Orange Is the New Black: The Actress Behind Frieda Has Had a Surprising Career

Warning: Spoiler alert for Orange Is the New Black season five.

One of the most interesting supporting characters to emerge on Orange Is the New Black seasons four and five is most definitely Frieda Berlin, played by long time character actress Dale Soules. After being treated to her backstory — young Frieda (played by Mia Sinclair Jenness) had some mad survival skills, even if her dad was a bit much with his survivalist fervor — we find out that present-day Frieda has been hiding a massive bunker in an abandoned pool house underneath the prison, tricked out with all sorts of electronics and tons of nonperishables.

Wait, what? That's amazing.

And it has definitely piqued fans' interest in both Frieda and the actress who plays her. The 71-year-old thespian grew up in New Jersey in the 1940s and '50s, where she was a bit of an outcast at school because she lived in a house with no running water, according to a fan Q&A Soules did on Facebook.

Soules didn't get into onscreen acting until the early 1970s, but Orange Is the New Black is really her first project where she has a sizable part. (Though you may have caught her guest-starring on Law & Order, How to Make It in America, or Unforgettable.)

She is, however, an accomplished stage actress, having appeared in over a dozen Broadway and off-Broadway shows over the years. Soules says she loves theater because it's "a highly collaborative form of storytelling, and the audience is a very important part of that collaboration" where you only get one chance to get it right.

One thing's for sure — now that several Litchfieldians know about Frieda's bunker, it will hopefully be an ongoing addition to the show. We will definitely be seeing more of Frieda, as Deadline reports she was promoted to series regular for the sixth season.