Laverne Cox takes us on an awe-inspiring journey from her childhood to the pivotal moments that marked her first foray into film roles. In this captivating video, the trailblazing actress and advocate shares personal anecdotes, triumphs, and challenges that have shaped her remarkable career
00:03I was like, you were at my birthday party, so you probably already have it.
00:07It's okay.
00:08This is going to be the easiest to unwrap it.
00:10Wait, maybe not.
00:13There is a Laverne Cox Barbie.
00:15She's sitting here.
00:17Round of applause.
00:18Now, I can tell you, as a...
00:21Am I a hetero gay guy?
00:23Like, what is my term?
00:24What is it?
00:25I don't even know.
00:26What is it?
00:27A straight gay, because I'm like really gay.
00:29A straight gay.
00:30I don't know my pronoun.
00:31I don't know my pronoun.
00:32As a gay, I ain't never had no doll.
00:34But I'm not only going to say thank you for the doll.
00:37We're actually going to...
00:38Go ahead and bring that in.
00:40We're actually going to...
00:41No, just come right over here.
00:43We're going to put her right here.
00:46Hi.
00:47So we have...
00:49Yes!
00:50Her hair should be styled, yes.
00:55This is a first that I'm really proud of.
00:57I'm the first trans person, openly trans person to have a...
01:00See, here we go.
01:01The first trans...
01:02See again.
01:03To have a doll made in their image by Mattel.
01:05I love that.
01:06I love that.
01:07And there's not an agenda.
01:09This isn't an agenda.
01:10There are trans folks, LGBTQ folks of all ages who are inspired by this.
01:17And who need to see this, you know?
01:19And people who aren't.
01:21And what's also been so beautiful about my life and career is that there are people who
01:24aren't LGBTQ plus or black or whatever who were inspired because I...
01:30Nothing that has happened in my career is supposed...
01:33Was supposed to happen.
01:34Like, there are all these black trans women, like, being nominated for Emmys or on magazine covers.
01:40No.
01:41Like, not before me.
01:42Right.
01:43So, none of this was meant to be or was supposed to happen.
01:46And so...
01:47And the evolution of it and you being groundbreaking doesn't make it your fault.
01:52As they will say, like, you're on the cover of Time or you have the doll.
01:55It's your agenda.
01:56It's an agenda you're the face of.
01:57People, I think, are connecting with your advocacy and your visibility.
02:02And you're being blessed because of the work that you put in.
02:04I have a right.
02:05And I have a right to live my dreams.
02:07Yeah.
02:08You know, we all have a...
02:09This is America.
02:10And I, you know, as many problems as this country has, I believe that everybody should
02:14be able to live their dreams here and be able to do with our bodies and with our lives
02:19what we should be able to do and what we want to do.
02:23And so, the fact that I'm a Black trans woman living my best life, genuinely happy, you know,
02:31making a lovely living, being visible.
02:34People are inspired by it because it's like this is not something that most of us grew up with.
02:39You know, the other kids growing up with it, which is wonderful.
02:42And it's just...
02:43I think my story is a testament to, like, you know, a lot of hard work, perseverance, and passion.
02:48There is a tremendous amount of work that goes into everything I do.
02:51And even if people think I suck at...
02:53People think I suck at acting or whatever.
02:55I do have four Emmy nominations for acting.
03:01Somebody doesn't think I suck.
03:02And honestly, but to be real, I've seen performances of mine that suck.
03:06I think that some of my favorite actors have done terrible performances.
03:10And that, like, inspires me.
03:12I'm like, and I'm not going to name any of them.
03:13I'm like, some of my favorite actors, like, I'm like, that was not good.
03:16And so, you know, like, hopefully I'll have a chance to do better next time.
03:21And I think that, like, as an artist, you have to take the risk to suck.
03:25You have to take the risk to, you know, maybe not do well at something.
03:30Because I think we often learn more from, quote unquote, failure or when things don't happen the way that we'd like them to, then we learn from our successes.
03:37But you watch your work back and criticize your own work?
03:39Absolutely.
03:40Because some people don't even watch themselves.
03:41I mean, sometimes it's hard.
03:43I mean, it depends on if it's really close to me, it's harder to watch.
03:46And I may need to take a couple of years to watch.
03:48I remember one of the second to last Emmy nomination I got, I couldn't even...
03:53Like, I remember watching...
03:54I watched the season right when it came out for Orange is the New Black.
03:58And I thought it was too much and I hated it.
04:01And I was like, oh, this sucks.
04:02And I just was like, ugh.
04:04And I talked to my acting teacher about it and she didn't agree.
04:07And then like a year later, I get nominated for an Emmy for that work that I thought sucked.
04:11And I was like, why?
04:13I watched it back and I was like, okay, this is actually good.
04:16But I needed a year to be able to kind of like be objective about it.
04:21And I think I was like, oh, actually, this is pretty good.
04:24But sometimes I think I suck, you know, and that's okay.
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