Orange Is the New Black is a comedy-drama series that was created by Jenji Kohan and based on Piper Kerman's memoir called Orange Is the New Black: My Year in a Women's Prison. The memoir is centered around Piper Kerman's own experiences at FCI Danbury, a minimum security federal prison.
The series centers around Piper Chapman (Taylor Schilling), a public relations executive with a career and fiancé, who suddenly has her past catch up to her. Piper Chapman is sentenced to 15 months in Litchfield Penitentiary, a women's minimum security federal prison in Upstate New York. Piper was convicted of transporting a suitcase full of drug money for her girlfriend, Alex Vause (Laura Prepon).
The complete series, containing all seven seasons, can be streamed on Netflix. Here are the characters for Orange Is the New Black.
Taylor Schilling as Piper Chapman
Taylor Schilling stars as Piper Chapman, owner of an artisanal bath soap business in Brooklyn, and is engaged to Larry Bloom. Piper and Larry's relationship becomes disrupted after Piper is sentenced to 15 months in prison for carrying a bag of drug money to Belgium for her girlfriend, Alex Vause.
After Piper self-surrenders at the Litchfield Penitentiary, things get more complicated between Piper and Larry after they learn that Alex is in the same prison. Piper and Alex's feelings grow and the two end up getting prison married. At the end of Season 6, Piper gets an early release while Alex has to wait until she finishes her time at the Penitentiary.
Laura Prepon as Alex Vause
Laura Prepon portrays Alex Vause, who is manipulative and street-smart and currently serving time in prison for drug trafficking for an international cartel followed by violating her parole. Alex is often seen reading and tends to keep to herself emotionally.
When Piper and Alex are reunited at Litchfield, the two rekindle their romance and carry out a passionate love affair in the federal prison. In Season 3 of the series, a new inmate arrives, Lolly Whitehill who starts to obsessively observe Alex causing Vause to become paranoid, thinking that Lolly is out to kill her.
Uzo Aduba as Suzanne "Crazy Eyes" Warren
Uzo Aduba stars as Suzanne Warren, better known as "Crazy Eyes" who is intelligent but lacks social skills and is prone to have emotional outbursts and delusions when she is agitated due to her mental illness. Suzanne is serving 15 years in prison for kidnapping and involuntary manslaughter.
Suzanne used to work as a store greeter and believed she and a young boy, who frequently shopped with his family, were friends. Suzanne invites the boy over to her house to play some games, however, he becomes frightened and wants to go home. When he tries to call for help, Suzanne gets agitated causing the boy to panic, and he attempts to escape out a window and falls.
In prison, Suzanne becomes fixated on Piper, nicknames Piper "Dandelion" and requests to be her bunkmate. Piper tells Suzanne that she has a fiancé and resists Suzanne's advances. Suzanne later urinates on Piper's floor in her bunk quarters. Towards the end of the series, Suzanne and Pennsatucky begin an unlikely friendship and Pennsatucky opens Suzanne's eyes to the unfairness of the justice system.
Natasha Lyonne as Nicky Nichols
Natasha Lyonne stars as Nicky Nichols, who is an addict who is loyal to Red and cares deeply for Lorna. Nicky comes from a wealthy but dysfunctional family and the scar that is visible on Nichols's chest during the series is a real scar from Natasha Lyonne's heart surgery in 2012. Nichols is serving time for heroin possession along with breaking and entering.
Nicky is first seen when she gives Piper the tour of the prison and the two become friends. In Season 5, during the prison riot, Nicolas decides to take over the pharmacy with Lorna Morello and later Nicky confesses to Lorna that she has fallen in love with "an incredible, insane, beautiful woman" who would never love her back.
Kate Mulgrew as Galina "Red" Reznikov
Kate Mulgrew is portrayed as Galina Reznikov, better known as Red. Reznikov is serving time for her involvement with the Russian mafia, including using her freezer at her Russian grocery store to store bodies. Protecting her prison family, running the kitchen, and having a successful smuggling business using produce, Red is a powerful inmate at Litchfield.
At the beginning of the series, Piper calls the food at the prison disgusting, upsetting Red, who then serves Piper with a dirty tampon the next day before attempting to starve her. During Season 7, Red is diagnosed with dementia that is made worse when in solitary confinement. Red eventually is sent to Florida, where she reunites with her close friend, Frieda, and prison daughter, Lorna.
Danielle Brooks as Tasha "Taystee" Jefferson
Danielle Brooks is portrayed as Tasha Jefferson, better known as Taystee who lived in horrible foster care situations before she went to prison. Tasha is serving time for her involvement with her mother figure, Vee's drug empire, along with violating parole.
