Alysia Reiner – Orange is the New Black

By: Kelly Kearney

Q) What are the recent projects that you’ve been working on?

Alysia: On the prison level, there are some fantastic organizations that I’ve been working with like Fearless Beauty, which teaches women in prison beautician skills. What else am I doing? I’m just wrapping Season 2 of “The Deuce,” which starts airing September 9^th where you can watch me play a 1970’s porn agent. I have a really beautiful arc on that. You can watch me on Season 3 of “Better Things.” My movie, Equity is on iTunes now and the second movie I produced and starred in called Egg was just at Tribeca and hopefully you will be able to see it in the theaters soon.

Q) Last season on “Orange is the New Black” found Fig working to broker a deal between the rioting inmates and the prison. Without spoiling anything, what can we expect from Natalie this season?

Alysia: You know, [pauses] it’s always so hard to talk about a new season of this particular show because the fun of it, is the surprise of it. I think one of the interesting things we did in Season 5 was her relationship with Caputo (Nick Sandow), which continues, and she did come back to the prison. I will say, personally, when I left in Season 2 I didn’t know if that would happen. Like, would she ever go through those doors again? So, its been really interesting seeing what’s gonna be her new role in this new world because this season really is a new world.

Q) Natalie Figueroa is one tough broad. How do you get into character?

Alysia: You know, I was doing a little press this morning and I had a realization; with her, I feel like I don’t get into character. She gets in to me. You don’t always experience that, but I think that’s one of those things about playing a role for a long time. They sort of have a voice of their own. I remember when I first go this job and I didn’t know anything about this world at all, I did a lot of research. I spoke to a lot of wardens and assistant wardens and visited a prison and did a lot of research. This was like when the role was only a couple of lines. I just made some decisions about who she was and how she got there and I wrote for myself that she was dyslexic and wanted to be a lawyer but couldn’t pass the bar. I mean I wrote a whole story for her and now, as we start to shoot Season 7, that’s just part of it. She has her own world and I don’t have to think as much about it I can just play it. The other thing I will say about that is brilliant writing allows you to do that. If you have great writing, you don’t need to do much else.

Q) Fig and Caputo are my favorite “Wardens with Benefits.” The chemistry between you and Nick Sandow is undeniable. What’s it like working with Nick and will we see you two go head to head this season?

Alysia: [Laughing] Thank you! It’s true. First of all, Nick is a spectacular human and a fantastic director as well. You know a bunch of our cast directed this year and my favorite episodes I think were the ones that he and Laura Prepon directed. She did a great job, too. I think there’s just something very special about actors who direct, knowing how to direct on both a visual level and on an acting level. In particularly, in Laura’s case, she’s done it so long. As for Caputo, I think it’s fair to say that you will definitely see us both and it’s fair to say we will both be fighting. I know that’s a very non-spoilery thing to say. [laughs]

Q) It was reported that you originally auditioned for another role on the show. If you weren’t playing Fig, which role would you have loved to sink your teeth into?

Alysia: Many roles actually! Now, I wouldn’t want to play anything but Fig, but I originally auditioned to play Alex and then Polly, the best friend. Then, they offered me Fig. She was two lines when they first offered it to me so It’s a great example for an actor, like you never know.

Q) The fans of this show are exuberant and loyal and Fig is their favorites ex-warden they love to hate. Have you had any unusual or funny fan encounters you can share?

Alysia: I get a lot of “you look just like that girl from that show.” Some people don’t realize I don’t really look like her, you know? I will say the other thing that I get, my favorite, I was in Sweet Green here in L.A. or one of those salady places…oh Veggie Grill! So, I was at Veggie Grill and ordered a bunch of stuff for me, my husband and my daughter and the person behind the counter just stared at me and was like, “Ah…ah…I’m sorry, I couldn’t hear a word you just said because I thought you were gonna arrest me and I got really scared.” [laughing] They were so dead serious and weren’t laughing about it and it was so hilarious! I scared them!

Q) Is there someone in the cast that you haven’t worked with in the past that you would love to share scenes with in the future?

Alysia: Oh, great question! I never worked with Black Cindy, I mean Adrienne [C. Moore] and there’s so much of the cast I’ve never worked with. So, I would love to do a scene with her. I mean we did a tiny scene together, but I would love to do a scene with Selenis [Leyva] or with Kate Mulgrew! Oh my God! There’s so many…I would love to do one with Flaca (Jackie Cruz)! I want to see Flaca and Maritza (Diane Guerrero) give Fig some beauty advice. [laughing] So, pretty much everyone I’ve never done a scene with, I would love to do a scene with because they’re all brilliant.

Q) What have been some of your favorite Fig moments throughout the seasons?

Alysia: It’s this season and I don’t want to tell you. There’s so many amazing Fig surprises in this season so I really don’t want to tell you, but you’ll see. Fig has some surprising moments for sure.

Q) There are so many talented and hilarious women in this cast. Do you have any fun behind the scenes stories you can share with the fans?

Alysia: I wish! Because, again, I don’t get a lot of time to shoot with the girls and that’s really sad for me because we all love each other so much! So, I can’t say I do, but I have a fantasy that I just thought of today. I want to do Fig and Linda (Beth Dover) in group therapy. I want to do a “Funny or Die” video of Fig and Linda in therapy. Or maybe Fig, Linda and Caputo in group therapy. I don’t know.

Q) You are a part of social media. Do you enjoy the instant fan feedback to “Orange” episodes?

Alysia: I absolutely love it and then there’s a part of me that doesn’t love social media because I think it does take us out of our lives in a way that were not present to living our lives because we are so busy taking a picture of it or hash tagging it and I think that can be really dangerous for our society on a deep level. Having said that, the beauty of social media is that fan connection. That’s one of my favorite things about it.

Q) I know you are involved in environmental conservation groups like Cool Effect. For people who want to help but may not know what they can do to make a difference, what are three easy steps you take to help reduce your carbon footprint?

Alysia: Oh, my goodness, what a great question! First of all, go to Cool Effect because they have fantastic suggestions over there. Also, I just started working with savethefood.com and here’s a really great way to reduce your carbon footprint. Stopping your food waste. Get ready for crazy statistics time. Most Americans throw away twenty pounds of food a month. A MONTH! If you take all of America, we throw away one hundred and eighteen billion dollars’ worth of food a year. Its kind of sickening, so reducing your food waste and learning how to do that at savethefood.com is a really amazing thing you can do. Number two, it’s so easy to be a little more aware of turning off your lights. There all these tiny things you can do, like walking more or using less water, turning it off when you’re soaping your body or turning off the water when you’re brushing your teeth. There are all these little things we can do.