Sophia Burset

«I did my . I’m looking forward now, and you and your hair should do the same.» — Sophia Burset to Piper Chapman after they are both released.

Sophia Burset (born Marcus Burset) is an inmate who was incarcerated at Litchfield Penitentiary. In S6, she was sent to Maximum Security due to the aftermath of the riot that took place in S5. She also was let out of prison on early release in Season Six. She previously worked as one of the prison’s hairstylists, until she was sent to the SHU and Maria Ruiz’s group took over her salon as a place to deal drugs. She is portrayed by actress Laverne Cox. She is based on Vanessa Robinson from Piper Kerman’s memoir, Orange is the New Black: My Year in a Women’s Prison.

Personality

Sophia is a friendly person in general, and finds joy from her job in the salon. Beauty activities seem to be the main way she passes her in prison.

Her relationships with family, colleagues, and other inmates are often complicated because she is a transgender woman. Her son is resentful and angry her decision to transition; her wife Crystal is supportive but frustrated by the treatment she receives from her own family and because of that support; the sexual relationship between her and her wife is strained and complicated; and the other inmates directly insult, commit many microaggressions towards, and even commit hate crimes directed towards her.

Despite her difficulties with transphobia, she is even tempered and tries not to let the insults get to her. This is shown in her generally upbeat attitude and kindness towards others. She does not even truly retaliate until she is in danger. Even when she does fight back, she yells «Leave me alone!» instead of anything verbally abusive. Anger does not seem to be her coping mechanism in dealing with frustrations from the outside world.

Much of her criminal history has been shaped by her desire to win over her son’s love after he becomes deeply upset by Sophia transitioning. She values her job as parent and provider — even resorting to fraud when it becomes necessary. Her inability to provide and care for her son is a large source of guilt.

Having grown up biologically male and experienced male privilege for most of her life, Sophia is revealed to have some misogynistic views. She encourages her son to find an insecure girl to have sex with so he can «practice» sex. Classism also seems to be a subtle part of her outlook. She assumes Benny is responsible for a fight that involved her son simply because he is from a less privileged neighborhood.

Physical Appearance

Sophia is 6’0″ tall and wears a light chestnut wig. She is always done up nicely and wears lipstick.

Biography

Before Litchfield

For a list of episodes featuring Sophia’s flashbacks, see here.

M. Lamar as Sophia pre-transition (Marcus) in «Lesbian Request Denied».

Before transitioning, Sophia was a firefighter named Marcus and was married to Crystal, with whom she had a son, Michael. To pay for her sex-reasment operations, she stole credit cards, boosting them to finance her surgeries. Throughout the entire process, her unknowing wife stuck by her, but Michael had difficulty accepting that his biological father was transgender and decided to get back at her by rming the police of her crime.

Season One

Sophia is first seen in «I Wasn’t Ready», where she compliments Piper’s hair and tells her to come by Sophia’s salon when she needs her roots doing. In «Tit Punch», Piper manages to trade some of Sophia’s shea butter for a lock of her own hair, which Sophia weaves into Taystee’s hair. The shea butter is one of the ingredients that Piper uses to create a painkilling balm for Red’s back, thus ending her starvation punishment for insulting Red’s food. Sophia spends the first half of the first season railing against a reduction in her hormone dosage, which is ed to be over concerns liver damage, but she is convinced it is discrimination (in fact, it is hinted at being due to Figueroa’s embezzlement). She becomes a friend of Sister Jane, originally in an attempt to convince the nun to give her some of her hormones. Jane convinces her to try to reconcile with her son, and also to let Crystal move on.

Sophia has to contend with being the only trans woman in the prison and bearing the brunt of all the transphobia directed at her by both inmates and staff.

Sophia appears to have an ongoing rivalry with Danita, who also runs a hair salon at Litchfield, but has only been mentioned so far.

It’s revealed that she had been in Litchfield for two years prior to Season Two. As of «Fucksgiving», she has three years and eight months of her sentence left.

