What You Don't Know About The Cast Of Orange Is The New Black

Natasha Lyonne, who happens to be very well-acquainted with OITNB castmate Jason Biggs from their American Pie days, has always been open and honest about her struggle with drugs. This made her role as Nicky Nichols, an incarcerated heroin addict, particularly biting. During the series, we learn that Nichols had heart surgery after developing a bacterial infection from persistent heroin use. Though Lyonne had been sober for five years, she underwent the same surgery in 2012. The scar that's regularly shown on Nichols' chest isn't some fancy FX makeup. It's real life.

Things started to fall apart for Lyonne after American Pie. She got a DUI in 2001 and was later admitted to an ICU with a collapsed lung and Hepatitis C. In 2006, she attended court-ordered rehab, and that's when things started to change for the better.

"I was definitely as good as dead," she told Entertainment Weekly. "A lot of people don't come back. That makes me feel wary and self-conscious. I wouldn't want to feel prideful about it. People really rallied around me and pulled me up by my f***ing bootstraps. There was a warrant for my arrest, which helped too."

Lyonne was able to channel her struggle into her work on OITNB, which helped land the cast three SAG Awards for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series.

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