Taystee finds her prison family and best friend Poussey. However, when Poussey is fatally suffocated by a guard during a protest, Taystee seeks justice for her friend's death and becomes the leader of the prison riot. During the riot, CO Piscatella is killed and Taystee ends up with a life sentence for being wrongly convicted of his murder.
Yael Stone as Lorna "Lorna La Loca" Morello
Yael Stone stars as Lorna Morello, known as "Lorna La Loca," a hopeless romantic planning her wedding to fiancé "Christopher." Morello is in prison for stalking, harassment, and attempted murder. Lorna is also in a sexual relationship with fellow inmate Nicky Nichols.
Lorna drives the van for the inmates who have appointments. When Lorna is left alone for a couple of hours, she decides to take advantage of the situation. Morello breaks into Christopher's house, puts Christopher's fiancé's wedding veil on, and takes a bath.
Later Nicky confronts Lorna about not being engaged to Christopher and in Season 7, Lorna deals with a devastating loss and has a psychotic break.
Dascha Polanco as Dayanara "Daya" Diaz
Dascha Polanco portrays Dayanara Diaz, known as Daya, who is serving time for drug charges that were related to her mother Aleida's boyfriend. Daya was later charged and sentenced to life for killing CO Humphrey during the prison riot.
Daya arrives at Litchfield the same day that Piper does and is instantly slapped across the face by her mother, Aleida. The two of them have a complicated relationship. During the first season, Daya quickly falls into a romantic and sexual relationship with CO Bennett.
Daya ends up pregnant however doesn't want to get Bennett in trouble and makes a plan to make CO George "Pornstache" Mendez seem like the father, sending him to prison for rape.
Selenis Leyva as Gloria Mendoza
Selenis Leyva stars as Gloria Mendoza, who is serving time for food stamp fraud at her bodega. Gloria is hesitant to do anything wrong that would jeopardize her chance to leave Litchfield. After Red's smuggling business is exposed, Gloria takes over the kitchen and is protective over her prison family.
Gloria wants her son, Benny, to visit Litchfield more often and arranges for Benny to carpool with Sophia's wife and their son, Michael. Things don't go as planned when Sophie accuses Benny of being a bad influence on Michael after Michael gets into a fight with another kid.
Later, Sophia attempts to apologize to Gloria however a verbal altercation ends up happening and Sophia shoves Gloria into a wall, causing Gloria to get a black eye.
Taryn Manning as Tiffany "Pennsatucky" Doggett
Taryn Manning is portrayed as Tiffany Doggett, known as Pennsatucky. Tiffany is serving time for murdering a nurse at an abortion clinic when she makes remarks about how many abortions Pennsatucky has had.
Tiffany preaches about God while harassing everyone she doesn't approve of. Carrie Black and Tiffany have a strong friendship and Big Boo helps Tiffany after her rape. Tiffany also does not approve of Piper and Alex's relationship and later attempts to murder Piper. Tiffany however ends up getting the teeth punched in and later in the series gets a completely new set of teeth.
Samira Wiley as Poussey Washington
Samira Wiley stars as Poussey Washington, a former army brat and Taystee's sweet best friend. Poussey is serving six years for a minor drug charge. Poussey and Taystee work in the library where Poussey makes hooch.
When Poussey attempts to help calm down Suzanne, who is having an emotional outburst during a peaceful protest against Piscatella's treatment of the inmates. CO Bayley restrains Poussey by kneeling on her back and ends up suffocating her to death. This scene is one of the most heartbreaking moments in the series and leads to the prison riot.
Laverne Cox as Sophia Burset
Laverne Cox is portrayed as Sophia Burset, who is the prison hair stylist and seems to enjoy her job in the salon. Sophia is serving a five-year prison sentence for credit card fraud. Michael, Sophia's son, is angry with Sophia's transition and is the one who turns Sophia into the police.
Sophia deals with the removal of her hormone meds and transphobic harassment from fellow prisoners and guards. Sofia is a friendly and kind person who does not retaliate against others unless she feels she is in danger. At the end of Season 6, Sophia is given early release along with Piper and Aleida.
Elizabeth Rodriguez as Aleida Diaz
Elizabeth Rodriguez stars as Aleida Diaz, who is seen as a tough character and is also Daya's mother. Aleida is selfish, and narcissistic, and uses unconventional parenting techniques.
Aleida gets early release along with Piper and Sophia but ends up back in prison after an altercation with the guy who was sleeping with her teenage daughter. Aleida becomes furious when she learns that Daya enlisted her teenage sister to help her smuggle drugs into the prison. The mother-daughter duo is last seen in an altercation where Aleida is choking Daya.
