Laverne Cox

Laverne Cox:

Biography by Jade Ilas

March 29, 2017

introduction

“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.” -Laverne Cox

Laverne Cox is an empowering transgender advocate and actress. She has acted in many movies and TV shows, for example, ‘Doubt’, ‘Law and Order’, ‘Orange is the New Black’, and ‘Grandma’. She is an empowering woman who is very well-known around the U.S.A.

Laverne Cox is also a transgender advocate who stands for fair transgender rights. She tells her own story about being transgender and how she fought for transgender rights.

early years

On May 29, 1984 in Mobile, Alabama, Laverne Cox and her identical twin brother M Lamar were born. Her single mother Gloria Cox was a teacher. Throughout school, Laverne was bullied continuously by her classmates because she would act feminine. Sometimes she was also chased home and beat up by about 4 or 5 of her classmates.

For high school, Laverne attended Alabama School of Fine Arts. She attended Indiana University in Bloomington for a short amount of time before transferring to Marymount Manhattan College where she studied dance. Then, she graduated with a BFA in dance.

accomplishments

After college, Laverne started pursuing acting. Although, her first appearance was on reality TV show, ‘I Want to Work for Diddy’ in 2008. After the season was finished, she produced the VH1 show ‘TRANSform ME’.

In 2013, she began working on the Netflix Original Series ‘Orange is the New Black’ as trans woman Sophia Burset. The show still runs on Netflix. This year, Laverne started acting on the CBS show ‘Doubt’ as Cameron Writh.

She was also on the cover of some magazines. She was on the cover on an Entertainment magazine and was actually the first openly transgender person to be on a Time magazine. According to Buzzfeed’s ‘Laverne Cox is the Woman We’ve Been Waiting For’ Laverne Cox said, “I had this idea of moving to New York and, like, within a year, I’d be a star.”

transgender

In my opinion, Laverne Cox is famous because of how she dealt with being treated unfairly as a transgender. Also, she has helped so many other transgendered people throughout the U.S. She will be remembered by so many people, both transgender and not transgender. She will always be a huge icon to the transgendered community and many more.

inspiration

Laverne Cox will influence my life for many reasons. One of those reasons is that she came from a difficult childhood and rose up to become this successful actress. Another reason is that she controls her own life and doesn’t let other people decide things for her. She is an important role model that inspires people everyday to be themselves. Thank you for being an inspiration.

bibliography

1. “EasyBib.” Chegg. 2017. Web. 22 March 2017 <http://www.easybib.com>

2. Haynes, Clarence. “Laverne Cox Biography.” biography.com. 2016. Web. 21 October 2016 <www.biography.com/people/laverne-cox7>

3. “Laverne Cox.” AZ Quotes. 2017. Web. 22 March 2017 <http://www.azquotes.com/quote/1143015>

4. “Laverne Cox Opens Up About 'TIME' Cover & 'Orange Is the New Black'.” Interview by Katie Couric. Youtube. Katie Couric, 10 June 2014. Web. 22 March 2017.

5. Saeed, Jones. “Laverne Cox is the Woman We’ve Been Waiting For.” BuzzFeed. 2014. Web. 16 March 2014 <https://www.buzzfeed.com/saeedjones/laverne-cox-is-the-woman-weve-been-waiting-for?utm_term=.xdEAELq5NQ#.cgXxNWmqgL