Alex Vause

Alex Vause
Orange Is the New Black character
Laura Prepon as Alex Vause
First appearance	"I Wasn't Ready" Season 1, episode 1 July 11, 2013
Portrayed by	Laura Prepon Rachel Resheff (at age 10)
Information
Significant other(s)	Piper Chapman (wife) Sylvia (ex-girlfriend)
Parents	Diane Vause (mother) Lee Burley (father)

Alexandra "Alex" Vause is a fictional character played by Laura Prepon on the Netflix series Orange Is the New Black. She is a love interest of the protagonist Piper Chapman throughout the series. The character is loosely based on the real ex-girlfriend of Piper Kerman, author of Orange Is the New Black: My Year in a Women's Prison. She is a main character in seasons one, three, and four and a recurring character in season two.

The character of Vause is loosely based on Cleary Wolters, ex-girlfriend of Piper Kerman, the author of Orange Is the New Black: My Year in a Women's Prison, which led to the Orange is the New Black series. In Kerman's book, Vause is given the name Nora Jansen. In actual fact, Kerman and Wolters did not serve their sentences together and they did not reunite in prison as depicted in the series, with the exception of a short period in the care of US Marshals. Wolters remarked that "the only similarity between myself and [Vause] is my black glasses." In 2015, HarperOne released Wolters' memoir entitled Out of Orange.

Vause is introduced in the first episode through flashbacks; she and Chapman were both involved in crimes involving drug money. At the end of the first episode, the audience sees that Vause and Chapman are both serving their sentences in the same prison, Litchfield Penitentiary. The two begin a romantic and sexual relationship in episode six; they are also both involved in a dispute with another inmate, Tiffany "Pennsatucky" Doggett (Taryn Manning), who locks Vause in a dryer and then attempts to kill Chapman in the season finale. Vause was raised solely by her mother and, in the ninth episode 'Fucksgiving', Vause's father is seen to be an influence on her being involved in the drug cartel. When Chapman realises that Vause was the one who told authorities about her illegal drug activities, they break off their relationship. Vause then becomes sexually involved with another inmate, Nicky Nichols (Natasha Lyonne).