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BiographyLast fact-checked July 2026
From Watchung, New Jersey to Point Place, Litchfield, and the director's chair.
Early life
Laura Prepon was born on March 7, 1980, in Watchung, New Jersey, the youngest of five children. Her father, Michael Prepon, was an orthopedic surgeon who died during heart surgery in 1993, when Laura was thirteen; her mother, Marjorie, was a high school teacher and gourmet chef. Raised in a household blending her father's Jewish and her mother's Irish Catholic traditions, Prepon studied dance and acting as a teenager and modeled before turning to television.
That '70s Show
In 1998, at eighteen, Prepon won the role of Donna Pinciotti, the smart, sardonic girl next door on Fox's That '70s Show. The sitcom ran eight seasons and 200 episodes (1998–2006), turning its young ensemble — Prepon, Topher Grace, Mila Kunis, Ashton Kutcher, Danny Masterson, and Wilmer Valderrama — into stars. Donna and Eric's romance became the show's emotional spine, and Prepon's flame-red hair became one of the era's most recognizable TV looks.
The middle years
After the show ended, Prepon led ABC's October Road (2007–08), recurred on How I Met Your Mother as Ted's college girlfriend Karen, guested on House and Castle, and starred in the NBC comedy Are You There, Chelsea? (2012). On film, she took the daring lead role in Karla (2006) and appeared in Lay the Favorite (2012).
Orange Is the New Black
In 2013 Prepon transformed her career as Alex Vause, the international drug smuggler whose history with Piper Chapman drives Netflix's Orange Is the New Black. A main cast member in seasons 1 and 3–7 (recurring in season 2 due to scheduling), she stayed through the 2019 finale. The ensemble won Screen Actors Guild Awards in 2016 and 2017, and Prepon won a Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress in 2014. Her film work in this era included The Girl on the Train (2016) and The Hero (2017).
Directing and full circle
Prepon's directing career began with the web series Neighbros (2011) and the short film Abide with Me, then a season 5 episode of Orange Is the New Black ("The Reverse Midas Touch," 2017). When Netflix revived the That '70s Show universe with That '90s Show (2023–24), Prepon did double duty: appearing as Donna — now married to Eric, a published author, and mom to teenage daughter Leia — while directing ten episodes across the series' three parts. Castmates publicly praised her behind the camera. Netflix ended the show in fall 2024.
Author and entrepreneur
Prepon is a two-time author: The Stash Plan (2016, with Elizabeth Troy) hit the New York Times Best Seller list, and You and I, as Mothers (2020) collected candid conversations about motherhood. She also runs the PrepOn Kitchen cookware line and shares cooking videos under the "Get Your Prep On" banner.
Personal life
Prepon married actor Ben Foster in June 2018; they have a daughter, Ella (born 2017), and a son (born 2020). Foster filed for divorce in November 2024, and the couple reached a settlement in April 2025. Prepon joined the Church of Scientology in 1999 but said in 2021 that she had not practiced since 2016.