• ELIXHER
• On November 25, 2013

Actress Laverne Cox, breakout star from the Netflix original series Orange Is the New Black, recently graced the cover of VIBE Vixen. Cox talked about her transition, being bullied as a kid and more. Here are some highlights where we learn some little known facts about the star and her character, Sophia Burset:

It looks like the role of Sophia was made for you.
I just auditioned! In August of 2012, I was at an event with my agent, who brought it my way. I was actually doing research on Cece McDonald, at the time. She’s a black trans-woman who’s in prison in Minnesota. I was trying to interview her for a show called In the Life, which lost its funding. Now I’m happy because I get to interview her. I think about her a lot during this journey. She was harassed walking down the street by people yelling anti-trans and racial slurs. A fight broke out and one of her tappers ended up dead, and she is in prison for it. I’m interviewing her for a documentary.

Oh, wow! What’s the documentary?
It’s going to be about violence against trans-women and [Cece]’s case is going to be a really big part of that. In a lot of ways, it’s a microcosm of what so many trans-women of color experience. We have the racist piece, the transphobic piece, and the criminal justice piece.

Do you know if Sophia is based on an actual prison mate?
She is! Piper Kerman wrote a book where she mentioned a woman named Vanessa, who was [t]rans and a black woman. She was a showgirl before prison – she’s definitely a real person.

What are you watching on TV when you have the time?
I love Scandal. There’s actually a group on Twitter who are fans of OITNB and Scandal that call themselves Orange Gladiators. I live for that! Our fans are incredible, hardcore and amazing. I also live for Breaking Bad, Real Time with Bill Maher, and Fashion Police. I kind of watch a lot [laughs].

Read the full interview here.