Season Two

Sophia applied for furlough when her father had a lung transplant that didn’t take. Sophia had a very distant relationship with her father after her transition, but when he started dying, he began to accept her and even called her his daughter («Appropriately Sized Pots»).

During the second season, she is shown being visited by her son in prison for the first , and they are seen making amends. Sophia also develops friendships with Red, who goes to her for a makeover when she learns Vee has returned, and surprisingly, Tiffany, who has mellowed out considerably.

Season Three

Throughout much of the season Sophia and Gloria feel and the helplessness that comes with being a mother behind bars, and Gloria asks Sophia if Crystal can give her son, Benny, rides up to the prison with her Michael. Shortly after, Michael starts swearing, acting belligerently and getting into fights, which causes Sophia to blame his actions on Benny being a bad influence. Angered, Sophia retracts the offer to give Benny rides to the prison. It’s later revealed that the bad behavior was Michael’s doing, not Benny’s, which just causes tempers to flare even more between Sophia and Gloria. A verbal altercation in the bathroom culminates with Sophia shoving Gloria into a wall, which gives her a black eye. Sophia appears to be genuinely sorry, but does not apologize to Gloria either for the shove or for the fact that she was wrong the situation between Michael and Benny. Their fight leads to Aleida spreading transphobic rumors Sophia, causing Sophia’s salon to be boycotted and leading to her being harassed and attacked by a number of inmates. Gloria is seen to be remorseful the situation and is angry at Aleida’s actions.

Sophia, seen in the SHU at the end of «Don’t Make Me Come Back There».

Due to the situation, Sophia threatens to sue Litchfield for low security and control. This blows up in her face, however, when she is sent to the SHU for «her own protection». This is ordered by MCC, not Caputo, who sees the unfairness of the situation and tries his best to get Sophia out of the SHU, but is unsuccessful.

At the end of Season Three, Sophia is still in the SHU being treated exactly like the other inmates, despite the fact that she is ostensibly there for «protection».

Caputo looking at Sophia in the SHU as seen in the Season Four trailer.

Season Four

Sophia is seen still in the SHU, having had her wig taken from her.

Crystal finds out that Sophia is in the SHU indefinitely after Mendoza asks her son to go over to Crystal Burset’s house and tell Michael to relay the situation to his mother. Crystal s over to Litchfield to try and get Sophia out by talking to Caputo but is not successful.

After Caputo s Sophia’s requests to review the decision of her being in SHU, Sophia stages a protest by stuffing her clothing down the toilet to clog it up and flood out her cell. When this doesn’t work, she breaks the light bulb, holds up a toilet roll to ignite it from the electrical current, and uses it to light her cell on fire, resulting in all the inmates getting evacuated from SHU temporarily («Doctor Psycho»).

Sophia being escorted out of her SHU cell after she set her bed on fire. (Doctor Psycho)

Nichols, who is on cleaning duty in Max and the SHU, recognizes Sophia’s voice while cleaning the hallways and opens up the face latch to say hello. She passes on a magazine to Sophia to keep her entertained.

The next day, while cleaning, a guard tells Nichols to clean the cell that Sophia was in. When she gets to the cell, it is empty and there is copious amounts of blood all over the cell walls and , looking like suicide.

Caputo takes a photo of Sophia in the SHU as evidence of her unlawful confinement in the SHU. (Bunny, Skull, Bunny, Skull)

In «Bunny, Skull, Bunny, Skull» Sister Ingalls, who has deliberately caused herself to be locked up in SHU to try and Sophia, realizes that Sophia is in a cell on the opposite end. She sends a folded letter of support to Sophia by sliding a note across the from door to door, in a zigzag pattern, until it reaches cell B12. Sophia picks up the note with heavily bandaged wrists and almost healed wounds on her face and smiles when reading the note.

Sophia looks at her old salon, taken over by Ruiz and her crew. (The Animals)

In «The Animals», Sophia returns from the SHU. As she walks through the prison, she passes her old salon and sees that Ruiz’s crew has taken over for their drug distribution business. There is transphobic abuse scrawled on the salon’s .

