This Is Why Young Daya Looks Identical to Dascha Polanco on Orange Is The New Black

Actress' daughter was featured in the latest season of the show

By Kendall Fisher Jun 21, 2017 1:08 AMTags
Dascha Polanco, Dasany Kristal GonzalezNetflix

There's a lot to talk about when it comes to season five of Orange Is the New Black, but nothing has caught Twitter's attention more than young Daya.

During the eighth episode of the Netflix series' latest season, viewers are able to get a bit of a deeper look into Dascha Polanco's character and her relationship with her mother, Aleida (played by Elizabeth Rodriguez).

The episode features a 14-year-old Daya who gets some poor advice from her mom on how to deal with a guy, but that's beside the point. The biggest topic of conversation is how much young Daya looks like older Daya.

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Orange Is the New Black Cast In and Out of Costume

Many fans took to Twitter to praise OITNB producers for really hitting the nail on the head when it came to portraying Daya's teenage self...little did they know, young Daya looks like older Daya because it's her real-life daughter!

Yes, Dascha's 15-year-old daughter, Dasany Kristal Gonzalez, is the actress who plays young Daya.

If you're wondering how Dascha (who looks so young) could already have a teenage daughter, you're not alone.

The 34-year-old actress gave birth to her daughter when she was 18-years-old—a moment she's previously opened up about.

"She's a blessing, a miracle baby," she told Latina magazine in 2015. However, she did admit she wouldn't encourage others to have kids at such a young age. "Nothing's wrong with it, it just makes it a little bit more challenging."

Dascha also has a son, Aryam, 7, from a different father.

"I used to feel self-conscious about the fact that my kids have two different fathers," she told Cosmopolitan magazine. "Being a statistic was something that was so negative to me. But now I'm like, 'Hey, listen, it is what it is. It didn't work out the first time; it didn't work out the second time. I have two kids who have two different baby fathers.'"