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

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a ...

original comedy-drama series ''

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 ...

'' (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 accolades bestowed by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association beginning in January 1944, recognizing excellence in both American and international film and television. Beginning in 2022, there are 105 members of ...

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 Dark matter is a hypothetical form of matter thought to account for approximately 85% of the matter in the universe. Dark matter is called "dark" because it does not appear to interact with the electromagnetic field, which means it does not ...

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

Mercy Mercy (Middle English, from Anglo-French ''merci'', from Medieval Latin ''merced-'', ''merces'', from Latin, "price paid, wages", from ''merc-'', ''merxi'' "merchandise") is benevolence, forgiveness, and kindness in a variety of ethical, relig ...

'' (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 (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

thriller '' The Titan'' (2018).

Early life and education

Schilling was born July 27, 1984, in Boston, Massachusetts, the daughter of Patricia (née Miller), an MIT administrator, and Robert J. Schilling, a former prosecutor. She grew up in

West Roxbury West Roxbury is a neighborhood in Boston, Massachusetts bordered by Roslindale and Jamaica Plain to the northeast, the town of Brookline to the north, the cities and towns of Newton and Needham to the northwest and the town of Dedham to th ...

and Wayland, dividing her time between her divorced parents. A fan of the NBC 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 with music by Jerry Bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, and book by Joseph Stein, set in the Pale of Settlement of Imperial Russia in or around 1905. It is based on ''Tevye and his Daughters'' (or ''Tevye the ...

''. After graduating from Wayland High School in 2002, Schilling attended

Fordham University Fordham University () is a private Jesuit research university in New York City. Established in 1841 and named after the Fordham neighborhood of the Bronx in which its original campus is located, Fordham is the oldest Catholic and Jesuit un ...

'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 milli ...

, 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 for pursuing a professional education in the visual, fine or performing arts. It is also called Bachelor of Visual Arts (BVA) in some cases. Background The Bachel ...

in 2006. She entered the graduate acting program at

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, th ...

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, Tisch is a training ground for artists, scholars of the a ...

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

Schilling won the

Emerson College Emerson College is a private college with its main campus in Boston, Massachusetts. It also maintains campuses in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California and Well, Limburg, Netherlands ( Kasteel Well). Founded in 1880 by Charles Wesley Emerson as a ...

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 produced outside the major film studio system, in addition to being produced and distributed by independent entertainment companies (or, i ...

'' (2007). In 2009, she starred in the NBC medical drama ''Mercy'' as a tough

Iraq War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Iraq War {{Nobold, {{lang, ar, حرب العراق (Arabic) {{Nobold, {{lang, ku, شەڕی عێراق (Kurdish languages, Kurdish) , partof = the Iraq conflict (2003–present), I ...

veteran and former military nurse-turned-

medical practitioner A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through t ...

. 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 ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...

to audition. ''Mercy'' ran for one season, from September 2009 to May 2010. Schilling portrayed

Dagny Taggart This is a list of characters in Ayn Rand's 1957 novel ''Atlas Shrugged.'' Major characters The following are major characters from the novel. Protagonists Dagny Taggart Dagny Taggart is the protagonist of the novel. She is vice-president in Ch ...

in the film ''Atlas Shrugged: Part I'' (2011), and co-starred with

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

in the romantic drama film ''The Lucky One'' (2012). She starred as Piper Chapman in the Netflix original series ''Orange Is the New Black'', which premiered July 11, 2013. 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. Schilling can be seen as Erica Boyer in the miniseries ''

Pam & Tommy ''Pam & Tommy'' is an American biographical drama miniseries chronicling the marriage between actress Pamela Anderson and Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee, played by Lily James and Sebastian Stan, respectively, during the period their unauthoris ...

'' which premiered February 2, 2022.

Personal life

In 2020, Schilling revealed in an

Instagram Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging. Posts can ...

post that she is dating Emily Ritz, a musical and visual artist. Schilling practices

Transcendental Meditation Transcendental Meditation (TM) is a form of silent mantra meditation advocated by the Transcendental Meditation movement. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi created the technique in India in the mid-1950s. Advocates of TM claim that the technique promotes ...

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 LGBT actresses LGBT people from Massachusetts American LGBT actors American people of German descent Wayland High School alumni Sexually fluid women 21st-century LGBT people