Laverne Cox
Laverne Cox
Laverne Cox is an American actress, reality television star, television producer, and LGBT advocate. She is best known for her portrayal of Sophia Burset on the Netflix television series Orange Is the New Black, for which she became the first openly transgender person to be nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award in the acting category, and the first to be nominated for an Emmy Award since composer/musician Angela Morley in 1990. In 2015, she became the first openly transgender person...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionTV Actress
Date of Birth29 May 1984
CityMobile, AL
CountryUnited States of America
I'm so grateful that I had the luxury of transitioning in private. Because when you transition in the public eye, the transition becomes the story.
I never knew my father. He was never married to my mother; he was never a part of my life. It was just my mom, my brother and me.
What took time for my mom was getting the pronouns right and calling me by a different name. Laverne was my middle name before I transitioned.
I wanted to be famous; I wanted to perform. Those things I really, really wanted more than anything else.
I don't have children, and I don't want children.
Everyone is insecure. I think, really, it comes from, like, a desire to want to be in control of how you're represented.
When people find out you're an actress, they Google you.
I was an actress long before I was a reality TV person.
I was really creative. I started to dance very young. I loved to dance. I begged my mother to put me into dance classes, and finally, in third grade, she did. Tap and jazz, but not ballet.
My mother was a teacher. She was grooming my brother and me to be successful, accomplished people.
I just have to be myself. I'm not perfect, and I'm going to make mistakes; I might say the wrong thing. I have to be responsible to my community, and I feel like I am, but then I have to not be so hard on myself.
I'm terrified of saying the wrong thing on stage with bell hooks.
We shouldn't demonize the woman who wears high heels and we shouldn't demonize the woman who doesn't wear high heels. We should accept all forms of comportment.
There's not just one trans story. There's not just one trans experience.