<Tr> <Th> Partner (s) </Th> <Td> Ben Foster </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Children </Th> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <P> Laura Prepon (born March 7, 1980) is an American actress, director, and author . She is best known for her role as Donna Pinciotti in all eight seasons of the Fox sitcom That' 70s Show (1998--2006), and for her portrayal of Alex Vause in the Netflix original comedy - drama series Orange Is the New Black (2013--present). Prepon has worked mainly in television . She made her film debut in 2001 with the independent film Southlander . Her other films include the romantic drama Come Early Morning (2006), the comedy Lay the Favorite (2012), the thriller The Girl on the Train (2016), and the drama The Hero (2017). </P> <P> Prepon was born on March 7, 1980, in Watchung, New Jersey, the youngest of five children, to Marjorie (née Coll), a high school teacher, and Michael Prepon, an orthopedic surgeon . She is of Russian Jewish and Irish Catholic descent . Her maternal great - great - great - grandfather was Union Army General Joseph Bradford Carr . Prepon's father died during heart surgery in 1993 at age 49; she was 13 years old at the time . She attended Watchung Hills Regional High School, and later studied at the Total Theatre Lab in New York City . </P>

Who plays alex vause in orange is the new black