The Truth About Taryn Manning's Troubling Past

Actress Taryn Manning is best known for her roles on "Orange is the New Black" and "8 Mile," and more recently on the comedic drama "Karen." She began her acting career as a teen, starring in several television series, mostly in the late '90s, per IMDb. By the early 2000s, she had moved on to movies.

Outside of acting, Manning is also a DJ and songwriter. She is one-half of a musical pair called Boomkat, which she formed with her brother Kellin in 2003, says Interview Magazine. Together the siblings write and perform electronic pop music, and thus far have released five projects, per Discogs.

Manning was born on November 6, 1978 in Falls Church, Virginia (via TV Guide). The musical dreams that she and her brother pursued likely came from their father, Bill Manning, who was a musician. She spent most of her early childhood in Arizona, exploring her talents in dance and performing arts, and even won a karate championship while she was there. She later moved to California to pursue her acting dreams.

While she was acting long before being cast on the hit Netflix series "Orange is the New Black," her appearance on the show is when her career took off. During the show's run from 2013 to 2019, the role gained Manning more acclaim as an actress, and the majority of the awards that she has won — three of her four Screen Actors Guild awards and a nomination — have been for her character as Tiffany "Pennsatucky" Doggett (via IMDb).

But as her fame grew, so did other issues. Outside of making news for being on the critically-acclaimed show, Manning had problems off-screen. In 2014, she was arrested in New York City for violating a restraining order, reported New York Daily News. The protective order came a year prior when Manning and a former roommate had a dispute, which ultimately led to the court order. But Manning defied the order when she allegedly made threats against her accuser, who also broke the agreement a few months earlier, says Los Angeles Times. Manning attempted to deny the claims when media outlets reported her arrest, but only more would happen in the aftermath.

Evidently in 2015, her former roommate was picked up for also violating the same order Manning had against her, and did some jail time, says Entertainment Tonight. Then in 2016, Manning filed a lawsuit against the city for falsely arresting her when she had a protective order against her stalker (also her accuser), per Page Six.

But a few months before her suit, she was accused of headbutting and making other physical attacks against her makeup artists and friend, per another Page Six link. The pair allegedly had a similar scuffle in 2012 that also landed Manning in legal trouble.

In 2016 she would discuss how mortifying the ordeal was on the Sirius XM radio show "Conversations with Maria Menounos." Manning said her legal issues affected her acting gigs and she came to the realization that her personal problems off-set affected her perception on-set. In 2017, a judge threw out her lawsuit (via Daily Dot) and since then, the actress has stayed out of trouble.