Biography
Dascha Yolaine Polanco is a Dominican-American actress. She was born on 3 December 1982 in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, and moved to the United States at a young age. She was raised in Brooklyn, New York, and Miami, and graduated with a bachelor's degree in psychology from Hunter College in 2008.
Polanco began her acting career in the early 2010s after working in healthcare. She is known for her role as Dayanara 'Daya' Diaz in the series Orange Is the New Black (2013–2019). Other credits include Joy (2015), The Irishman (2019), In the Heights (2021) as Cuca, and the guest role of Natalie Hill in Poker Face (2023). She shared in Screen Actors Guild Awards for ensemble performance in a comedy series for Orange Is the New Black.
