Lea DeLaria is known for her iconic role of Big Boo on the ground-breaking Netflix show, Orange Is The New Black.
But the 60-year-old has revealed the she almost quit show business before landing the role.
Appearing on The Project on Tuesday night, the sassy performer confessed to a ‘hissy fit’ before being written into the show.
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‘I had a little hissy fit’: Actress and comic Lea DeLaria, 60, has revealed how she nearly quit showbusiness before getting the role of Big Boo on hit show, Orange Is The New Black
‘There was no Big Boo when they first did the show,’ she said.
‘And then when they saw my audition for several different parts, first I was too old for one…then they said, ‘There is no part for you.’
‘I had a little – I had a fit. I know it’s hard to believe that. I had a little hissy fit,’ she confessed.
‘I said ‘If you are telling me that there is a show that takes place in a woman’s prison, and there isn’t a part for me, I quit, I quit showbusiness.’
The performer, who started her career as a stand-up comic, said she had moved to London when she received a call from her manager.
‘And then when they saw my audition for several different parts, first I was too old for one’: The actress said it was a hard road to get her big break on the hit Netflix show
‘I got off the plane, he was – there were all these messages – from him going, you had your dyke fit and they have written a part for you.’
Turning to politics, the outspoken performer hit out at American President Donald Trump and the US Supreme Court’s recent ruling in favour of religious liberty.
‘I say God Bless America. God Bless America because I can stand up and call the President every everything I think he is,’ she said.
‘I got off the plane, he was – there were all these messages’: Lea revealed she had packed up and moved to London after she thought she wouldn’t get the role
Host Carrie Bickmore then referenced the current fracas with the President’s daughter Ivanka Trump and comedian, Samantha Bee.
‘Are family off limits?’ she asked.
‘Family, you know, I think all bets are off and as a comedian, I personally feel that nothing is off limits.’
Big Break! Lea stars on the hit show, set in a women’s prison, which has a worldwide following. Pictured here with Taylor Schilling (left)