Red Hot

There's no one in Hollywood-or anywhere else, probably-like NATASHA LYONNE. Her wry, wrenching work in Poker Face, His Three Daughters, and Russian Doll has brought an indie favorite into the spotlight

- JOY PRESS

“WHAT’S SO AMAZING about having a moment is they let you do stuff,” says Natasha Lyonne, her halo of orange curls bobbing in the East Village twilight. “It means your ideas are worthy of bankrolling and worthy of actually getting made. And it means the freedom to not have to hustle quite so hard. You don’t have to go in and open your briefcase, show your wares, and have people say, ‘No, thank you, we’re not looking for any stopwatches today.’ I’ve had decades of that.”

Lyonne lurked at the margins of Hollywood a long time, an eccentric with self-confessed niche appeal. But in recent years, she’s moved closer to the center—or maybe the center has finally come to her. After creating the mind-bending Emmy-winning series Russian Doll, Lyonne scored a hit with the charming retro murder mystery series Poker Face and was acclaimed last fall for her moving performance in His Three Daughters. Her days are now a frantic treadmill: appearances in the upcoming Fantastic Four movie and Taika Waititi’s Klara and the Sun; producing, starring in, and directing some episodes of Poker Face’s second season; and developing projects for her own production company, Animal Pictures. “I’ve had moments in life that have been lonely and dark and broke enough where your priority is definitely not ‘Did you pitch a TV show well this morning?’ So if I hear myself being like, I’m so tired—that means I’ve lost the gratitude for how extraordinary my circumstance is.”

Lyonne appeared in Pee-wee’s Playhouse as a child and starred in Slums of Beverly Hills and