She almost died at 26, and everything interesting about her career happened after.
At a glance
- Known for
- *Russian Doll* co-creator, *Orange Is the New Black*, *Poker Face*
- Before fame
- Rollerbladed into Woody Allen's office at 16 and got cast in *Everyone Says I Love You*
- Off-screen
- Co-founded Asteria, an ethical AI film and animation studio
Rise to Fame
A casting office in 1996 got an unexpected visitor: a 16-year-old yeshiva student on rollerblades. She walked out with a part in Woody Allen's Everyone Says I Love You. By the end of the decade, she was in three films that couldn't have less in common: Slums of Beverly Hills (1998, indie critics' pick), But I'm a Cheerleader (queer cult classic), and American Pie (which grossed over $230 million). She's said she turned down American Pie five times, calling it too fratty for a New York kid.
That late-nineties run made her a name but also made her impossible to categorize. She wasn't the indie girl, the queer-film darling, or the teen comedy sidekick. She was all three, which meant Hollywood didn't have a clear slot for her.
In the Spotlight
The woman who couldn't get cast in the mid-2000s now can't stop working. Orange Is the New Black brought her back to screens. Russian Doll, which she co-created with Amy Poehler and Leslye Headland, earned 13 Emmy nominations and proved she could run a show, not just show up for one. Poker Face with Rian Johnson confirmed it.
She left Poker Face voluntarily to direct features. Her first, Bambo, is a boxing movie set in the 1980s about a Brooklyn boxing promoter father and his daughter. She co-founded Asteria, an ethical AI film studio that landed her on TIME's 100 Most Influential People in AI. The pivot from performer to auteur is deliberate, and she doesn't seem interested in going back.
Side Notes
The surgical scar running down her chest isn't prosthetic. In 2005, she was admitted to Beth Israel with a collapsed lung, hepatitis C, and endocarditis from heroin use. She's said she was "as good as dead." Open-heart surgery followed in 2012 to fix a valve the drugs had damaged. When Orange Is the New Black gave her character the same operation, that was her real scar on camera.
She entered treatment in 2006 and stayed sober for nearly two decades before revealing a relapse in early 2026. About two months later, she posted she was "back on her feet." Her body carries the receipts of every bad year, and she keeps putting it on screen anyway.