Natasha Lyonne by Dennis Leupold for Flaunt February 2023

Natasha Bianca Lyonne Braunstein ( born April 4, 1979) is an American actor, producer, director, comedian, writer, and tech executive. Lyonne started her career as a child actress before expanding her career taking on mature roles in film and television, for which she was nominated for five Primetime Emmy Awards and two Golden Globe Awards, and named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time Magazine in 2023. Lyonne started her career as a child actress making her first uncredited appearance in Heartburn (1986), a recurring role in Pee-wee's Playhouse (1986), and a supporting role in Dennis the Menace (1993). She transitioned to taking on teen roles in several independent films such as Everyone Says I Love You (1996), Slums of Beverly Hills (1998), But I'm a Cheerleader (1999), and Party Monster (2003), as well as the American Pie film series (1999–2012).

She found a career resurgence and Emmy Award-nominations for her performances as Nicky Nichols in the Netflix series Orange Is the New Black (2013–2019), co-created, wrote, directed, and executive produced the Netflix series Russian Doll (2019–2022), and starred in the Peacock series Poker Face (2023–present) and the Netflix film His Three Daughters (2024).

In 2025, she publicly revealed herself as the co-founder of the artificial intelligence film studio Asteria, founded with her boyfriend Bryn Mooser in 2022 with the intent to create animated feature films with AI tools using responsibly sourced data.