Gloria puts on Sophia’s wig for her. (The Animals)

Later on Sophia returns to obtain a brush, but only continues to look inside the salon in silence. Gloria Mendoza walks into the salon and orders Ruiz’s gang out. Sophia enters and sits in a chair. She gives Gloria her wig, which Gloria takes, brushes, and puts it back on Sophia’s .

Season Five

In episode 1, Riot FOMO, Gloria brings Humps, who has been shot by Daya, into Sophia’s hair salon, asking for help. Sophia tells him she used to be a firefighter and is trained in emergency aid, but Humps responds with attitude and transphobia. Gloria begs Sophia to help him anyway, for her, not for him, and Sophia reluctantly agrees. The two women attempt to stop the bleeding, but eventually are forced to bring him to Medical, where everyone has fled except for one nurse. He agrees to help and Gloria offers to assist him, with Humps and any other patients saying «I used to be a fireman- a firefighter.»

Throughout the beginning of the season she can be seen in scenes taking place in medical, helping out Nurse Adarsh wherever she can. However in episode four, Litchfield’s Got Talent, an elderly woman she’s helping in medical compares her to Sister Ingalls. The nurse finds her walking down the dark hallway with a flashlight and she tells him she’s leaving, going to find her friend. He tells her the fate of a large black person coming out of the dark wasn’t very promising, but she insists.

Once outside, she is taken to Max (or SHU?) where she meets Vazquez from her during her in the SHU. Sophia asks her if she saw Sister, and she replies by telling her not on her way in, but on her way out. Sophia is confused and the girl clarifies that Sister Ingalls got pneumonia and was given compassionate release. Sophia starts laughing, and it’s the last we see of her this season.

Season Six

Sophia is revealed to have been ased to the B-Block (nicknamed «Florida») of Max, in a conversation with Gloria. («e of the Uterus»)

In «Well This Took a Dark Turn», Sophia meets with Caputo and he offers a deal for an early release if she agrees to sue MCC. Linda later meets with her and she too, offers an early release and $300,000. It is later revealed during a meeting with Caputo and Tania, Burset’s representative, that she agreed to Linda’s offer.

Later, Sophia arrives at Frieda’s cell and tells her she’s getting out. Frieda congratulates her and asks her what she wants, sounding rude. Sophia is offended and es she was going to let Frieda have first pick on her items, but says Frieda’s bitchy and is leaving until Frieda apologises saying she’s in a mood these days. She asks for anything with Isobutane or Vinyl Chloride. Sophia doesn’t know the compounds. Frieda says she has been sleeping on the s as she can’t be too careful. Sophia is confused as Frieda asks what she has planned. Sophia tells her James Baldwin and the quote that helped her live. Frieda tells her she wishes to be able to outside but can’t, and disproves Sophia’s quote. Sophia leaves and sarcastically calls her a «cranky ass,»Sophia chants «Give us, us free» as she leaves the prison. She is later seen getting clothing and food from CO’s during the process of her release. We last see her walking out of the prison towards Crystal Burset. («Be Free»)

Season Seven

Sophia is ased Wyndolyn Capers as her parole officer following her early release. She encounters Piper at the parole office, and gives her her business card, now being a hairdresser.

Sophia styles Piper’s hair in anticipation for her gala with Zelda. When she finds out that Piper is going with someone else, Sophia approves, noting that it is hard for some to let go of their prison relationships. Piper clarifies that she and Alex are still together and are married. Sophia tells Piper that it will still be a relatively long until Alex is released, and disapproves of Piper’s naive view that marriage lasts forever. She tells Piper that she does not need to try, and that she can do what she wants out of prison. Piper responds that she should not pretend that prison never happened to her, with Sophia saying that she is not going to look back on prison for the rest of her life, either. She then gives Piper her haircut. («God Bless America»)

Relationships

Romantic

• Crystal Burset (wife) — Crystal and Sophia married before Sophia came out as transgender. Crystal supported her though her transition but their relationship was never the same because she was attracted to men only. Some after Sophia’s incarceration, Crystal begins to her pastor, although her and Sophia are still legally married. Sophia eventually gives them her blessing.

