Laverne Cox

Laverne Cox is a transgender actress and LGBTQ+ activist best known for her breakthrough role as Sophia Burset in Orange Is the New Black (2013). In 2014 she became the first openly transgender person to be nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award in an acting category. That same year she appeared on the cover of Time magazine as the face of "The Transgender Tipping Point" -- the first transgender person to do so -- and she later became the first trans person to appear on the cover of Cosmopolitan US. In 2017, she became broadcast television's first transgender series regular playing a transgender character, starring as attorney Cameron Wirth on CBS's Doubt. She has also produced documentaries including Free CeCe (2016), about imprisoned trans activist CeCe McDonald. Cox has been a tireless advocate for transgender rights, particularly for trans women of color, and is one of the most prominent trans public figures in history.