Natasha Gregson Wagner: Actress in Lost Highway, Urban Legend and Wonderland

Natasha Gregson Wagner is an American actress born in Los Angeles in 1970. She is best known for David Lynch’s Lost Highway (1997), the slasher hit Urban Legend (1998) and High Fidelity (2000). Her most recent credits are the documentary Natalie Wood: What Remains Behind (2020), which she produced, and the TV series Date My Dad (2017).

Natasha Gregson Wagner did much of her best-known work in the late 1990s. In those years she moved between independent dramas such as Two Girls and a Guy and First Love, Last Rites, both from 1997, and studio genre films. She went on to play steady guest roles in TV dramas through the 2000s.

Quick facts about Natasha Gregson Wagner

Lost Highway (1997): Natasha Gregson Wagner’s breakthrough year

Natasha Gregson Wagner’s career took off in 1997, when she appeared in David Lynch’s Lost Highway. The film is still the title most closely linked to her name. Her screen career had started earlier, with Buffy the Vampire Slayer in 1992. The mid-1990s brought Dead Beat (1994), S.F.W. (1995), The Method (1996) and High School High (1996).

In the same year as Lost Highway, she played in two independent films: Two Girls and a Guy, opposite Robert Downey Jr. and Heather Graham, and First Love, Last Rites. Her TV work at the time included a guest role as Hannah Puck on Ally McBeal (1997).

Michelle Mancini in Urban Legend (1998) and Natasha Gregson Wagner’s genre work

Natasha Gregson Wagner reached a wide audience in 1998 as Michelle Mancini, the first victim in the college slasher Urban Legend. That year she also played Rosie in Larry Clark’s crime drama Another Day in Paradise. Her horror work continued with Modern Vampires and with Vampires: Los Muertos (2002), a follow-up to John Carpenter’s Vampires.

In 2000 she played Caroline in High Fidelity, the John Cusack comedy that is her highest-rated film with critics. That year she also appeared in Stranger Than Fiction.

Barbara Richardson in Wonderland (2003) and Natasha Gregson Wagner’s later career

Natasha Gregson Wagner played Barbara Richardson in Wonderland (2003), Lions Gate’s crime drama starring Val Kilmer. After that film she worked mostly in television. She played April Skouris on The 4400 (2004) and Beverly Waller on Medium (2005). She also appeared on House, The Closer, Cold Case and State of Mind (2008).

Her later films include A Kiss and a Promise (2010), in which she played Samantha Beck. She played Georgia in Search Engines and Tabatha in Thirty Nine, both from 2016. In 2017 she played Paige on the TV series Date My Dad. In 2020 she produced and appeared in the documentary Natalie Wood: What Remains Behind, a portrait of her mother. Her books include More Than Love: An Intimate Portrait of My Mother, Natalie Wood.

Natasha Gregson Wagner filmography (selected)

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