She was working at a hospital and attending nursing school when she was offered the part on "Orange Is the New Black (2013)." She went to her audition in scrubs.
She graduated with a Bachelor's in Psychology from Hunter College, New York, in 2008.
She was arrested for assault on a teenager in 2015. The charges were dropped, however, after police determined the allegations were part of an extortion plot by a young neighbor.
She has two children: a daughter born when Polanco was 18 and a son born two years later.
She had wanted to be an actress from an early age but believed she wouldn't have success due to her curvy figure.
She was born in the Dominican Republic but grew up in Sunset Park, Brooklyn.
She didn't start acting until she was twenty-eight years old.