Julie Lake may not be a name you recognize from Netflix's Orange Is the New Black, but her character is one fans will remember from behind bars, where she plays the goofy and oh-so lovable meth head Angie Rice. Lake, who comes from a theater background (she's a Yale University graduate with a degree in theater), has made a home for herself online with the hilarious streaming show set at the fictional Litchfield Penitentiary. Her character notably began as a follower of Pennsatucky (Taryn Manning) in Season 1, but has become tight with Leanne (Emma Myles), which fans will see continue to play out in the new season.

Enstars recently got the chance to chat with Lake about OITNB's upcoming third season, the inspiration for her portrayal of Angie, the web series she made with her cat, and so much more.

ENSTARS: So your character Angie has become more and more prominent on Orange Is the New Black since first appearing in only two episodes in Season 1. Will we continue seeing more of her in Season 3?
Julie Lake: Well there's a lot more of Angie in Season 3. I feel like I'm much more of an exaggerated character in the show. There's still like a lot of really funny stuff. Typical Angie with crazy antics. But you'll also get to see a little bit more of her depth.

Will she be spending most of her time with Leanne and Pennsatucky again this season?
Yeah. I mean Angie and Leanne are besties. I'm not supposed to give stuff away, but [I can say] we're not in every scene together, but we still like to stick together.

Will you have any lines like the 'I'm Edward Pizzahands' one?
Yeah! I mean I haven't seen this season yet, but a lot of the times at the end of a scene I'll improv some crazy lines so I never know what's actually going to make it into the show. But there should definitely be some more funny lines!

Did you improv that 'I'm Edward Pizzahands' line?
Yeah, I did!

As Angie you completely transform in terms of physical appearance and even your accent so how much creative control did you have in creating her?
Well, I mean I had pretty much total freedom because the character description for her was just 'meth head' and then the lines for her were very kind of goofy and dumb and very much like she's just trying to please Pennsatucky. So I kind of went off of that and created the character from that, but I had no idea what she looked like physically or any of that kind of stuff.

How did you come up with the accent for her?
I actually, like a couple of years before I auditioned for the show, I saw this documentary called High on Crack Street: Lost Lives in Lowell and there was a character named Brenda in the documentary who was a lot like what I picture Angie being like when I read the first script. She's super funny, super goofy, a crack addict, has all sorts of other dark stuff going on; she's a prostitute, she has HIV, but this character stuck in my mind so I think in creating Angie a little bit of Angie came from her. And she had a Boston accent, which is why I threw in the hint of an accent.

While filming Season 3 is there one scene that became your favorite?
Yes, but I really cannot tell you what it is, but I can say it happens in the laundry room. That was my favorite scene that we shot!

Has anything really resonated with you that has occurred on set with the rest of the cast?
I'm trying to think. From Season 3 or just in general?
In general.
Well we always have so much fun together on set. The one thing that is popping into my mind I cannot say without giving away the ending of third season. That would not be good, but in general I just love hanging out with this cast and being on set is so much fun. We'll all pile into one person's dressing room and watch something on Netflix or silly videos on YouTube. And then Emma and I will watch like a hundred episodes of What Not to Wear some days. It's just a fun environment. It's such a great group of women. None of them are envious or catty. It's a really supportive community of people and I just love it.

What's something you've learned from working with such a large ensemble cast on the set of Orange Is the New Black?
I mean honestly I've learned a lot about acting for film and television because before doing the show I had only done theater. So yeah, just working with Taryn is so brilliant. And she's so free and kind of does her own thing. She'll say the lines, but she sort of does whatever she wants and just shows everybody how the scene can be played. That has inspired me a lot as an actress. Just to take ownership of my work and to just be really free and have fun. She kind of encouraged me to improv a bit actually. So that confidence from her is great. I feel like every scene is like a master class in acting with the cast. There are just so many phenomenal actresses.

Viewers are still learning about Angie so how else would you describe her aside from her being known as a 'meth head'?
So Angie is very sweet, goofy and funny. She wants to make everyone laugh. I think that she's a very loyal friend. And I think she's actually a really kind person, but her biggest flaw is that she does not have confidence in herself and she's very much a follower. So if Leanne says, 'Be mean to Pennsatucky,' she'll be mean to Pennsatucky even if she has no problem with Pennsatucky. I think she's really desperate to be included and to be loved.

Like you mentioned, she is very much a follower, but do you see her growing out of that in the future?
I hope so. I mean she does grow a lot in the third season, but she's still not there yet. So I'm hoping [she will]. The fourth season starts filming mid-June. I'm hoping Angie will kind of come into her own in the fourth season.

How excited should we be for Season 3?
Well if you were a fan of the first and second season then you're in luck because the third season is by far the best. I feel like the show has hit its stride in the third season. If you've never watched the show before, I don't know, but all I can say is this season is incredible and people are going to love it.

Going back to your theater background, would you ever consider being in another play?
Yeah, I would love to go back to theater! I miss doing plays so badly. It's just a little bit hard to do a play while shooting Orange because Orange has priority of my days. Plus, when I'm not shooting Orange I live in Los Angeles, which is not a theater town. That being said, if I could find a way to make a play happen I would and I'd just be thrilled!

So we just discovered your web series George and Julie, which stars you and your cat. Can you talk about where that came from?
Well first of all I made it with my best friend [Shirin Najafi] from high school and we were both living in L.A. at the time and it's just brutal. It's just so brutal when you first move to Los Angeles. I think we made it so the character Julie is a bit of myself and a bit of my friend. The stories stem from our real-life experiences. George is like the asshole, typical arrogant Hollywood person that we confronted so many times. I think that was the inspiration for it. We made that cat so ridiculous!

Would you ever consider making new episodes if you had the time?
Well, here's the thing. We actually tried to do more episodes recently, but my cat George ran away. Yeah so we tried to do it with another cat. He would not cooperate. He wouldn't come out from under the bed. We waited around for six hours and he wouldn't sit still. It was a bust! I think we could only ever do it again if I were to get another cat as chill as George. It could happen in the near future. We'll see.

Do you have any other projects coming up?
Yeah. I'm pitching a show with some girls from my sketch comedy group Top Bunk about a harem. So we're pitching that and I'm working on a pilot with another friend. We just finished the first draft and we hope to be pitching it in a few months. I also wrote another web series with the girl I created George and Julie with called Mental. It's about two best friends who are living in a barely functional existence in Los Angeles and we're hoping to shoot it this summer. We just need to get enough of a window between my filming Orange to do it.

Season 3 of Orange Is the New Black uploads to Netflix this Friday, June 12!

Tags
Netflix, Television, Orange is the New Black