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 believe if we have something that we love to do, that can save our lives. That can get us through.
Believing that you are unworthy of love and belonging or that who you are authentically is a sin or is wrong, is deadly.
We live in an uncertain world and we want to believe that what a man is and what a woman is-I know that. And people don't want to critically interrogate the world around them. Whenever I'm afraid of something or I'm threatened by something, it's because it brings up some sort of insecurity in me. I think the reality is that most of us are insecure about our gender. They think, 'Okay, if there's this trans person over here, then what does that make me?
I believe that when we love someone, we respect them, and we listen to them; we feel that their voice matters. And- we let them dictate the terms of who they are and what their story is.
By doing the work to love ourselves more, I believe we will love each other better.
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.