Laverne Cox

Laverne Cox is an American actress and LGBTQ advocate born on May 29, 1972. She was raised by a single mother and grandmother within the AME Zion church and has an twin brother, M Lamar. She gained popularity after her performance as Sophia burset on the Netflix hit series Orange is the New Black. Her performance received credit, earning her the first openly transgender person nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award. She was also the next person to be nominated after composer Angela Morely back in 1990.

She won a Daytime Emmy Award in Outstanding Special Class as executive producer for Laverne Cox Pres ents: The T Word back in 2015. This made her the first openly transgender woman to win the award.If this wasn’t enough, she became the first transgender to play a transgender role in the CBS TV series, Doubt.