Early life

Prepon was born on March 7, 1980 in Watchung, New Jersey. She is the youngest of five children, daughter of Marjorie (née Coll), a high school teacher, and Michael Prepon, an orthopedic surgeon. She is of Russian Jewish and Irish Catholic descent. Her maternal great-great-great-grandfather was Union Army General Joseph Bradford Carr. Prepon's father died during heart surgery in 1993 at age 49; Prepon was 13 years old at the time. She attended Watchung Hills Regional High School. She studied at the Total Theatre Lab in New York City.

Career

1995-2005

Prepon appeared in such plays as A Woman of Property and Ascension Day while in New York. In 1996, she studied drama with acting teacher Caroline Thomas at Thomas' Total Theatre Lab. Later, in September 1997, she premiered on a Levi Strauss-developed show called They Go On, an Internet-based soap opera. Prepon had also worked as a model and has done photo shoots in Paris, Milan, and Brazil.

During her hiatus from That '70s Show, Prepon worked on the independent film The Pornographer: A Love Story. The film tells the story of an obsessive relationship between a director and an actress. She was also in the film Slackers, which is about three best friends trying to scam their way through college who eventually get caught. She was nominated for a Teen Choice Award in 2002 for her role in That '70s Show. In 2001 she got her first chance to get in front of a movie camera in the independent film Southlander, a comedy/music film by Steve Hanft starring Beck, Beth Orton and Hank Williams III, in which she played a young TV telepathic named Seven=Five.

She was a presenter at many different award shows including, Second Annual TV Guide Awards, in 2000, the 2000 Teen Choice Awards, and the 28th Annual American Music Awards in 2001. She has graced the cover of Maxim twice—once with red hair and once with her hair dyed blonde—and has done a TV advertisement for Gap clothing, although it was never aired. Prepon was named one of Stuff magazine's "102 Sexiest Women In The World" in 2002 and one of Maxim magazine's "Hot 100" in 2005. Prepon also had a cameo voice appearance as a United Nations Space Command marine in Halo 2, which was released in 2004. Her first notable film role came in 2004, with the dark drama Lightning Bug which also starred Bret Harrison, Kevin Gage, and Ashley Laurence. Branching into other arenas than acting, Prepon also served as executive producer of the film.

She has been a guest on Late Night with Conan O'Brien in 2003 and 2004, and Last Call with Carson Daly in 2003 and 2005. She also appeared on an episode of MTV's Cribs in 2003.

That '70s Show

Prepon is perhaps best known for her starring role as Donna Pinciotti on the Fox television series That '70s Show, from 1998 to 2006. Donna was Eric Forman's girlfriend and next door neighbor. Randy, who was introduced in the eighth and final season of the series, was Donna's third love interest after Eric was written out of the series.

2005-2010

In 2005, Prepon starred in the film Karla, the true story of Paul Bernardo and his wife Karla Homolka, a Canadian couple who kidnapped, sexually abused and murdered three girls, marking a contrast to her usual lighthearted roles. She was also an executive producer of E! Hollywood Hold'em the same year. Prepon was a cast member of the ABC show October Road, which debuted March 15, 2007. The show was canceled by ABC on May 12, 2008, despite strong ratings and a grassroots campaign from the show's fanbase to keep the show alive. In April 2007, she starred in a short film Once Upon a Time. She also appeared in the 2005 Oxygen film Romancing the Bride. She also was the original voice for Hayley Smith on American Dad! and voiced her in an unaired pilot. She appeared as Lauren, Mary's long-lost sister, on USA Network's In Plain Sight in the episode "A Frond in Need". On February 5, 2010, it was announced that Prepon signed on for Awkward Situations for Men, a pilot on ABC. In 2009, Prepon appeared in How I Met Your Mother as Karen, one of Ted Mosby's girlfriends, in the episode "Sorry, Bro". She reprised the role in the episodes "The Front Porch" in 2009 and "Say Cheese" in 2010. She also appeared in the House M.D. episode "Private Lives".

