Early Life
Laverne Cox was born on May 29, 1972, in Mobile, Alabama. She and her twin brother were raised by their mother, Gloria, who was single and worked as a teacher. Though Cox was assigned male at birth, she had always felt herself to be female, not really seeing a difference between boys and girls. She was often taunted and harassed mercilessly for being feminine, though she was able to hold onto her love for the arts. She attended high school at the Alabama School of Fine Arts before going on to study at Indiana University in Bloomington and Marymount Manhattan College, from which she graduated with a BFA in dance and where her twin pursued studies in visual art.
Career
In 2008 Cox appeared on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit before becoming one of the contestants on the reality series I Want to Work for Diddy. Other roles followed in TV and indie films, as well as on another reality program, TRANSform Me (2010), before Cox landed her breakthrough role on Orange Is the New Black. Airing in 2012, the highly successful Netflix drama followed the inhabitants of a women’s prison in upstate New York over the course of seven seasons. Cox was tapped for the part of Sophia Burset, an imprisoned trans woman who fights for appropriate hormone treatments and has a highly strained relationship with her son while also receiving love and acceptance from her wife. The show received rave reviews for its diverse characters, edgy plot lines, and honest depictions of sexuality and gender expression.
Cox has continued to explore other roles, guest starring on The Mindy Project and co-starring in 2017 in the CBS pilot Doubt as a transgender attorney (the show was cancelled shortly after premiering). She has also appeared in the comedy Grandma — a film starring Lily Tomlin — which was part of the 2015 Tribeca Film Festival, and in the 2017 Berlin International Film Festival entry Freak Show. Additionally, Cox played Dr. Frank-N-Furter in a 2016 reboot of cult favorite The Rocky Horror Picture Show: Let’s Do the Time Warp Again.
Activism
Laverne Cox is widely recognized as a trailblazer for the transgender community, being the first transgender person to appear on TIME magazine, to be nominated for an Emmy, and to have a wax statue at Madame Tussaud’s. Her impact is not limited to her accomplishments, however. She has been an outspoken advocate for trans visibility and against harmful legislation. In a discussion with TIME magazine about representation in film and television, Cox highlighted the importance of expanding trans characters beyond villains and punchlines: “Film still has a long way to go. But television has been a beautiful place of growth. The difference is that trans people are writing more and directing more, and trans actors are being listened to more, as experts in our own stories. So we are getting more nuanced stories, more human stories, different stories.”
Cox has received numerous awards for her fierce and outspoken activism on behalf of the LGBTQ+ community. To mention just a few of the honors that have been bestowed on her, she was listed as one of the 100 “most compelling people of the year” by Out magazine in 2013. She also earned the top spot in The Guardian’s World Pride Power List in 2014. That same year, she was honored with GLAAD’s Stephen F. Kolzak award, which is given to “an openly LGBT member of the entertainment or media community for his or her work toward eliminating homophobia.” She’s been named to the EBONY Power 100 list (2014) as well as the Out magazine Power 50 list (2015 and 2017). In 2018 she was awarded the Claire Skiffington Vanguard Award from Transgender Law Center. Laverne Cox has consistently used her platform as a performer to advance the cause of equality and to improve the lives of countless individuals.