Samira Wiley

Samira Wiley is an actress best known for her heartbreaking portrayal of Poussey Washington in Orange Is the New Black (Netflix, 2013–2018) — a fan-favorite character whose death in season four sparked widespread conversation about race, justice, and queer representation on television. Wiley also plays Moira/Ofglen in The Handmaid's Tale (Hulu, 2017–). She and Lauren Morelli, a writer on Orange Is the New Black who came out as lesbian while working on the series, began a relationship on set and married in March 2017. Wiley has spoken movingly about the experience of portraying a queer Black woman on screen while living as a queer Black woman off screen, and about the devastating cultural weight of Poussey's death as both an artistic choice and a statement about how Black queer lives are devalued.