Jackie Cruz as Marisol "Flaca" Gonzales
Jackie Cruz plays Marisol Gonzales, known as Flaca, who is serving time for selling fake LSD to her high school classmates which leads to a classmate jumping off the roof of the building.
Flaca has a strong friendship with Maritza however the iconic duo are separated after the prison riot. In Season 7, Flaca ends up working in the ICE detention center kitchen where she finds Maritza, being held by ICE. Flaca and Maritza finally are reunited but Maritza's immigration issues at the detention center don't turn out how they hoped.
Adrienne C. Moore as Cynthia "Black Cindy" Hayes
Adrienne C. Moore stars as Cynthia Hayes, better known as Black Cindy, and is serving time for theft while working at her TSA job. Cindy was brought up in a Christian home however later is converted to Judaism and baptized in the lake at Litchfield, to receive kosher meals while in prison.
Cindy grows a friendship with Taystee and Poussey until Vee arrives at the prison and ends up blaming Cindy for her heroin going missing. After the prison riot, Cindy gets early release after she testified against Taystee in the trial for the murder of CO Piscatell. To save herself from receiving more prison time, she had to betray her friend.
Jessica Pimentel as Maria Ruiz
Jessica Pimentel portrays Maria Ruiz, who is pregnant at the beginning of the series and ends up suffering from postpartum depression. During her time at Litchfield, Maria takes on a leadership role at the prison when the Dominican population begins to grow.
During the series, Maria has made a lot of enemies following the riot however her biggest rival is Gloria. Maria is serving time for trafficking counterfeit jeans however ends up getting ten years added to her sentence for her involvement in the prison riot. Gloria made sure that she and several women pointed out that Ruiz was behind the entire riot.
Diane Guerreo as Maritza Ramos
Diane Guerrero stars as Maritza Ramos, who is feisty, ignorant, and self-absorbed. Maritza is also Flaca's best friend and Aleida's prison daughter. Ramos is serving time after she was caught during a car theft scam that went sideways.
At Litchfield, Maritza is at odds with Daya, Aleida's real daughter, after Daya arrives. Maritza is eventually released from prison however is still on parole in NYC. When ICE shows up during a raid at a club, Maritza doesn't have her ID and is detained by ICE. Maritza is sent to the ICE detention center where Flaca attempts to help her get in touch with her mother to get her birth certificate.
However, Flaca finds out that Maritza was not born in the U.S. as she was told. Towards the end of the series, Maritza is put on a plane that is headed to Colombia, and she slowly disappears. The scene is one of the most heartbreaking endings in the series.
Laura Gómez as Blanca Flores
Laura Gómez stars as Blanca Flores, a Dominican who is serving time in prison for helping her employer cover up a hit-and-run. Blanca is first seen in the series as someone who is a bit insane and goes into the bathroom at the prison, talking to herself. Piper later discovers that Blanca is talking to her boyfriend, Diablo on a hidden cell phone in the bathroom stall.
Blanca tells Maria that the COs seem to only stop and frisk the non-Caucasian inmates and that it is not only pointless but degrading. Blanca is told by CO Stratman that he is disgusted by her body odor and orders her to shower or face the consequences. Not wanting to obey his orders, Blanca douses herself with whatever odorous food items she can find. CO Stratman finds out and punishes Blanca by making her stand on a table in the cafeteria with no food or water.
Lea DeLaria as Carrie "Big Boo" Black
Lea DeLaria portrays Carrie Black, known as Big Boo or Boo. Carrie Black is part of Red's prison family however Big Boo is not always loyal to Red and gets involved with assisting Vee and Nicky with selling drugs. Big Boo is friends with Tiffany and becomes very protective over Pennsatucky and seeks revenge on CO Coates known as "Donuts" after she learns what he did to Tiffany.
During the prison riot, Big Boo starts a romance with Linda who is the new senior vice president of MCC, and accidentally gets locked in with the inmates. Linda poses as an inmate however Big Boo finds out who Linda is and turns Linda over to the other inmates, seeking revenge for Litchfield's poor conditions.
Nick Sandow as Joe Caputo
Nick Sandow stars as Joe Caputo, captain of the guard who later becomes Warden. When Caputo is not at Litchfield, he plays bass in his band called Side Boob. Caputo comes off as a pervert however is actually honest and genuinely cares for the women at the prison.
After the prison riot, Joe attempts to help Taystee during her trial and ends up later turning to teaching to run a restorative justice program for the inmates at Litchfield. Joe also becomes romantically involved with Natalie Figueroa known as "Fig" who was the executive assistant to the warden at Litchfield Penitentiary and the two later decide to adopt a child together.