13 Things You Probably Didn't Know About Orange Is The New Black

The actress who plays Yoga Jones was the voice of Patty Mayonnaise on Doug.

Pablo Schreiber, who plays “Pornstache” Mendez, is Liev Schrieber’s half-brother in real life.

Yael Stone, who plays Morello, is Australian.

This is Crazy Eyes in real life (actress Uzo Aduba).

This is the real Piper and Larry…

Laura Prepon originally auditioned to play Piper.

There is an American Pie reference in the first episode of the series.

Red is actress Kate Mulgrew. You may may know her as Captain Kathryn Janeway from Star Trek…

…and there was a Star Trek reference between her and Nicky where she didn’t know who Spock was.

It’s based on a true story.

Orange Is the New Black is based on the memoir of the same name, written by Piper Kerman. Kerman wrote about her time spent in prison after she was locked up for laundering drug money, and the show borrows heavily from her experiences. The writers veer off in their own narrative directions, of course, but knowing that the fiction of Litchfield Prison draws on fact just makes the show all that more compelling.

Those are real inmates in the opening credits.

The costumes are completely authentic.

The costume designers did extensive research to make sure the characters’ clothes look as realistic as possible. And to truly up the realism factor, they use actual inmate apparel, from the khaki prison scrubs to the officer uniforms. Even the bras and granny panties you see on the show are bought through prison suppliers!