fear factor

Natasha Lyonne’s Accent Gets ‘More New York’ When She’s Scared

Photo: Steve Granitz/FilmMagic

Natasha Lyonne’s signature New York accent is almost as famous as her and her vibrant red curly hair. It’s been impersonated on Saturday Night Live, by friends like Amy Poehler, and the internet at large. While the native New Yorker doesn’t mind people poking fun at her accent, she tells Rolling Stone that it actually changes depending on how she’s feeling. In her new show Poker Face, where she plays a former poker player that’s very good at telling when people are lying, Lyonne’s accent is less pronounced than it is in her other hit show, Russian Doll. She shares that she intentionally tries to tone down her natural accent because she finds it “annoying”; however, it’s become a defensive mechanism for her. “I’m terrified of public speaking. Talk shows terrify me. So I think that when I’m scared, my accent gets thicker,” explained Lyonne. “But when I get nervous, I get more New York to, like, protect myself from strangers.” Or possibly protect yourself from a casino nepo baby out to get you, but strangers are good to protect from too.

Natasha Lyonne Gets ‘More New York’ When Scared