2011-present

In early 2011, Prepon was on an episode of Castle, playing an actress studying for the role of Nikki Heat, a character created by Castle. Prepon had been working on a web series, Neighbros, with Scott Michael Foster, which they sold to Comedy Central. In February 2011, Prepon was cast as main character Chelsea Newman on the NBC sitcom Are You There, Chelsea?, based on Chelsea Handler's 2008 book Are You There, Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea. NBC cancelled the show on May 11, 2012. She then went on to guest star opposite former That '70s Show cast member Danny Masterson in his show Men at Work. In mid-2012, Prepon signed on to play Alex Vause, a former drug dealer and Piper Chapman's ex-girlfriend, in the Netflix original series Orange Is the New Black, which premiered in July 2013. Prepon was a regular in season 1, but appeared in only four of the 13 episodes in season 2. She returned to play in all 13 episodes of season 3.

In 2016, Prepon and nutritionist Elizabeth Troy co-authored The Stash Plan, an overall wellness book that draws on Prepon's experiences eating organic foods since she was a child, and her more recent struggles with digestive issues, bloating, and low energy. The book debuted on The New York Times Bestseller list, and is a number one New Release and Best Seller on Amazon.com.

In January 2016, Prepon was cast in The Girl on the Train, a psychological thriller film based on the novel of the same name.

Personal life

Prepon dated Christopher Masterson (brother of her That 70's Show co-star Danny Masterson) for seven years, before breaking up with him in 2007. In a November 2007 interview with Women's Health, Prepon stated that she is a Scientologist. Prepon dated actor Scott Michael Foster from 2008 to 2013.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2001	Southlander	Seven Equals Five
2002	Slackers	Reanna Cass
2004	Lightning Bug	Angevin Duvet	Also executive producer
2004	Pornographer: A Love Story, TheThe Pornographer: A Love Story
2006	Come Early Morning	Kim
2006	Karla	Karla Homolka
2007	Once Upon a Time	The Witch	Short film
2007	Chosen One, TheThe Chosen One	Rachel Cruz (voice)
2012	Lay the Favorite	Holly
2012	Kitchen, TheThe Kitchen	Jennifer
2016	The Girl on the Train	Cathy	Post-production

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1998-2006	That '70s Show	Donna Pinciotti	200 episodes Nominated - Teen Choice Award for TV Choice Actress, Comedy Nominated - Youth in Film Award for Best Performance in a TV Series: Young Ensemble Nominated - Teen Choice Award TV - Breakout Performance
2004	King of the Hill	April (voice)	Episode: "Talking Shop"
2005	American Dad!	Hayley Smith (voice)	Unaired pilot
2005	Romancing the Bride	Melissa	Television film
2007-08	October Road	Hannah Jane Daniels	19 episodes
2009-10	How I Met Your Mother	Karen	3 episodes
2009	In Plain Sight	Lauren Hefferman	Episode: "A Frond in Need"
2010	Medium	Kira Hudack	Episode: "How to Beat a Bad Guy"
2010	House	Frankie	Episode: "Private Lives"
2010	Celebrity Ghost Stories	Herself	Episode #2.9
2011	Castle	Natalie Rhodes/Nikki Heat	Episode: "Nikki Heat"
2011	Love Bites	Alex	Episode: "Keep on Truckin'"
2011	Killing Game, TheThe Killing Game	Eve Duncan	Television film
2012	Are You There, Chelsea?	Chelsea Newman	12 episodes
2012	Men at Work	Hannah	Episode: "Plan B"
2013-present	Orange Is the New Black	Alex Vause	Series Regular; Satellite Award for Best Cast - Television Series Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress - Series, Miniseries or Television Film Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series

Web series

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2011	Neighbros	L Boogie	Also director, writer, and editor

Video games

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2004	Halo 2	Marine	Voice

[ Source: Wikipedia ]