At 'OITNB,' we really work to keep to the formula that's made this show so popular with everyone who watches it, which is to have really good characters and really interesting stories.

I typically try not to think too hard about what I'm going to do in a certain scene with a certain actor in a certain moment because I think that kind of lends its way to not being as improvisational and sort of carefree as one would hope.

When you do television, you're filming out of sequence sometimes. You have to ground yourself very quickly in the character and in the work and in the words. I think theater allowed me that sort of sharp, quick focus to do that.

In 2006, I made the decision to go after my dream. I was living in Atlanta and had a promising career in marketing, but I took a leap of faith and decided to move to New York, enroll in graduate school, and pursue acting.

I think, overall, there is a lack of diversity in the arts. I'm thinking about when I was in grad school: I could probably count on one hand the number of minority students in the graduate school program.

As women, we're supposed to bear the burden of raising our families and then also financially providing for them as well, and it's difficult when you're already starting off making less than the average.

I think there's this idea that if we put up a play with all African-Americans or all Latinas, or even if we mix it up, then it won't really sell to a mainstream audience. At the end of the day, what's going to drive the story being told is what's going to drive people to the seats.

We think of our prison inmates as the dregs of society, and we scorn them and push them off to the side and forget about them. We have to remember that they are humans, and they have rights, and yes, they did wrong, but we all have one shot at doing wrong, you know?

One of the things I love about 'Orange' is I think we bring to light a lot of topics that, particularly in terms of prison, might go untalked about.

I am obsessed with Green Tidings deodorant - it's this natural deodorant.