Taylor Schilling (born July 27, 1984) is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Piper Chapman on the

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

original comedy-drama series ''

Orange Is the New Black ''Orange Is the New Black'' (sometimes abbreviated to ''OITNB'') is an American comedy-drama 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 Women's Pr ...

'' (2013–2019), for which she received a nomination for the

Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series This is a list of winners and nominees of the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series. Beginning with the 18th Primetime Emmy Awards, leading actresses in comedy have competed alone. However, these comedic performance ...

and two

Golden Globe Award The Golden Globe Awards are awards presented for excellence in both international film and television. It is an annual award ceremony held since 1944 to honor artists and professionals and their work. The ceremony is normally held every Janua ...

nominations for Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy and Best Actress – Television Series Drama. She made her film debut in the 2007 drama ''

Dark Matter In astronomy, dark matter is an invisible and hypothetical form of matter that does not interact with light or other electromagnetic radiation. Dark matter is implied by gravity, gravitational effects that cannot be explained by general relat ...

''. She also starred as Nurse Veronica Flanagan Callahan in the short-lived

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

medical drama ''

Mercy Mercy (Middle English, from Anglo-French , from Medieval Latin , "price paid, wages", from Latin , "merchandise") is benevolence, forgiveness, and kindness in a variety of ethical, religious, social, and legal contexts. In the social and le ...

'' (2009–2010). Her other films include '' Atlas Shrugged: Part I'' (2011), the romantic drama '' The Lucky One'' (2012), the comedy '' Take Me'' (2017), and the

science-fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, sp ...

thriller '' The Titan'' (2018).

Early life and education

Schilling was born July 27, 1984, the daughter of Patricia (née Miller), an

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of modern technology and sc ...

administrator, and Robert J. Schilling, a former prosecutor. She grew up in

West Roxbury West Roxbury is a neighborhood in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, bordered by Roslindale and Jamaica Plain to the northeast, the village of Chestnut Hill and the town of Brookline to the north, the city of Newton to the northwest, t ...

and Wayland, dividing her time between her divorced parents. A fan of the

medical drama '' ER'' in her youth, she began acting at a young age. She became active in her middle school's theatre program when she appeared in their production of ''

Fiddler on the Roof ''Fiddler on the Roof'' is a musical theatre, musical with music by Jerry Bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, and musical theatre#Book musicals, book by Joseph Stein, set in the Pale of Settlement of Russian Empire, Imperial Russia in or around 19 ...

''. After graduating from

Wayland High School Wayland High School is the public high school for the town of Wayland, Massachusetts, United States. During the 2022-2023 school year, there were 824 students enrolled at the high school. Wayland High School is consistently ranked as one of the b ...

in 2002, Schilling attended

Fordham University Fordham University is a Private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit research university in New York City, United States. Established in 1841, it is named after the Fordham, Bronx, Fordham neighborhood of the Bronx in which its origina ...

's campus at

Lincoln Center Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (also simply known as Lincoln Center) is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It has thirty indoor and outdoor facilities and is host to 5 ...

, where she continued to take part in stage productions while earning her

Bachelor of Fine Arts A Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) is a standard undergraduate degree for students pursuing a professional education in the visual arts, Fine art, or performing arts. In some instances, it is also called a Bachelor of Visual Arts (BVA). Background ...

in 2006. She entered the graduate acting program at

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

Tisch School of the Arts The New York University Tisch School of the Arts (commonly referred to as Tisch) is the performing, cinematic, and media arts school of New York University. Founded on August 17, 1965, as the School of the Arts at New York University, Tisch ...

to continue her acting studies, but left after her second year. While attempting to break into acting, she supported herself by working as a nanny for a Manhattan-based family.

Career

2007—2012: Beginnings

Schilling won the

Emerson College Emerson College is a private college in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It also maintains campuses in Los Angeles and Well, Limburg, Netherlands (Kasteel Well). Founded in 1880 by Charles Wesley Emerson as a "school of Public Speaking, o ...

Playwright's Festival Outstanding Performance Award. She made her feature-film debut with a supporting role in the

independent film An independent film, independent movie, indie film, or indie movie is a feature film or short film that is film production, produced outside the Major film studios, major film studio system in addition to being produced and distributed by independ ...

'' (2007). In 2009, she starred in the NBC medical drama series, ''

'' as a former military nurse returning home after a tour in

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

. When she read for the part via videotape from New York City, she impressed the show's creator and executive producer, Liz Heldens, who flew her to

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

to audition. ''Mercy'' ran for one season, from September 2009 to May 2010. The following year, Schilling portrayed the leading role of Dagny Taggart in the political science fiction drama film, '' Atlas Shrugged: Part I'', an adaptation of part of the philosopher

Ayn Rand Alice O'Connor (born Alisa Zinovyevna Rosenbaum; , 1905March 6, 1982), better known by her pen name Ayn Rand (), was a Russian-born American writer and philosopher. She is known for her fiction and for developing a philosophical system which s ...

's 1957 novel of the same name, the film is the first in a trilogy encompassing the entire book. The film received negative reviews from critics. In 2012, Schilling starred alongside

Zac Efron Zachary David Alexander Efron (; born October 18, 1987) is an American actor. Efron began acting professionally in the early 2000s and rose to prominence as a teen idol for his leading role as Troy Bolton in the ''High School Musical'' film ...

in the romantic drama film, '' The Lucky One'' based on

Nicholas Sparks Nicholas Charles Sparks (born December 31, 1965) is an American novelist, screenwriter, and film producer. He has published twenty-three novels, all ''New York Times'' bestsellers, and two works of nonfiction, with over 115 million copies sold ...

