LAVERNE COX

In the battle for diversity and equal rights over the last decade, there are few individuals who have been more of a disruptor than Laverne Cox. She first burst onto the scene in 2013 portraying transgender inmate Sophia Burset in the hit Netflix series Orange is the New Black—the role not only made her a star, it marked a new milestone when the 49-year-old became the first transgender person to be nominated for an Emmy in a guest role. Cox would go on to earn three more nominations for the part, and she has continued breaking barriers in the industry: in 2017 she was the first transgender person to play a transgender character in a regular starring role in CBS’S Doubt. She refuses to stay quiet on trans representation, and last year exec-produced the GLAAD Award-winning Netflix doc Disclosure: Trans Lives on Screen, which took an in-depth look at how Hollywood depicts transgender issues and individuals. This year, her movie career was further boosted by a supporting role in the Oscar-nominated dark comedy Promising Young Woman. —Justin Kroll