Laura Prepon

Laura Helene Prepon (born March 7, 1980) is an American actress.

Prepon's father died during heart surgery in 1993 at age 49; she was 13 at the time.

She attended Watchung Hills Regional High School until she was 15, then studied at the Total Theatre Lab in New York City.

Her father was Jewish, of Russian Jewish descent, and her mother has mostly Irish Catholic ancestry.

Her maternal great-great-great-grandfather was Union Army General Joseph Bradford Carr.

Prepon appeared in plays such 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.

She rose to fame with her role as Donna Pinciotti in the Fox sitcom That '70s Show (1998–2006).

Prepon starred as Donna Pinciotti on the Fox sitcom That '70s Show from 1998 to 2006.

Donna became the girlfriend and next-door neighbor of Eric Forman (Topher Grace).

Randy Pearson (Josh Meyers), who was introduced in the eighth and final season of the series, became Donna's third love interest after Grace left the series.

Prepon attended film school while she worked on That '70s Show.

Prepon made her film debut in 2001 with the independent drama Southlander.

In 2001, she made her film debut in Steve Hanft's musical comedy-drama Southlander with Beck, Beth Orton and Hank Williams III, where she played Seven=Five, a young TV telepathic.

Prepon co-starred in the college comedy Slackers (2002), about three best friends who are blackmailed for cheating their way through college.

She was nominated for a Teen Choice Award in 2002 for her role in That '70s Show.

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.

She also appeared on an episode of MTV's Cribs in 2003.

In 2004, Prepon worked on the independent drama film The Pornographer: A Love Story.

The film tells the story of an obsessive relationship between a director and an actress.

Prepon 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 with Bret Harrison, Kevin Gage and Ashley Laurence.

Branching into other arenas than acting, Prepon also served as executive producer of the film.

She also appeared in the 2005 Oxygen romantic comedy Romancing the Bride.

She also was the original voice for Hayley Smith on the Fox animated sitcom American Dad! and voiced her in an unaired pilot.

She appeared as Lauren, the long-lost sister of Mary Shannon (Mary McCormack) in the USA Network mystery drama In Plain Sight in the episode "A Frond in Need".

Her other films include the romantic drama Come Early Morning (2006), the comedy Lay the Favorite (2012), the thriller The Girl on the Train (2016), and the drama The Hero (2017).

Prepon was born in Watchung, New Jersey.

She is the youngest of five children of Marjorie (née Coll), a high school teacher and gourmet home chef, and Michael Prepon, an orthopedic surgeon.

In 2006, Prepon co-starred with Misha Collins in the psychological thriller Karla, based on 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 co-starred with Bryan Greenberg as Hannah Daniels in the ABC drama October Road, which debuted March 15, 2007.

In April 2007, she starred in a dramatic short film Once Upon a Time.

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 2009, Prepon appeared in the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother as Karen, one of the girlfriends of Ted Mosby (Josh Radnor), in the episode "Sorry, Bro".

She reprised her role in the episodes "The Front Porch" in 2009 and "Say Cheese" in 2010.

On February 5, 2010, it was announced that Prepon signed on to star in Awkward Situations for Men, a pilot on ABC.

She is also known for portraying Alex Vause in the Netflix comedy-drama series Orange Is the New Black (2013–2019).