Laverne Cox on historic broadcast TV role: ‘I did not see people like me on television’

After a morning in which CBS Entertainment President Glenn Geller was taken to task for the network’s deficiency of nonwhite leads in its fall shows, the casting on midseason legal drama “Doubt� at least presented a breakthrough for him to boast about.

Laverne Cox is the first-ever transgender actor to play a transgender character in a series regular role on broadcast TV.

“That is huge,� Geller told reporters Wednesday at the Television Critics Assn. press tour. “I’m very proud of that. And I think as we continue to put new shows on the air, those trends will continue.�

When Cox appeared onstage — alongside co-stars Katherine Heigl, Dulé Hill and Steven Pasquale — the “Orange Is the New Black� star said the achievement was not lost on her for many reasons.

“I’m grateful to have a job as an actor,� Cox said, noting that it was just four years ago that she was standing in front of housing court in New York City with an eviction notice.

In “Doubt,� Cox is on the other side of the law from her “Orange Is the New Black� persona as Cameron Wirth, a trans lawyer.

“I’m an avid TV watcher, and growing up, I did not see people like me on television,� she said.

Cox referenced the concept put forth by queer and cultural theorist José Muñoz called “disidentification,� in which marginalized people recycle and transform images in mainstream culture for their own purpose, as a way in which she negotiated the images she saw on TV.

“That folks can have a character like Cameron who is Ivy League-educated…it’s wonderful to play a character like that, and to be a black transgender woman in that position on CBS is really special… And she wears really great stuff too.�

“Doubt� will premiere midseason.

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