Laverne Cox is part of a new wave of transgender role models |
Emmy-nominated actress and Emmy-winning producer Laverne Cox catapulted to fame as Sophia Burset in the critically-hailed Netflix original series Orange Is the New Black.
Laverne
then raised eyebrows with her portrayal of the iconic Dr. Frank-N-Furter in the
Fox remake of Rocky Horror Picture Show and, when she starred in the short
lived CBS legal drama Doubt, she became the first transgender actor to play a regular
trans-character on network television.
Her
groundbreaking professional work, coupled with her trans activism, landed Cox
on the cover of the June 9, 2014, issue of Time magazine for the landmark
story “The Transgender Tipping Point” – as historic as Vanity Fair’s August
1993 lesbian-chic cover that pictured Cindy Crawford shaving kd lang in a
barber's chair, and Ellen DeGeneres declaring, “Yep, I’m Gay” on the cover
of the April 14, 1997, issue of Time.
The
culture is changing, and Cox is part of a new wave of transgender role models. We sat down for a candid Q&A on the eve of her return to Montreal to host The Laverne Cox Gala at the 2017 Just For Laughs Festival International Comedy Festival.