Transcript for 'Orange Is The New Black' Cast on How Show Changed Their Lives

If you've noticed the characters in "Orange is the new black" are incredibly believable, that's because for all the actresses, those dramatic storylines often echo powerful personal experiences. As ABC's Amy robach found out, whether it's race, sexuality, or gender struggles, nothing's off limits with the ladies of Litchfield. All right! Reporter: It's not every day I find myself suiting up for prison. Look at that. Inmate robach. Reporter: Not just any press soon but the set of "Orange is the new black" which Taylor schilling is about to give me the grand tour. We welcome you in and show you what's going on. Commissary? This is thesome Te soso sosome commissary. Coke zero, I feel like that's new. This is Healey's room. No one's going to mess with you here. I want to draw your attention to ambition, anything is possible when you reach for the stars. Because that is isn't annoying to see when you're in prison. No. Reporter: Loosely based on a true story Taylor schilling plays piper Chapman. Strip. Reporter: A preppie Connecticut girl who gets sent to prison for a drug tasking offensive. Hi. I'm Chapman. J. Crews is around the corner. Reporter: It as soap opera behind bars, complete with steamy love affairs, violent catfights, illicit guard/prisoner romances -- Will you marry me? Reporter: A lot of stomach-churning prison food. The show is ground-breaking in its depiction of race, sexuality, gender identity. After all I went through to be me -- Reporter: Laverne cox, who made the cover of "Time" and became the first transgender person nominated for an acting Emmy for her portrayal of Sophia. I don't want to have to ask you. But I don't know what else to do. This is the visitation room. Yes. I think the first time I was here we were at this table. We had this intense scene and I was just -- in heaven. I was just like, this is unbelievable that a black transgender woman from mobile, Alabama, is sitting here. Even though it's prison, it's quite fabulous. Reporter: Caitlyn Jenner cited Laverne as one of the pioneers of the transgender movement and an inspiration for her own very public journey. The reach that she and her family have is enormous. And so the visibility that we have now is unprecedented. And the more of us who are able to come forward, the better it is for our community. So I think it's a really beautiful thing. Reporter: The show has made big stars of its once largely unknown cast. Uzo aduba plays the compelling crazy eyes. Chocolate and vanilla swirl! Uzo -- Reporter: And took home an Emmy for her role. She showed me around the not so private bathroom set scene of many of the show's most ininfamous moments. It's grimy but it smells good. That's not actual dirt. This is paint. When I first came to "Orange" I didn't want to touch anything. I know you said it's paint but I feel like some of it has to be real. Agree to disagree. So this role came right at the exact perfect moment, because you were thinking about walking away from acting? Yeah, not even thinking about it. I had been trying to get into film and television. Hearing no, no, uh, no. I thought, Monday I'm going to call my agent and tell them that I'm going to go to hah scholaw school. 45 minutes later I got a phone call from the agents and they said, do you remember that audition you went on for "Orange is the new black"? And I couldn't believe it. Could not believe it. What'd you do in the first person you told? I called my mom. My mom's from Nigeria. She said, my American dream is you 11ing your dream. To be able to do that, she feels so proud. Did you see that wonderful new documentary about the best sushi in the world? Reporter: Danielle brooks who plays the bubbly, hilarious tasty, had just finished julliard when she auditioned for the show. When I think of you I think, tasty dancing. You have this energy. How are you feeling? That first couple of days? I was terrified. I said to myself, I'm going to be prepared and ready. And I did. And it ended up, here we are in season four. It worked out? It worked out, it worked out. You can do go if you want. I have everything under control. Reporter: Kate Mulgrew almost unrecognizable in her role as the formidable kitchen queen red. I have to stop myself from not calling you character names. Kitt, not red. Call me red, I prefer it. I love that accent because you're from Iowa. It's hard to believe. Why is that hard to believe? Because in my mind, you're Russian. Thank you. Thank you, Amy. How did you develop such an authentic accent? I don't know, it came. Don't tell me where it was residing. It just had lived within me and she sprang to life. Pay me 200 bucks and I'll tell a couple of girls that you're dynamite in bed. Reporter: For Natasha Leone who standard in the "American pie" franchise before battling drug addiction art imitates life in a personal way in her depiction of a heroin-addicted Nikki. Is it difficult to relive that? Or is that something that you feel like is almost a blessing because you're able to really be your character Nikki in ways that others wouldn't be able to? Yeah, I would say it's both. It can be painful for me to feel like I'm not being truthful enough. Because I have firsthand knowledge of what it's like. The biggest part of that is actual drug addiction is pretty sort of boring. It's not cinematic. It's depressing and dark. I can often go home and find myself walking the dog being like, you really blew it at work today. Reporter: Laura prepond is spot on, playing piper's on again, off again sultry love interest. Laura, what's it like to be the femme fatal of the group? Oh, god. It's funny. Because when I first read the character I didn't think of her as this kind of femme fatal person. I know. And then it just -- but yeah, I don't know. It's -- I love my character. She's awesome, she's a badass. Reporter: With a cast layered and authentic, it begs the question -- Have you all thought about how you would be as a prisoner? Uh-huh. Of course. Yeah. We get asked that all the time. Yeah, we do. I don't think I would do as well as Gloria. I will make your life a living hell! I think they want me to show and up throw things and arrgh! You don't know how you'd do. You might do very, very well. You think so? I bet you would. I think we'd all be fine. It's why we kind of like get along. Everyone's like, my god, the cast gets along so well. I think it's because of what they're talking about. Why we don't have any other things. Reporter: For "Nightline," I'm Amy robach on the set of "Orange is the new black" in queens, New York.

This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.