<P> Piper Chapman ( played by Taylor Schilling ) is a woman who was sentenced to 15 months in Litchfield Penitentiary for helping her former girlfriend Alex Vause smuggle drug money in Europe several years before the first episode . The first season shows Piper 's journey through the prison system , beginning with her rough first week , during which she accidentally makes several enemies and struggles to adapt to life on the inside , as well as reuniting with Alex . In prison , she acquires several other nicknames throughout the series . `` Crazy Eyes '' calls her `` Dandelion '' because she is tall and blonde , `` Pennsatucky '' refers to her as `` College , '' and Tricia refers to her as `` Brain , '' because she is more educated than most of the inmates . Piper is assigned a bunk with Claudette , who treats her rudely at first , but eventually warms up to her . Piper is assigned to the Women 's Advisory Council ( WAC ) , despite not running and asking Healy not to put her on it . She works in the electrical shop at the prison and inadvertently takes a screwdriver from the tool crib and loses it . Her ambiguous sexuality is a source of amusement to her best friend Polly , and of frustration to her fiancé Larry . She is initially considered non-threatening by most of the other inmates . Although she does her best to have empathy and be helpful to others , she is often accused of being profoundly self - obsessed , and she only comes to realize that this might be true after being sent to prison . She becomes enemies with Tiffany after she ridiculed her religious beliefs , and ended up beating her severely after a failed attempt on her life at the end of the first season , knocking out all of her teeth . </P>
<P> Piper Chapman ( played by Taylor Schilling ) is a woman who was sentenced to 15 months in Litchfield Penitentiary for helping her former girlfriend Alex Vause smuggle drug money in Europe several years before the first episode . The first season shows Piper 's journey through the prison system , beginning with her rough first week , during which she accidentally makes several enemies and struggles to adapt to life on the inside , as well as reuniting with Alex . In prison , she acquires several other nicknames throughout the series . `` Crazy Eyes '' calls her `` Dandelion '' because she is tall and blonde , `` Pennsatucky '' refers to her as `` College , '' and Tricia refers to her as `` Brain , '' because she is more educated than most of the inmates . Piper is assigned a bunk with Claudette , who treats her rudely at first , but eventually warms up to her . Piper is assigned to the Women 's Advisory Council ( WAC ) , despite not running and asking Healy not to put her on it . She works in the electrical shop at the prison and inadvertently takes a screwdriver from the tool crib and loses it . Her ambiguous sexuality is a source of amusement to her best friend Polly , and of frustration to her fiancé Larry . She is initially considered non-threatening by most of the other inmates . Although she does her best to have empathy and be helpful to others , she is often accused of being profoundly self - obsessed , and she only comes to realize that this might be true after being sent to prison . She becomes enemies with Tiffany after she ridiculed her religious beliefs , and ended up beating her severely after a failed attempt on her life at the end of the first season , knocking out all of her teeth . </P>
who plays the blonde in orange is the new black
who plays the blonde in orange is the new black
Taylor Schilling
Taylor Schilling