Laverne Cox

Laverne Cox
Cox in July 2014
Born (1972-05-29) May 29, 1972 (age 52)[1][2]
Mobile, Alabama, U.S.
Education
Occupations
  • Actress
  • activist
Years active2000–present
RelativesM Lamar (twin brother)
Websitewww.lavernecox.com

Laverne Cox (born May 29, 1972) is an American actress and LGBT advocate.[3][4][5] She rose to prominence with her role as Sophia Burset on the Netflix series Orange Is the New Black, becoming the first transgender person to be nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award in an acting category,[6][7] and the first to be nominated for an Emmy Award since composer Angela Morley in 1990.[8] In 2015, she won a Daytime Emmy Award in Outstanding Special Class Special as executive producer for Laverne Cox Presents: The T Word,[9][10] making her the first trans woman to win the award.[9] In 2017, she became the first transgender person to play a transgender series regular on U.S. broadcast TV as Cameron Wirth on CBS's Doubt.[11]

Cox appeared as a contestant on the first season of VH1's reality show I Want to Work for Diddy, and co-produced and co-hosted the VH1 makeover television series TRANSform Me. In April 2014, Cox was honored by GLAAD with its Stephen F. Kolzak Award for her work as an advocate for the transgender community.[12] In June 2014, Cox became the first transgender person to appear on the cover of Time magazine.[6][13][14] Cox is the first transgender person to appear on the cover of a Cosmopolitan magazine, with her February 2018 cover on the South African edition.[15] She is also the first openly transgender person to have a wax figure of herself at Madame Tussauds.[16]

  1. ^ Gardner, Chris (August 23, 2019). "Laverne Cox Explains Why She Wants to "Share" Her Historic Third Emmy Nomination". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on April 29, 2022. Retrieved April 29, 2022.
  2. ^ Spaner, Whitney (June 15, 2014). "Trans Actress-Activist Laverne Cox Talks "OITNB", Dream Roles and Starting a Casting Revolution on Stage and Screen". Playbill. Archived from the original on April 29, 2022. Retrieved April 29, 2022.
  3. ^ "Laverne Cox Bio". LaverneCox.com. Archived from the original on August 20, 2016. Retrieved September 13, 2014.
  4. ^ Piepenburg, Erik (December 12, 2010). "Helping Gay Actors Find Themselves Onstage". The New York Times. Archived from the original on June 12, 2015. Retrieved April 12, 2012.
  5. ^ "Meet the Gay Man and Transgender Woman Who Want to Work for Diddy". AfterElton. Archived from the original on August 30, 2010. Retrieved April 12, 2012.
  6. ^ a b Gjorgievska, Aleksandra; Rothman, Lily (July 10, 2014). "Laverne Cox is the First Transgender Person Nominated for an Emmy – She Explains Why That Matters". Time. Archived from the original on February 1, 2015. Retrieved October 26, 2019.
  7. ^ Wagmeister, Elizabeth (February 11, 2015). "Laverne Cox Cast As Transgender Attorney in CBS Legal Drama Pilot". Variety. Archived from the original on February 12, 2015. Retrieved February 11, 2015. ... the first openly transgender actor to be nominated for an Emmy ...
  8. ^ Gaughan, Gavin (January 23, 2009). "Obituary: Angela Morley | Television & radio". The Guardian. Archived from the original on July 14, 2014. Retrieved July 19, 2014. A transsexual woman, previously known as Wally Stott, she underwent a sex change in 1972.
  9. ^ a b Townsend, Megan (April 25, 2015). "Laverne Cox makes history with Daytime Creative Arts Emmy win". GLAAD. Archived from the original on August 11, 2017. Retrieved July 21, 2017.
  10. ^ "Laverne Cox Wins Daytime Emmy". Out.com. April 27, 2015. Archived from the original on June 29, 2016. Retrieved July 8, 2016.
  11. ^ Spendlove, Jacqueline. "Career revival: Katherine Heigl takes another crack at TV success". TV Media. Archived from the original on August 19, 2017. Retrieved February 13, 2017.
  12. ^ Ferraro, Rich (March 31, 2014). "Laverne Cox to be honored at 25th Annual GLAAD Media Awards in Los Angeles". GLAAD. Archived from the original on April 23, 2014. Retrieved March 31, 2014.
  13. ^ Westcott, Lucy (May 29, 2014). "Laverne Cox is the First Transgender Person on the Cover of Time". The Wire. Archived from the original on July 1, 2014. Retrieved June 29, 2014.
  14. ^ "21 Transgender People Who Influenced American Culture". Time. May 29, 2014. Archived from the original on August 5, 2016.
  15. ^ Wong, Curtis M. (January 22, 2018). "Laverne Cox Makes History as Cosmopolitan's First Transgender Cover Girl". HuffPost. Archived from the original on May 30, 2018. Retrieved April 29, 2022.
  16. ^ "Laverne Cox to debut as Madame Tussauds' first transgender wax figure". Reuters. June 10, 2015. Archived from the original on August 9, 2016.