Taylor Schilling was born on July 27, 1984, in Boston, Massachusetts. She is the daughter of T. Craig Schilling, a former prosecutor, and Patricia (née Miller), an MIT administrator. She has Irish, English, Scottish, and German ancestry. Schilling was raised in West Roxbury and Wayland, Massachusetts. She attended Wayland High School, graduating in 2002. She then pursued acting at Fordham University, earning her Bachelor of Arts degree in 2006. Following graduation, she entered the graduate acting program at New York University, but left after her first year to pursue acting opportunities.
Schilling began her professional acting career with a minor role in the independent film “Dark Matter” (2007). Her breakthrough role came in 2009 with the lead role of Veronica Flanagan Callahan in the NBC medical drama “Mercy.” Although the series was short-lived, it provided her with significant exposure. She transitioned to film roles, appearing in “Atlas Shrugged: Part I” (2011) and “The Lucky One” (2012) alongside Zac Efron.
In 2013, Schilling gained widespread recognition for her portrayal of Piper Chapman in the Netflix original series “Orange Is the New Black.” The critically acclaimed series, based on Piper Kerman’s memoir, ran for seven seasons (2013-2019). Schilling’s performance earned her nominations for Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series and Golden Globe Awards for Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy.
Following her success in “Orange Is the New Black,” Schilling continued to work in both film and television. She starred in films such as “Stay” (2013), “The Overnight” (2015), “Family” (2018), and “The Public” (2018). She also appeared in the science fiction thriller “The Prodigy” (2019). In television, she starred in the Hulu anthology series “Monsterland” (2020) and the Peacock limited series “Pam & Tommy” (2022), where she portrayed Erica Gavin