Laverne Cox

Laverne Cox, born on May 29, 1972, is a celebrated American actress and advocate for LGBTQ rights. She gained widespread recognition for her role as Sophia Burset in the acclaimed Netflix series *Orange Is the New Black*. This landmark performance made her the first transgender individual to receive a Primetime Emmy Award nomination in an acting category, a significant milestone since composer Angela Morley’s nomination in 1990. In 2015, Cox made history again by winning a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Special Class Special as an executive producer of *Laverne Cox Presents: The T Word*, marking her as the first transgender woman to achieve this honor.

In 2017, she further broke barriers by becoming the first transgender person to play a transgender character in a regularly scheduled role on U.S. broadcast television, portraying Cameron Wirth on CBS's *Doubt*. Cox also showcased her talent in reality television as a contestant on VH1's *I Want to Work for Diddy* and co-produced the makeover series *TRANSform Me*.

Her advocacy for the transgender community has been recognized with several accolades, including the GLAAD Stephen F. Kolzak Award in April 2014. Notably, she became the first transgender person to grace the cover of *Time* magazine in June 2014, and in February 2018, she featured on the cover of the South African edition of *Cosmopolitan*. Additionally, Cox is the first openly transgender person to be immortalized with a wax figure at Madame Tussauds.