# Natasha Lyonne

Natasha Lyonne (born 4 April 1979) is an American stage, film, and television actress.

## Quotes

* Sometimes the things that come out of my mouth are mortifying.
** As quoted in "Shopping With: Natasha Lyonne; Rough, Tough, But on a Road To Ladylike" by Nancy Hass, in The New York Times (9 July 2000)
* I’m a movie star. Can I talk to my entertainment lawyer?
** Sarcastic remark to a police officer after failing a Breathalyzer test (28 August 2001), a comment The Smoking Gun named "The Most Entertaining Celebrity Arrest Report" of 2001; of this incident she later said:
       Listen, I’m not for everyone. Maybe those officers didn’t understand that I was kidding. … Maybe a lot of those people who wrote up those police reports thought I was being serious. They probably don’t have my same sense of humor. It’s not like they have a Petri dish of highbrow comedy over at the precinct.
      * As quoted in "Spoonful of Sugar : Natasha Lyonne’s Sweet Comeback" by Shira Levine, in Heeb Magazine (20 January 2009)
* As a rule people don’t think other people on drugs are funny. They think they are tragic. They have a point, but I still had the funny.
** As quoted in "Spoonful of Sugar : Natasha Lyonne’s Sweet Comeback" by Shira Levine, in Heeb Magazine (20 January 2009)
* Look, I’m not thrilled that perfect strangers get to have an opinion about me or feel like they know me, but I have enough perspective to know they don’t know me, and I do have a life and I don’t live it for other people.… My reality is very different from what everyone read. The problem is because I did get myself in a lot of trouble, I didn’t get to do the kind of work that maybe I should have been doing, so it became confusing who I really am and what I am really about … It’s totally fucking strange to me that people took a lot of that fucking stuff seriously. … It’s not their fault that they don’t know me personally. Who’s got the time?
** As quoted in "Spoonful of Sugar : Natasha Lyonne’s Sweet Comeback" by Shira Levine, in Heeb Magazine (20 January 2009)

### Suicidegirls interview (2004)

    "Natasha Lyonne" by Daniel Robert Epstein (4 November 2003)
* My fault has been honesty and I've been sentenced to a lifetime of independent movies, and that's it. That's how it feels right now.
* Honestly, I'm as rebellious as I used to be and my definition of shaking things up isn't what it used to be.
* I'm not a movie star. I'm an actor, clearly, but at the same time, I don't have anything else going on. My hobbies are movies and going to the Film Forum and sitting there during the day for the double feature. That's my life. My life is music, books and movies, that's all I know. That's all I care about and I mean, as a fourteen year old kid, I was reading Entertainment Weekly and was curious about what was going on and I still read US Weekly. I don't give a shit. The point is that I wish that I had life outside of this, and I think that if this is what I'm doing then at least I want it to be a little bit more interesting or important.
* I guess that is my biggest fear, sort of worrying about the fact that I keep getting more insecure as time goes on rather than feeling more grand with each turn. I feel more and more afraid. When I get my picture taken, I'm convinced it's because I must look terrible and they're going to put it in US Weekly as a joke.
* The audience is equally responsible for making Scary Movie 3 as the studio system is because as long as they continue to go see Fast and Furious 4, they're going to make it. You have to remember that studio heads went to NYU and stuff and film school and they wanted to make great films and were seduced by The Godfather and instead, this is the world that were in.

## Quotes about Lyonne

    Alphabetized by author
* The greatest actors never go too far away from their skins when they approach characters … Looking at her past films and even American Pie, you can see why she is a star. She brings elements of herself into all of the work she does. She doesn’t look outside of herself for her roles, she looks inside of herself.
** Scott Elliot, as quoted in "Spoonful of Sugar : Natasha Lyonne’s Sweet Comeback" by Shira Levine, in Heeb Magazine (20 January 2009)
* She’s extraordinary … She is creative and she is free, and most importantly, you believe her. … Her instincts are just like Meryl Streep’s. Natasha Lyonne has that ability — that good, intuitive instinct for the creation of another being in front of the camera … That’s the truth.
** Tovah Feldshuh, as quoted in "Spoonful of Sugar : Natasha Lyonne’s Sweet Comeback" by Shira Levine, in Heeb Magazine (20 January 2009)
* I’ve interviewed actresses before. They smile, struggle to charm, remember not to offend. They shamelessly self-promote and talk about what an honor it is to work with such-and-such, but Lyonne’s a different breed. In the very nicest way possible, she tells me, “It’s not my job to be an appealing famous person for you,” as she takes out a cigarette. She takes her time, holding it unlit. It took her 20 minutes before she even smoked her first one, and I ask if she wants to just light it already.
** Shira Levine, in "Spoonful of Sugar : Natasha Lyonne’s Sweet Comeback" in Heeb Magazine (20 January 2009)
* I’m happy that you really care But do you really know how scary This is for you and is for me Oh do you know Do you really know Oh Natasha, all I can do Is write a song for you.
** Rufus Wainwright, in the song “Natasha” on Want One (2003)

## External links

* Profile at IMDb
* Natasha Lyonne clips on YouTube