Friends

• Sister Ingalls (best friend) — Sophia befriends Sister in an attempt to get her hormones after her own are taken away, but when this request is denied the two become close friends. When Sophia was put in SHU «for her own protection» in season 4, Sister Ingalls was the loudest in demanding answers from the prison.
• Taystee (former; was too scared to hang out with Sophia after her transphobic abuse)
• Gloria Mendoza (beginning of S3; later enemy; then friend once more as of «The Animals»)
• Piper Chapman
• Poussey Washington
• Janae Watson
• Black Cindy
• Adarsh (S5) — Because of her training in emergency medicine, Sophia stays in Medical for the beginning of the season, helping Adarsh with patients.
• Linda Ferguson (questionable)
• Frieda Berlin
• Suzanne
• Tiffany Doggett

• Red

Enemies

• Aleida Diaz
• Danita Danita is a hairdresser, but probably does not play her role properly, because Sophia calls her «butcher» and says she would not leave Danita near her with a pair of scissors.
• Gloria Mendoza (former) — When their sons begin to spend with each other, Sophia blames Benny for Michael’s misbehavior and refuses to allow Crystal to continue giving Benny a ride to see Gloria.
• Blanca Flores (transphobic insults) — Blanca is seen gossiping crassly Sophia behind her back.
• Reema Pell (transphobic attacks) — Out of her own curiosity, Pell assaults Sophia to see if she has her penis still.
• Joe Caputo
• MCC as a whole.

Trivia

• Sophia’s character is based on a real transgender inmate in Piper Kerman’s book named Vanessa, however Kerman changed her name to Vanessa to protect her identity. Kerman describes Vanessa in her memoir as «cheerful, drag-queen funny, smart and observant and sensitive to what others were thinking and feeling» as well as «six feet, four inches of blond, coffee-colored, balloon-breasted,» and who the guards call «Richard» and the inmates call the «he-she.» Like Sophia, Vanessa was denied her hormones in prison, which Kerman claimed caused Vanessa to retain «several male characteristics that would have been less evident otherwise, most notably her voice» — which is inaccurate, actually, because hormone replacement therapy for trans* women cannot change a voice which has already been subjected to testosterone. Going off hormones can impact other physical changes enabled by HRT, however, like those to fat distribution, muscle development, body hair and skin.
• Pre-transition Sophia (Marcus) was played by Laverne Cox’s twin brother M. Lamar. When it came to film the pre-transition scenes, Laverne offered to do it, despite its possibly triggering nature, but was unable to look convincingly the part. The show’s creators joked that they needed a trans actress with an identical twin brother who could do it, which turned out to fit Laverne Cox and M. Lamar perfectly.
• She has the longest span as recurring character, lasting for seven seasons.
• James Baldwin, the writer helped her when she was at her lowest point. His quote «Freedom is not something anybody can be given. Freedom is something people take and people are as free as they want to be» («Be Free»)

Memorable Quotes

«You have some fucked up priorities.» — Sophia Burset «I can take good care of you… but even if you don’t go to me, don’t go to Danita! She will burn the shit out of your scalp.» — Sophia Burset «Human beings aren’t supposed to live like this.» — Sophia Burset «Holy shit. I look hot.» — Sophia Burset «I don’t do sausage on my breakfast sandwich.» — Sophia Burset «I knew them bitches was lying when they said you left here looking like Omar from The Wire.» — Sophia Burset «‘Please’ is for commissary hoes and Oliver Twist.» — Sophia Burset «If I would’ve seen him, I don’t know, may have felt like closure. But we don’t get a lot of that in this life now, do we.» — Sophia Burset

Gallery

Season 1

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Season 2

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Others

Appearances

igation