Laverne Cox is a renowned actress, documentary film producer, and prominent equal rights advocate who has received four Emmy nominations and one Emmy win. Her groundbreaking role as Sophia Burset in the critically acclaimed Netflix series "Orange is The New Black" introduced her to a global audience and made her the first openly transgender actress to be nominated for a Primetime acting Emmy.
As a trailblazing artist and advocate, Laverne has used her platform to promote an empowering message of moving beyond gender expectations and living authentically. She has made history by becoming the first openly transgender person to appear on the covers of TIME Magazine, Cosmopolitan, British Vogue, and Essence, among others. In 2014, she was named one of Glamour magazine's Women of the Year.
Laverne's impressive list of accolades includes two SAG Awards, which she won alongside her "Orange Is The New Black" castmates. Her Emmy-winning documentary, "Laverne Cox Presents: The T Word," has led to her executive producing two powerful documentaries, both available on Netflix.
One of these documentaries, "Disclosure: Trans Lives on Screen," is a groundbreaking exploration of the depiction of transgender characters throughout the history of film and television. The other, "Free CeCe," tells the story of CeCe McDonald, a transgender woman who was wrongly sentenced to 41 months in a men's prison for defending herself against a racist and transphobic attack.
Laverne's upcoming project, "Clean Slate," is a production in collaboration with Norman Lear's Act III Productions, Sony Television Studios, and Amazon Prime, set to debut in 2024.
