Biography for
Natasha Gregson Wagner More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

29 September 1970, Los Angeles, California, USA

Birth Name

Natasha Gregson

Height

5' 2" (1.57 m)

Mini Biography

She was surrounded by Hollywood glamor from the onset as the daughter of film star Natalie Wood and British producer/writer/agent Richard Gregson, who was briefly married to Wood between her two marriages to actor Robert Wagner. Natasha Gregson Wagner was born on September 29, 1970, in Los Angeles. Her mother was of Russian heritage and christened her Natalia but affectionately nicknamed her Natasha during her childhood -- hence, the name. Her parents divorced before Natasha was even a year old and when Natalie remarried Wagner a year later, Natasha was legally adopted by her famous stepdad. It's hardly surprising, therefore, that the young girl expressed an early interest in acting. The tragic Catalina Island drowning of her mother in 1981, when Natasha was only 11, left deep emotional scars that would ultimately carry into the dark-edged roles she would play in Hollywood.

The naturally beautiful dark-eyed and dark-haired actress certainly bears more than a passing resemblance to her famous mom. Unlike Natalie, however, Natasha has downplayed the glamor and displays a quirky, ditsy-like appeal. Refusing to conform to Hollywood standards, she has instead carved out her own individual path, finding herself much more attracted to offbeat and unconventional material. She debuted in a minor part in Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1992) and initially went around playing cute and plucky in such innocuous TV-movie fare as The Shaggy Dog (1994) (TV), the remake of the 1950s Disney classic, and the juvenile delinquent 1950s spoof Dragstrip Girl (1994) (TV), which easily recalled her mother's own classic Rebel Without a Cause (1955). In 1995 Natasha had a top role in one of the "Hart to Hart" TV mini-movies that served to reunite her stepfather with former co-star Stefanie Powers.

Natasha started creating a major buzz shortly thereafter as her characters grew edgier, uninhibited and more risk-taking. In David Lynch's Lost Highway (1997) she turned heads as Balthazar Getty's cheating girlfriend, and played an adulterous wife in Quiet Days in Hollywood (1997). The ball really started rolling with her standout role as the feisty, street-savvy Lou in the improvisation-styled romantic triangle Two Girls and a Guy (1997). With Robert Downey Jr. and Heather Graham, the film truly captured Natasha's gift for gab and off-the-wall magnetism. From there she continued to offer solid work in hit-and-miss showcases. She co-starred with Giovanni Ribisi in the sexy, no-holds-barred First Love, Last Rites (1997) as a white-trash couple who assertively reevaluate their relationship between the sheets. In Dogtown (1997) she played the mentally slow daughter of whacked-out Karen Black, and in Another Day in Paradise (1998) she played a druggie who is taught the ropes of thievery by pros James Woods and Melanie Griffith. Although Natasha has taken a couple of U-turns into the mainstream, notably as a decapitated victim in the slasher horror opus Urban Legend (1998), they have been few and far between.

During the filming of the well-received John Cusack film High Fidelity (2000), Natasha and the film's screenwriter/co-producer D.V. DeVincentis became an item, and the couple married in 2003. She continues her affinity for the weird but compelling with the more recent films Glam (1997), The Medicine Show (2001), Wishing Time (2003) and Wonderland (2003), the last one a sensationalized account of the true-life mass murder committed by Los Angeles dope dealers in which drug-ravaged porn star John Holmes was involved -- Natasha portrayed one of the victims.

IMDb Mini Biography By: Gary Brumburgh / gr-home@pacbell.net

Spouse

D.V. DeVincentis

(11 October 2003 - 5 January 2008)

Trivia

Daughter of Natalie Wood and Richard Gregson.

Step-daughter of Robert Wagner.

Niece of Lana Wood.

Half-sister of Courtney Wagner.

Dating screenwriter D.V. DeVincentis. [2001]

Owns a West Highland White Terrier.

Her wedding was featured in the February 2004 issue of InStyle Magazine.

Named after her mother, Natalie Wood, whose family nickname was Natasha.

Her mother Natalie Wood died when Natasha was only eleven years old.

Former stepsister of Katie Wagner.

In the film Wild Things (1998), Natasha was up for the lesbian-tinged lead role that eventually went to model Denise Richards. When in auditions director John McNaughton realized she was the stepdaughter of Robert Wagners and asked her if she thought the senior Wagner would play a small role in the movie. R.J. ended up with an amusing extended cameo, playing a foul-mouthed prosecutor that was the absolute antithesis of his smooth, charming TV image.

Adopted daughter of Robert Wagner.

According to her step-father Robert Wagner she hated going to sleep as a child, and always needed to know where he and Natalie Wood were at all times.

Godmother is Ruth Gordon.

Personal Quotes

Comparing herself to her mother, Natalie Wood (1994), "We have a temper, we flirt, and we both are mischievous."

On the loss of her mother, Natalie Wood: "Her death was probably the most defining part of me. I've spent the rest of my life dealing with it. Her death changed me forever."

Falling in love for the first time, and then the heart break of having it end, is difficult, but I don't think it would ever hurt as much as when my mother was killed in the boating accident. I feel a part of my heart has already been broken, and that place is reserved for mother.

On the tragic death of her mother Natalie Wood. It was the most horrible thing that could ever happen.

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