child performer to assured screen presence with talent to spare. She may perhaps be best recalled for her recurring role of Opal on "Pee-wee's Playhouse" in the late 1980s. Lyonne made her first film appearance in the uncredited role of Meryl Streep's niece in "Heartburn" (1986) and, after a brief time living in Israel, landed a recurring role on the CBS daytime drama "As the World Turns". Her first supporting film role was in "Dennis the Menace" (1993) but she garnered more attention for her deadpan narration as Woody Allen's levelheaded teenaged daughter in the musical "Everyone Says I Love You" (1996).

She was next seen as Richard Dreyfuss' daughter, forced to pretend to be part of an imaginary civilization, in the uneven comedy "Krippendorf's Tribe" (1998). But Tamara Jenkins' "Slums of Beverly Hills" (also 1998) offered the rising star one of her best screen roles to date as a teenager coping with the onset of puberty and her dysfunctional (all male) family's constant movement from apartment to apartment. The young thespian delivered a winning and assured performance that anchored the uneven film. She followed with a decidedly supporting turn in the horror comedy "Revenant" (also 1998). In 2002, Lyonne was cast in the holocaust feature "Grey Zone." The following year, she co-starred in the drug, sex and club drama "Party Monster", a feature based on the life of Michael Alig, a once-ago, high-time club promoter who was convicted of murder. Later in 2003, Lyonne appeared as the avenging daughter of a film producer who suddenly dies in Die Mommie Die! (2003). In Blade: Trinity (2004), Lyonne played Sommerfield, a member of the Nightstalkersa group of human vampire hunters who team up with Blade (Wesley Snipes) to hunt down Dracula and his gang of undead thugs.

Filmography

Francis Hamper (2005) (pre-production) .... Nainie Naughton
Max and Grace (2005) .... Grace
Robots (2005) (voice) .... Loretta Geargrinder
Blade: Trinity (2004) .... Sommerfield
Madhouse (2004) .... Alice
America Brown (2004) .... Vera
Die, Mommie, Die! (2003) .... Edith Sussman
Party Monster (2003) .... Brooke
Night at the Golden Eagle (2002) .... Amber
ZigZag (2002) .... Jenna
Comic Book Villains (2002) (V) .... Judy
Kate & Leopold (2001) .... Darci
The Grey Zone (2001) .... Rosa
American Pie 2 (2001) .... Jessica
Scary Movie 2 (2001) .... Megan Voorhees
Fast Sofa (2001) .... Tamara Jenson
Plan B (2001/I) .... Kaye
If These Walls Could Talk 2 (2000) (TV) .... Jeanne (segment "1972")
The Auteur Theory (1999) .... Rosemary Olson - Finalist
But I'm a Cheerleader (1999) .... Megan Bloomfield
Freeway II: Confessions of a Trickbaby (1999) .... White Girl/Crystal Van Meuther
Detroit Rock City (1999) .... Christine
American Pie (1999) .... Jessica
Rat Girl (1999)
When Autumn Leaves (1999)
Modern Vampires (1998) .... Rachel
Slums of Beverly Hills (1998) .... Vivian Abromowitz
Krippendorf's Tribe (1998) .... Shelly Krippendorf
Everyone Says I Love You (1996) .... D.J. Berlin
Dennis the Menace (1993) .... Polly
A Man Called Sarge (1990) (as Natasha Leon) .... Arab Girl
"Pee-wee's Playhouse" (1986) TV Series .... Opal (1986-1987)
Heartburn (1986) (uncredited) .... Rachel's Niece