Natalie Alyn Lind grew up backstage. Her mother is Barbara Alyn Woods, of One Tree Hill fame; her father, John Lind, is a first assistant director, the unglamorous field marshal who actually gets a set from call sheet to wrap. Which means Lind, whose younger sister, Emily Alyn Lind, also started acting at six, has been loitering near cameras since before she could read a contract, and has the two-decade ledger to show for it: a mutant in Marvel’s The Gifted; a kidnapped daughter in David E. Kelley’s Big Sky; a turn in a Stephen King prequel (Pet Sematary: Bloodlines); a slot in Colin Farrell’s woozy Apple TV noir Sugar. It’s a resume that could have minted a household name years ago and somehow didn’t—until now. As Oreana Lynn Jackson on Dutton Ranch, she’s part of the main cast of the biggest series launch in Paramount+ history: 12.9 million views in week one, Certified Fresh, the whole rodeo.
She felt the weight of it before a single frame rolled. A lifelong devotee who has seen every dusty corner of the Yellowstone universe, Lind more or less knew exactly what she was walking into. “There’s an intimidation to not wanting to mess up the original,” she tells Observer. “We loved it so much—and when you love something that much, you can’t help but need everyone else to love it too.” When the fanbase came back roaring, she says, it was the sound of a held breath finally let go. For Lind, what makes Taylor Sheridan’s universe resonate is everything the audience never sees. “Before we started filming, the creatives handed us this book—every branch of the family, generations back,” she explains. “I know exactly what my character has been doing since the day she was born. That’s why these shows feel so real. You’re never guessing at who you are.”
Off the ranch, she’s been busy mapping new territory behind the camera. Her first film with a producer credit, the horror comedy Halloween Store, sprang from an obsession she insists is hereditary: her mother carried her through a haunted maze—chainsaw-wielding actor in hot pursuit—when she was six months old. “It’s in my bloodline at this point,” she laughs. She kept Michael Myers dolls instead of Barbies, and still puts on slasher films to fall asleep. So when the 2023 strike marooned her with nothing to do, she stopped waiting for permission. “I’m physically incapable of sitting still—I always have to be making something,” she says. “At some point, I just thought, I can do this. I can make a movie. So we did.”
With Halloween Store‘s first posters freshly unveiled and the film made under her own shingle, Big Bad Pig Productions, Natalie Alyn Lind sat down with Observer to talk about fronting one of television’s biggest franchises, building a second career behind the camera and the things she can’t travel—or wake up—without: a 17-year-old dog and a perfume that smells like the scent strip in an old magazine. Here, in her own words, the staples Lind won’t shoot, travel or fall asleep without.
Natalie Alyn Lind’s Essentials
Her (not-so-easy) mornings
I’m terrible at waking up—it doesn’t matter how much sleep I’ve gotten, I always come to feeling like I’m being dragged out of bed, so the morning really starts with eye drops and a few slaps to the face. My favorite hack is also a bit of a curse: a vibration plate that weighs a literal 20 pounds. Standing on it for 20 minutes is the only thing that truly wakes me up—even though it barely fits in a suitcase, I haul it everywhere. Then it’s all about Georgie, my 17-year-old dog, who comes with me everywhere; I’ve had her since I was eight or nine, so at this point, I basically work for her. I’m her employee. I take her out, sit on the porch for a second, and let myself reset.
AXV Store.
What’s always in her bag
Chapstick, always; my lips are constantly dry. I also carry a little bottle of Frank’s Red Hot on me at all times. And hand sanitizer—I’m a huge hand sanitizer girl. Honestly, it’s less about germs and more that I like my hands to smell really good. It’s a bit of a compulsive thing, but it has the added benefit of keeping me healthy when I’m shaking a lot of hands and hugging a lot of people.
Frank’s RedHot.
McCormick
Her beauty staples
The color I wear on the show is Pillow Talk by Charlotte Tilbury in medium—I get so many people asking what lipstick it is, and that’s my go-to at all times. For skincare, I’m on a serious Korean beauty kick right now; I think K-beauty is so far ahead of what we have here. But my dermatologist told me a long time ago that so many products are full of unnecessary additives, so for moisturizer, I keep it basic with Cetaphil or CeraVe. Sometimes the simplest thing does the job. I’m also not someone who wears foundation—I’ll just put on Supergoop sunscreen, which gives my face a nice glow, and I’m always wearing SPF when we’re filming out in the Texas sun.
Charlotte Tilbury.
Charlotte Tilbury
Her signature scent
Another 13 by Le Labo. I was on set in Canada, and one of our directors was wearing it—I fell absolutely in love. It’s meant to mimic the smell of an old glossy magazine, that ’80s magazine feeling, and I’m obsessed with it. And then if I’m feeling nostalgic, my grandmother always wore Black Opium [by Yves Saint Laurent], so I bounce between the two. Those are my two favorite nostalgic scents.
Another 13.
Le Labo Fragrances
Her off-duty uniform
In real life, I dress purely for comfort—I look like I just rolled out of bed, always in sweatpants and a baggy T-shirt. From the show, I’ve ended up completely in love with cowboy boots, so now my everyday look is a pair of shorts, a big baggy T-shirt and boots. Living in L.A., I can get away with that year-round. I’m also really into anything adventurous, so if I’m hiking, I’ll throw on leggings and tennis shoes—but the daily uniform is sunglasses, a baggy tee and boots. I just want to be as free and comfortable as possible.
Brayden Western Boots.
Free People
Her latest obsession
Oh—K18! I started using their hair products on the show, and they’ve genuinely saved my hair. The formula puts protein and minerals back in, which I needed badly—for continuity reasons, I was dyeing my hair constantly. I actually just chopped it shorter; I’d had such long hair on the show that I wanted to be able to wake up and go. But K18 is a miracle worker.
K18 Leave-in Molecular Repair Hair Mask.
K18
Why horror
All my favorite movies are horror movies—I watch them to fall asleep, which is a little insane, because I live alone, so then I’m up at 3 a.m. hearing every crack in the house. With Halloween Store, I wanted to make something that doesn’t take itself too seriously, that early-2000s feeling where you get to be scared but also laugh. We shot it in Hawaii, which has nothing to do with the movie, but it turned into an adult summer camp—all my best friends were staying at the same hotel. They’d head off on a dolphin excursion in the morning and I’d just go, “Okay, bye, guys, have fun. I’ll see you on set.” It was also the first time I worked with my dad, who was our first AD, so I finally got to question him on set, which I think he secretly hated. As for being the boss, the only thing Oreana taught me is that you don’t really need boundaries and you can speak your mind—so she was probably a bad influence, because there was nothing calm about me on that set. But producing comes down to trust and hiring the right people. I kept asking everyone, “How do you see this?” That’s why all the characters feel so individual—everybody brought something I never could have imagined.
Where she’s headed next
I just won a seven-night stay in Tuscany at a Race to Erase MS auction, and I’m bringing my whole family. I’d never done an auction before, and I got a little trigger-happy—there’s a video of me blowing right past the number I swore I’d stop at. But it’s a cause I’ve supported for six years; I have a lot of people in my life living with MS, and the people who run that foundation care so much. Otherwise, after being away filming from July through March, I’m just happy to be home with Georgie. Things always pop up, though, so I’m taking it day by day—and I’m never opposed to a vacation.
Tuscany, Italy.
Moira Nazzari/Unsplash
