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Laverne Cox and transgender people

Laverne Cox is an American actor, producer, and activist.

Background

Laverne Cox was born May 29, 1972 in Mobile, Alabama. Cox has an identical twin sibling, artist M Lamar. Cox reportedly attempted suicide at age 11 following bullying.

After graduating from Alabama School of Fine Arts, Cox attended indiana University for two years before transferring to Marymount Manhattan College. Cox also studied at Fashion Institute of Technology.

Career

Cox was a contestant on the reality show I Want to Work for Diddy. Cox then produced and appeared in the makeover show TRANSform Me. Starting in 2013, Cox played Sophia Burset, a trans woman imprisoned for identity theft, on Orange is the New Black. Cox was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

In 2014, Cox and Carmen Carrera appeared on the talk show Katie, and host Katie Couric asked both about their genitals and whether they had bottom surgery. Cox’s thoughtful answer about the inappropriateness of the question prompted Couric to produce and host the multi-part series Gender Revolution: A Journey with Katie Couric. In 2014, Cox appeared in Laverne Cox Presents: The T Word. Cox was the first out trans person to appear on the cover of TIME magazine on June 9 that year. That summer trans media activist Parker Molloy joined anti-trans activists in amplifying a negative story about Cox. Trans prisoner advocates Sylvia Rivera Law Project (SRLP) released a video in their End Solitary campaign in which Cox read a letter from SRLP member Synthia China Blast. Molloy wrote: “What Cox was seemingly unaware of at the time she agreed to record the video were the crimes of which Blast had been found guilty. In 1996, Blast and Carlos Franco — both members of the Latin Kings gang — were found guilty in the 1993 rape and murder of 13-year-old Ebony Williams.” Cox requested that the video be taken down and said “I would have never agreed to read the letter” if she’d known. Cox was able to manage the potential PR crisis.

In 2016, Cox starred as Dr. Frank-N-Furter in the remake The Rocky Horror Picture Show: Let’s Do the Time Warp Again. In 2020, Cox was an executive producer and appeared in Disclosure: Trans Lives on Screen. In 2025 Cox produced and starred in the sitcom Clean Slate.

References

Mendez II, Moses (February 28, 2023). Laverne Cox on What’s Changed Since the ‘Transgender Tipping Point.’ TIME https://time.com/6258454/laverne-cox-interview-transgender-tipping-point-cover/

Steinmetz, Katy (May 29, 2014). The Transgender Tipping Point. TIME https://time.com/135480/transgender-tipping-point/

Resources

Laverne Cox (lavernecox.com)

Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org)

IMDb (imdb.com)

X/Twitter (https://x.com/)

Instagram (instagram.com)

Facebook (facebook.com)

TikTok (tiktok.com)

YouTube (youtube.com)