Biography
Who is Laverne Cox?
Early life and education
Laverne Cox was born in Mobile, Alabama. She was raised by her mother and grandmother within the AME Zion church. She has an identical twin brother named M Lamar, who performed as the pre-transitioning version of her character on Orange Is the New Black.
As a student, she attended the Alabama School of Fine Arts in Birmingham. She originally focused on creative writing before she switched her concentration to dance. She later studied at Indiana University Bloomington for two years. Eventually, she moved to New York City to attend Marymount Manhattan College. While there, she transitioned from studying classical ballet to focusing on acting. She also took courses in Fashion Merchandising Management at the Fashion Institute of Technology.
Rise to television fame
Laverne first appeared on television as a contestant on the reality show I Want to Work for Diddy on VH1. Following that experience, she was approached by network executives regarding new show concepts. This led to her producing and starring in the makeover program TRANSform Me. This accomplishment made her the first African-American transgender person to produce and star in her own television series.
Her breakout acting role began in 2013 when she joined the cast of the Netflix series Orange Is the New Black. She played the character Sophia Burset, a woman incarcerated for credit-card fraud. This role provided her with a national platform to discuss the rights of transgender individuals and the specific challenges they face regarding violence and discrimination.
Career highlights and achievements
In 2014, she made history as the first transgender person nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award in an acting category for her performance in Orange Is the New Black. She received the GLAAD Stephen F. Kolzak Award that same year for her advocacy work. Also in 2014, she became the first transgender person to appear on the cover of Time magazine.
Laverne won a Daytime Emmy Award in 2015 for her work as an executive producer on the documentary Laverne Cox Presents: The T Word. This made her the first transgender woman to win a Daytime Emmy. In 2017, she took on the role of attorney Cameron Wirth in the CBS series Doubt. This marked the first time a transgender person played a transgender series regular on broadcast television in the United States.
Personal life and advocacy
Throughout her career, she has used her public profile to speak about the experiences of transgender people. She has frequently discussed the disproportionate rates of unemployment and violence that affect the transgender community. She has collaborated with organizations like the ACLU on projects documenting transgender history.
She has also broken barriers in media representation. She appeared on the cover of the South African edition of Cosmopolitan magazine in 2018. Also, she became the first openly transgender person to have a wax figure of herself displayed at Madame Tussauds.
Birthday and age
Laverne Cox was born on May 29, 1972, which makes Laverne 54 years old today. That birthday falls under the Gemini sign. Laverne shares the date with 62 other famous people.
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