Lauren Lapkus

Dorthea Lauren Allegra Lapkus (born September 6, 1985) is an American actress and comedian, known for portraying Susan Fischer in the Netflix comedy-drama series Orange Is the New Black (2013–2014, 2019) and Jess in the HBO comedy-drama series Crashing (2017–2019). She has also appeared in the television series Are You There, Chelsea? (2012), Hot in Cleveland (2012), Clipped (2015), The Big Bang Theory (2018–2019), and Good Girls (2020–2021) and in the films Jurassic World (2015), The Unicorn (2018), and The Wrong Missy (2020). She played the voice role of Lotta in the animated comedy series Harvey Girls Forever! (2018–2020). Lapkus has appeared on various podcasts, including Comedy Bang! Bang!, improv4humans, and her own podcasts With Special Guest Lauren Lapkus, Laptime with Lauren Lapkus, Threedom, Raised by TV, and Newcomers. Early life Dorthea Lauren Allegra Lapkus was born on September 6, 1985 in Evanston, Illinois. At an early age she filmed sketches with her older brother and later at Evanston Township High School she participated in the annual student revue and variety show YAMO. During her senior year of high school, she began taking improv classes at the iO Theater. She attended DePaul University graduating in 2008 with a degree in English, while she continued performing improv most nights. Lapkus credits watching many television sitcoms and Saturday Night Live while young for inspiring her to become a comedian.