Laverne Cox really proves you can do it all. The actress plays transgender inmate Sophia Burset on the new Netflix series Orange Is the New Black.
She became the first African American trans woman to produce and star in her own series with VH1's TRANSForm Me. That show was nominated for a GLAAD media award and the first to star three trans women. VH1's I Wanna Work for Diddy was another first that Cox starred in as the first African American transgender woman in a reality show.
Cox starred in the independent film Musical Chairs playing a paraplegic transgender woman looking for love. Other film credits include Carla, The Exhibitionist, and 36 Saints.
She moved on to television with guest roles on NBC's Law & Order, HBO's Bored to Death and Law & Order: SVU.
The awards keep coming with Out Magazine's Out 100 in 2010 and was named one of the most influential trans people in America in the Inaugural Edition of Trans 100 this year.
Contributing to the Huffington Post, Cox is keeping her voice heard on a regular basis now as a writer.
Windy City Times chatted with Cox about Jodie Foster, brother M. Lamar, and life on the set of Orange Is the New Black.
Windy City Times: Hi, Laverne. How are you?
Laverne Cox: I'm wonderful.
WCT: Great. Can you talk about you auditioned for the role in the first place and how much was written for you?
LC: When I auditioned, I auditioned with the scene from episode one and then we did the bathroom scene from episode three. So those scenes didn't really change much at all from the audition process to shooting. It does seem that the writers start to write for our voices. I was talking to another actor on set and he was saying that learning his lines got easier over time and I think part of the muscle of working all the time.
I think the writers are also writing based on our voices and knowing how the cadence of how we speak, so I think it's a combination.
WCT: How was it working with Jodie Foster as a director on a few episodes?
LC: Jodie was incredible. Jodie is such an actor's director for obvious reasons. She's a brilliant actor herself and she was really generous. It was really like a master class working with her. She was incredible and it was a dream come true to get to work with someone of that caliber. It made me raise my game. I hope I did.
WCT: Your brother M. Lamar was also on those same episodes.
LC: Yes, I love my brother so much and he's been my moral compass over the years. I run things by him and we're twins so we've literally known each other our entire lives.
There's a wonderful bond that we share and there's a tremendous amount of respect that we have for each other as artists and as human beings. So I'm really grateful that I got to share a little bit of this show and this moment with him.
WCT: In what ways are you similar to your character Sophia?
LC: As an actor, the shell of the character might be different than my own. She might talk differently or walk differently, but who I am and her emotional life is very much my own.
I relate to Sophia's feelings of guilt around her sacrificing everything, her family, her freedom to be true to who she is, and to live in her authentic self.
She's paid an awful price for that in terms of her family, there's some guilt around that, and she hasn't been able to resolve fully, particularly her relationship with her son Michael. She hasn't been able to resolve the guilt around that yet.
I can certainly relate to the conflict between being true to myself and that potentially being difficult for the people in my life around me.
The discrimination that she experiences in prison being taken off her hormones is something that I unfortunately I've had the same moments in my adult life, where I've been denied some health care because I'm trans and that was really difficult for me. I was able to advocate for myself, but that's definitely something that I very much relate to. Sophia advocates for herself as well in prison.
WCT: Are we approaching a watershed moment for transgender people in acting?
LC: I would like to say I hope so, but it was funny because about six years, Candis Cayne had, for me, was a watershed moment on Dirty, Sexy, Money which she became the first trans woman to have a recurring role in a primetime series and that moment was such a huge inspiration for me. I really believe I wouldn't be here if it weren't for her and for that show just deciding to cast a trans woman to play that part.
That moment inspired me to get an agent. I had been trying to have a substantial career as an actor for a long time and began to believe it was possible six years ago because of Candis Cayne.
WCT: Do you ever feel alienated being the one transgender person on the set and what helps you in that moment?
LC: I've often been the only trans person in a room and on the job. I'm just myself. For me the way I handle it is I try to be as authentically myself as possible. I also try to set boundaries in terms of what it can be talked about and not talked about.
I like to be open, but I also try to set a tone where inappropriate questions are not allowed to be asked. I'll put someone in their place if they overstep a boundary but in a loving way.
I'm just another person who's there to do their job and get along with everyone.
WCT: What constraints do you feel as a trans actress?
LC: The constraints really come from the outside, you know? As an artist I think it's really important not to put any kind of limitations or constraints on myself. I think they come from an industry that has in their mind that trans women can't play just gender women, that people aren't going to connect to trans characters or that shows aren't going to have good ratings if there's a trans character on it, things like that.
I think the industry has to change and I think their ideas have to begin to change about who trans people are and what it means to have trans folks playing ourselves and playing characters that are written as trans on television.
I'm hopeful that Orange is the New Black will change the game of it in those terms.
WCT: This role goes hand in hand with your being an activist?
LC: It does in a way. I try to ideally separate them because as an artist I feel like I just have to be true to the work and true to the character. I can't feel encumbered by oh, that's not politically correct or oh, I might piss off people if I take this role or if the character says something like this. The work has to be unencumbered by politics. It has to be unencumbered by agenda in a way.
It has to be about humanity and telling human stories. That's why I love being an artist because I think ultimately telling human stories is what gets us somewhere politically when we can tell different stories and humanize people that actually does advance the politics.
WCT: Where do you see Sophia going forward?
LC: I really do trust and believe in our brilliant writing team. Her relationship with her son, I'm curious about that and her relationship with the other inmates. I don't want to predict or say. I just know that it's going to be fantastic because I know that we have a brilliant writing team and I know it's going to be amazing. I can't wait.
WCT: When are you visiting Chicago?
LC: Actually, I might be we're working on it. We're talking to a university about speaking there later in the fall. So I might be there in the fall, but it's not confirmed yet. So I can't say until it's confirmed.
Look for Lavern in the meantime at lavernecox.com and on movies.netflix.com to stream the entire season online.