Dale Soules (born ) is an American

actress An actor or actress is a person who portrays a Character (arts), character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek ...

known for starring in '' The Messenger'' and portraying Frieda Berlin in ''

Orange Is the New Black ''Orange Is the New Black'' (sometimes abbreviated to ''OITNB'') is an American comedy-drama streaming television series created by Jenji Kohan for Netflix. The series is based on Piper Kerman's memoir '' Orange Is the New Black: My Year in a Wo ...

'' from 2014 to 2019.

Early life

Soules was born on and grew up in the

Greenwood Lake Greenwood Lake is an interstate lake approximately long, straddling the border of New York and New Jersey. It is located in the Town of Warwick and the Village of Greenwood Lake, New York (in Orange County) and West Milford, New Jersey (in ...

section of

West Milford, New Jersey West Milford is a township in Passaic County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the township's population was 25,850, reflecting a decline of 560 (−2.1%) from the 26,410 counted in the 2000 Census, which had in ...

. She attended

West Milford High School West Milford High School is a four-year comprehensive high school, comprehensive community state school, public Secondary education in the United States, high school that serves students in ninth grade, ninth through twelfth grades from West Mil ...

. While in high school, Soules became interested in acting and began acting in

Summer stock theater In American theater, summer-stock theater is a theater that presents stage productions only in the summer. The name combines the season with the tradition of staging shows by a resident company, reusing stock scenery and costumes. Summer stock t ...

, singing in church choirs and started studying acting at

HB Studio The HB Studio (Herbert Berghof Studio) is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization offering professional training in the performing arts through classes, workshops, free lectures, theater productions, theater rentals, a theater artist residency progra ...

Career

Soules moved to New York in the mid 60s after high school to pursue an acting career, and initially worked behind the scenes in theater in a variety of positions. Her big break came in 1968 when she landed her first Broadway role, the part of Jeanie in the original Broadway production of ''Hair''. She continued to appear in a number of theater productions including four years in the play ''

The Magic Show ''The Magic Show'' is a one-act musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz and a book by Bob Randall. It starred magician Doug Henning. Produced by Edgar Lansbury, Joseph Beruh, and Ivan Reitman, it opened on May 28, 1974 at the Cort Thea ...

'', ''Hands on a Hard Body'', ''Grey Gardens'', and ''

The Crucible ''The Crucible'' is a 1953 play by American playwright Arthur Miller. It is a dramatized and partially fictionalized story of the Salem witch trials that took place in the Massachusetts Bay Colony during 1692–93. Miller wrote the play as a ...

''. Soules joined ''Orange Is the New Black'' during its second season in the recurring role of Frieda Berlin. Starting with the show's sixth season, Soules was promoted to a series regular.

Personal life

Soules is openly lesbian.

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Soules, Dale 1946 births Living people 20th-century American actresses 21st-century American actresses Actresses from New Jersey American film actresses American stage actresses American television actresses American voice actresses People from West Milford, New Jersey American lesbian actresses LGBT people from New Jersey 21st-century LGBT people