taryn-manning-gqa.jpg

Last time we saw Tiffany "Pennsatucky" Doggett, aka Taryn Manning, we weren't sure if we'd see her again—she was getting the shit beat out of her by prison-mate/frenemy Piper Chapman (Taylor Schilling) on the season finale of Orange Is The New Black. But! She's back on Friday, along with the rest of our favorite convicts, when season two premieres on Netflix. Meth teeth pending. We caught up with Manning to help us make sense of her crazy character.

···

GQ: First things first: those meth teeth.

** **Taryn Manning: It's just make-up. A waterproof-based make-up. It doesn't take too long to apply. It kind of stings when they put it on, because there's some, like, alcohol in it, I guess.

What did you think the first time you smiled in the mirror as Pennsatucky?

** **A lot of feelings rushed through me. Even before I started the role, I thought, This is gonna be intense. Just asking myself, as Taryn, how I would combat any type of backlash because I am a sensitive person, and I'm not this character. And I do get affected by people that think that I am my roles that I play. The teeth did help me—when we came together and made the look up, it all just came together. What else can you do but like just take it to the limit? I kind of like just made that choice when I saw the way I looked.

Does it ever get frustrating to be typecast as "the troubled girl"?

** **I'm definitely typecast—I'm definitely a character actress. It took me a long time to fully accept it and just embrace that. There was a time when I tried to rebel against my stereotype and passed on a bunch of opportunities, because I was dead set in my head that I could, and I would, get other roles. And I did, I have played other types of characters. But then I came to a place in my life where I was like, It's really fun, and it's cool, and I'm lucky. Along the way I've met so many people that would kill to get to play these colorful characters. And they're so beautiful, I mean God forbid, they're like so beautiful that they _can't get _certain types of roles. And that frustration is completely polar, but it's not fun on that end either. Ultimately what I've come to realize is: it's such a hard business and, as corny as it sounds, just to be working consistently, and get to do what I do, in general, is so amazing. The characters are "troubled," but I think troubled, and colorful, and layered, and complex is a better way of putting it.