Barbie x Laverne Cox
(Picture: Mattel)Laverne Cox has told her fans to “dream big” after she was honoured by Barbie with its first doll modelled after a transgender person.
The four-time Emmy Nominated Actress, 49, spoke of her pride and hopes to inspire Barbie fans to add transgender dolls to their collection.
Cox gushed: “It’s been a dream for years to work with Barbie to create my own doll.
“I can’t wait for fans to find my doll on shelves and have the opportunity to add a Barbie doll modelled after a transgender person to their collection. I hope that people can look at this Barbie and dream big like I have in my career.
“The space of dreaming and manifesting is such a powerful source and leads you to achieve more than what you originally thought was possible.”
The doll appears as part of Mattel’s Tribute Collection which honours trailblazing women.
Cox, who insists she was involved in every step of the Barbie design process, made sure the burgundy dress can be whipped off to reveal a dazzling silver catsuit underneath.
The actress was 40 when she was cast in her breakthrough role as Sophia Burset, a trans woman in prison for credit card fraud, in Netflix’s Orange is the New Black. She had been planning on giving up acting when she got the job after working in drag bars up and down the US.
Cox made history to become the first openly trans person to cover Time and Cosmopolitan magazines and the first openly transgender primetime Emmy nominee and Daytime Emmy Award winner.
She told the Insider in February: “I’m still insanely proud. I was the first trans person to do a lot of things — you know the résumé — and I hoped that some of the doors that I was able to open, with a lot of help, that other trans people will be able to walk through and surpass me.”
The doll is part of Mattel and Barbie’s Tribute Collection, designed to “celebrate visionaries who inspire through their incredible contributions and impact as trailblazers”.
The Laverne Cox doll is now available to purchase from Amazon, Walmart, Target and the Mattel website for $39.99 (£31.79).
