The most difficult part of playing Suzanne, a.k.a. Crazy Eyes, was learning her backstory after having played her for three years, two-time Emmy winner Uzo Aduba told TheWrap.
“It was difficult to learn the circumstances that cost her her freedom,” Aduba said.
Aduba’s character, Suzanne “Crazy Eyes” Warren, was adopted by white parents in the suburbs, but has mental issues that have alienated her from her family. In Season 4, audiences learned that Suzanne’s crime was kidnapping a child she became friends with — and that she didn’t realize the implications of her actions.
Now that Suzanne’s back story has been explained, Aduba would like to explore what it means for her character to find success in love after so many failed attempts. The actress wants to see what it means for her character “when she feels the warmth of [love] in the way she gives it out.”
Aduba said that the most surprising scene to watch back after filming was Lori Petty’s back story. “That was crazy because I thought they had somehow doctored her up to… do that younger self,” she says. But actually, another actress portrayed the younger version of the inmate. “It was unbelievable,” said the actress.
Aduba won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in 2015 for “OITNB” and another in 2014 for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for her role as Crazy Eyes. She says anyone else working on the show also deserves an Emmy: “It feels unfair to say any one person because really, truly, everyone works really hard on that show.”
Watch the video above for more from Aduba on her role in “Orange Is the New Black.”