‘Orange Is The New Black’ Season 5: What Does The Cast Look Like Outside Litchfield?

For five seasons “Orange Is The New Black” has delighted audiences with timely and often hilarious storylines. The show is based on the true story of Piper Kerman, who was convicted of felony money laundering in 1998, and documented her time behind bars in a novel sharing the same name as the popular series.

In addition to following Piper (Taylor Schilling), “OITNB” documents the lives of several inmates in various cliques inside Litchfield. While some choose to keep a low profile, flying under the radar, others have embraced their extremes. “OITNB” features members of white supremacist groups and other over-the-top characters.

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During an interview with International Business Times, Kelly Karbacz, who plays Kasey Sankey on “OITNB,” opened up about playing someone so different from herself. She attributed her stripped down appearance with her ability to step so far outside herself. Karbacz, a native of Queens, New York, told IBTimes that the moment she slips into Kasey’s jumpsuit and boots, she takes over.

“It can be liberating as an actor because of the way we are in appearance on the show. We’re so stripped down and kind of gritty and down and dirty,” Karbacz explained. “It really helps me to step into her when I put on the uniform and I walk differently and I talk differently. I feel so free to really, really go there as hard as it may be. She’s so extreme all the time that I have to be willing to give it all I’ve got and go there even if it’s scary or feels so crazy to me.”

“OITNB” has been praised for nailing the reality of maintaining appearances in prison on several occasions. Michael Bigger, the show’s resident makeup artist, opened up to Stylecaster about preparing the cast to get in front of the cameras in 2016. He told the site that prepping the “OITNB” stars doesn’t take long, but said they work hard to keep their appearances true to the people on which they’re based and nail their looks each season.

“We have worked diligently to distinguish each character from the other. I’d say we average about twenty minutes each for makeup along, with time added for tattoos and special effects,” he explained. “We had thousands of photos and shelves of continuity books to keep track of everything.”

Another 2016 article, this time appearing in Elle, praised “OITNB” for staying true to beauty culture in prison. Writer Chandra Bozelko recalled her own time in a maximum security facility, during which she had little access to cosmetics or even a proper mirror. She noted that female prisoners will go to great lengths to maintain some semblance of their normal beauty routine, rocking “the dollar-store black eyeliner and mascara that are prison commissary staples.”

In 2015, Playbill caught up with some of the cast to discuss the show. The conversation turned to their appearances, as the sight praised casting directors for hiring actors of varying body types and appearances and not dolling them up. The stars seemed to agree, maintaining that they had embraced and even enjoyed the lack of glam on the set.

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“We not only have wide diversity in size, age, ethnicity, gender identification and socioeconomic backgrounds of the women inmates at our minimum-security prison, we also have as wide a diversity in those same areas, in the guards, administrators, family and significant others,” Dale Soules, who plays WHO, said. “Speaking for myself, I am not a glamorous person by nature, and I fit right in. I have never had a makeup person so excited about the spider vein under my right eye!”

So what does the cast look like in full glam? Check out the gallery above — can your recognize your favorite “OITNB” stars?