Taylor Schilling keen to get involved in prison advocacy group for women

Taylor Schilling has been inspired to lend her support to the oldest advocacy group for imprisoned women after portraying an incarcerated drug smuggler in new drama Orange Is The New Black.

The program, an original series for online streaming service Netflix, is based on the memoir by Piper Kerman, who was sentenced to 15 months in a federal prison in Connecticut after she was convicted on drug and money laundering charges in 2003.

Taylor Schilling portrays the lead character, renamed Piper Chapman, and she admits spending time with Piper Kerman onset has motivated her to find out what she can do to help further the cause of the Women's Prison Association, which provides services like mentoring for females leaving jail systems.

The Lucky One star tells WENN, "One of the great gifts of this is getting to know Piper as a person. She's amazing and she has gone through such extraordinary situations in her life with grace and huge amounts of courage. She is one of the bravest people I know, even to own up to what she has done; not to sugarcoat it. She showed up to the consequences of her own actions and tried to make it better for a lot of women.

"I really admire her work with the Women's Prison Association. She's privileged and a lot of the people she was incarcerated with aren't and don't have the same opportunities. On many levels I really respect her and I hope to personally become more involved with the Women's Prison Association."