’ 2008 novel of the same name. The movie received negative reviews but grossed over $99.4 million worldwide. At the 2012 Teen Choice Awards, Schilling received nomination for Choice Movie Actress: Romance. In 2013 she had supporting role in ''

Argo In Greek mythology, the ''Argo'' ( ; ) was the ship of Jason and the Argonauts. The ship was built with divine aid, and some ancient sources describe her as the first ship to sail the seas. The ''Argo'' carried the Argonauts on their quest fo ...

'' directed by

Ben Affleck Benjamin Géza Affleck (born August 15, 1972) is an American actor and filmmaker. His accolades include two Academy Awards, two BAFTA Awards, and three Golden Globes. Affleck began his career as a child when he starred in the PBS educatio ...

, but most of her scenes were cut.

2013–2019: ''Orange Is the New Black''

In 2013, Schilling began starring as Piper Chapman in the Netflix comedy-drama series ''

'' based on Piper Kerman, author of the non-fiction book '' Orange Is the New Black: My Year in a Women's Prison''. For her work on the show, Schilling was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Television Series – Drama and the

in 2014. She won three Satellite Awards for Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy: in 2013, 2015 and 2016 and three Screen Actors Guild Awards for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series. The series ended in 2019. During her time in ''Orange Is the New Black'', Schilling starred in a number of movies. She played the lead in the 2013 Canadian romantic drama film, ''

Stay Stay may refer to: Places * Stay, Kentucky, an unincorporated community in the US Law * Stay of execution, a ruling to temporarily suspend the enforcement of a court judgment * Stay of proceedings, a ruling halting further legal process in a tr ...

'' directed by Wiebke von Carolsfeld. The film received mostly negative reviews from critics. In 2015 she starred alongside Adam Scott in the sex comedy '' The Overnight''. The film premiered at the

2015 Sundance Film Festival The 2015 Sundance Film Festival took place from January 22 to February 1, 2015. ''What Happened, Miss Simone?'', a biographical documentary film about American singer Nina Simone, opened the festival. Comedy-drama film '' Grandma'', directed by ...

to positive reviews. Also in 2015, Schilling made her off-Broadway debut starring in play '' A Month in the Country''. She made a guest starring appearance in an episode of ''

Drunk History ''Drunk History'' is an American educational comedy television series produced by Comedy Central, based on the Funny or Die web series created by Derek Waters and Jeremy Konner in 2007. Will Ferrell and Adam McKay are the show's executive p ...

'' in 2016. In 2017, Schilling starred in the comedy film '' Take Me'' directed by Pat Healy, and appeared in the comedy-drama ''

Phil Phil may refer to: * Phil (given name), a shortened version of masculine and feminine names * Phill, a given name also spelled "Phil" * Phil, Kentucky, United States * Phil (film), ''Phil'' (film), a 2019 film * -phil-, a lexical fragment, used as ...

'' by

Greg Kinnear Gregory Buck Kinnear (born June 17, 1963) is an American actor and former talk show host. He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in '' As Good as It Gets'' (1997). Kinnear has appeared in many popular films, ...

. She starred alongside

Emilio Estevez Emilio Estevez (; born May 12, 1962) is an American actor and filmmaker. The son of actor Martin Sheen and the older brother of Charlie Sheen, he made his film debut with an uncredited role in '' Badlands'' (1973). He later received his first ...

in the drama film, ''

The Public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichkei ...

'', which premiered at the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival. She starred alongside Sam Worthington in the science fiction thriller film '' The Titan'', and played the leading role in the comedy film ''

Family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

'', both released in 2018. In 2019, Schilling starred in the horror film ''

The Prodigy The Prodigy are an English electronic music band formed in Braintree, Essex, in 1990 by producer, keyboardist, and songwriter Liam Howlett. The original line-up also featured Rapping, MC and vocalist Maxim (musician), Maxim, dancer and occasi ...

''.

2020—present

In 2020, Schilling starred in an episode of the horror-anthology series, '' Monsterland''. The following year she starred alongside Audra McDonald in the satirical science fiction horror series, '' The Bite'' created by Robert King and Michelle King. She was featured as Erica Boyer in the Hulu miniseries ''

Pam & Tommy ''Pam & Tommy'' is a 2022 American biographical drama television miniseries chronicling the marriage between actress and model Pamela Anderson and Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee, played by Lily James and Sebastian Stan, respectively, during t ...

'' which premiered February 2, 2022. In 2023 she played the leading role in the Apple TV+ drama series, '' Dear Edward''. She also starred in the horror-thriller film, ''Queen of Bones'' directed by Robert Budreau. In 2024, Schilling made her stage return playing the leading role in Second Stage Theater production of ''The Apiary''.

Personal life

In 2020, Schilling revealed in an

Instagram Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...

post that she was then dating Emily Ritz, a musical and visual artist. Schilling practices Transcendental Meditation. In 2023, Schilling confirmed in a podcast, ''Expanders'' with Jess Rona, that she and Ritz had broken up two years previously.

Filmography

Film

Television

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Schilling, Taylor 1984 births 21st-century American actresses Actresses from Boston American film actresses American television actresses Fordham University alumni Living people People from Suffolk County, Massachusetts People from Wayland, Massachusetts Tisch School of the Arts alumni American LGBTQ actresses LGBTQ people from Massachusetts American people of German descent Wayland High School alumni Sexually fluid women 21st-century American LGBTQ people