Laverne Cox, star of "Orange Is the New Black," has been cast as a transgender attorney in a legal drama pilot that CBS TV Studios has ordered.
Cox, who in 2014 became the first transgender actor nominated for an Emmy, was tapped to play Cameron Wirth, a transgender, Ivy League-educated attorney in the pilot "Doubt,"
according to Variety.
"Described as fierce and funny, Cameron's own experience with injustice causes her to fight even harder for all of her clients," wrote Variety's Elizabeth Wagmeister. "Cox's role is a big move for diversity and transgender actors this pilot season."
Cox was assigned a male gender at birth and has rebuffed questions about gender-related surgery or augmentation,
according to Salon.
Variety reported that "Grey's Anatomy" producers Joan Rater and Tony Phelan have been tied to the "Doubt" project, but "Orange Is the New Black" fans should not worry because Cox is returning for that show's third season on Netflix this summer.
The Hollywood Reporter noted that Cox has signed up for guest roles on MTV's "Faking It," Bravo's "Girlfriends' Guide to Divorce" and Fox's "The Mindy Project," since her success on Netflix. She is also set to appear in an MTV documentary about transgender youth.
The celebrity newspaper said the success of such television shows as Fox's "Empire," with Terrence Howard, and ABC's "Black-ish," "Fresh Off the Boat," and the Viola Davis' driven "How To Get Away With Murder," has renewed an interest diversity casting in new shows.
Cox, who was named one of
Glamour magazine's 2014 Women of the Year, told the magazine that the show has made a difference in the way people viewed transgender people.
"When we get to know people as people, then all the misconceptions that we might have about folks who are different from us get knocked away," Cox told Glamour. "And I think that's what's happening with (my character on 'Orange Is the New Black'). So much of the year I've had is historic, but this is a moment that is bigger than me. I meet people who say that my role has given them the courage to say, 'This is who I am' and 'I can transition and be successful and be out as a trans person.'"
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