<Tr> <Th> Occupation </Th> <Td> Actress, singer </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Years active </Th> <Td> 2011--present </Td> </Tr> <P> Danielle Brooks (born September 17, 1989) is an American actress . She is best known for her role as Tasha "Taystee" Jefferson on the Netflix original series Orange Is the New Black, and for her Tony Award - nominated portrayal of Sofia in the 2015 Broadway production of The Color Purple . </P> <P> Brooks was born in Augusta, Georgia, and grew up in Greenville, South Carolina, in a Christian family; her father was a deacon, and her mother, a minister . She began acting at the age of six in a nativity play put on by her church . For her final two years of high school, she attended South Carolina Governor's School for the Arts & Humanities, a selective arts high school . She studied drama at the Juilliard School and graduated in 2011 . </P>

Who plays taystee on orange is the new black