Her costume on “The Masked Singer” was eye-catching and fabulous. But nothing else would do for Alabama’s Laverne Cox, an actress and fashionista who’s also a high-profile advocate for the LGBTQ+ community.
Cox, 52, was unmasked as Chess Piece on the Oct. 23 episode of the FOX reality series, after singing “I’m Every Woman” for Barbie Night. On “The Masked Singer,” celebrities compete in elaborate costumes, shielding their identities until they’re eliminated or declared the season’s winner.
(See a vignette from Cox’s performance of “I’m Every Woman” in the video below.)
Cox made her exit after performing on two episodes of “Masked Singer,” debuting on the Oct. 16 program with a cover of Cher’s “Believe.” Audience votes determine who stays and who goes on the series, until the winner is declared at the end of Season 12.
“Since I was a kid, people have been telling me that I can’t sing, that I’m tone-deaf, that I should stop. But I love singing, so I keep doing it,” Cox said in an Oct. 16 video, her voice disguised as Chess Piece. “And this is really scary and vulnerable. But here I am, taking another risk, to see what happens.”
(Watch her performance of “Believe” in the video below.)
None of the judges on “The Masked Singer” guessed Cox’s identity correctly on either episode, despite clues offered in video packages before her performances.
“I love a fashion moment, because I never thought I’d be here,” Cox said in a video introducing her as Chess Piece. “There were times I felt like a pawn with no protection. People doubted me my whole life, but I had to believe in myself and make bold moves across the board to secure my crown and that leading role that changed my game.”
Judges Rita Ora, Ken Jeong, Robin Thicke and Jenny McCarthy-Wahlberg were stumped, offering guesses for Chess Piece that ranged from Tyra Banks to Serena Williams. All four responded with wide eyes and cheers when Cox took off her headpiece on Barbie Night, and fans in the studio audience seemed astonished, as well.
“You are literally a role model, a pioneer and an inspiration,” Jeong said. “We’re just so honored for you to bless our stage, honestly.”
Alabama native Laverne Cox was unmasked as Chess Piece on the Oct. 23, 2024, episode of “The Masked Singer.” It was Barbie Night on the Fox reality series.(Michael Becker/FOX Media)
For Barbie Night, one of Cox’s clues was a Barbie doll created by Mattel in her image, but none of the judges recognized it. (The doll was released in 2022 as part of a Barbie Tribute Collection.) After her reveal on “The Masked Singer,” Cox said that inspiring a Laverne Cox Barbie was “a dream come true” for her.
When asked by series host Nick Cannon if there was anything she wanted to say to her friends and family back home, here’s what Cox said: “To be an openly trans Black woman in the United States of America right now, I am so incredibly blessed, but there’s so many people out there who are struggling. And we are human beings who deserve love and opportunities, like everybody. We all deserve that.”
(Watch Cox’s reveal as Chess Piece in the video below.)
Cox, born and raised in Mobile, attended the Alabama School of Fine Arts in Birmingham before leaving the state to forge a career as an actress. She’s best known for her work in the Netflix series “Orange Is the New Black” and earned four Emmy nods, 2014-2020, for her portrayal of Sophia Burset, a transgender hairdresser and inmate at a New York prison.
In 2015, Cox won a Daytime Emmy Award in the category of Outstanding Special Class Special as executive producer of “Laverne Cox Presents: The T Word.” She was the first openly transgender woman to win the award, the Emmys website said.
Cox also had a major role in the Netflix hit series “Inventing Anna,” portraying a personal trainer and life coach who gets entangled with Anna Sorokin. Sorokin, also known as Anna Delvey, is a real-life con artist who duped the glitterati of New York City and tried to swindle millions from big-league banks during the 2010s.
READ: ‘Inventing Anna’: Netflix’s No. 1 show has a major Alabama connection
Cox’s TV work also includes roles in ABC’s “Doubt,” HBO’s “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” Netflix’s “Dear White People,” Fox’s “The Mindy Project,” a 2016 TV remake of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” and more.
One of her next projects, a comedy series called “Clean Slate,” has been in development at IMDb TV. In the half-hour series, Cox plays a trans woman who returns to her Alabama hometown after 17 years and reunites with her estranged father, Henry (played by George Wallace). He’s the old-school owner of a car wash, and according to a description of the show, “Henry has a lot of soul searching to do when the child he thought was a son returns as the determined, proud, trans woman, Desiree.”
Cox also hosted a podcast, “The Laverne Cox Show,” produced by Shonda Rhimes’ Shondaland Audio and iHeart Media. She was the first openly transgender person to appear on the cover of Time magazine, showcasing a 2014 story called “The Transgender Tipping Point.”
Cox isn’t the first Alabama celebrity to compete on “The Masked Singer.” Former “American Idol” winner Ruben Studdard, a Birmingham resident, performed on the series in May 2024 with his buddy Clay Aiken, appearing in a duo known as the Beets.
READ: Why an Alabama ‘Idol’ wanted to sing in an outrageous costume on national TV
NFL legend DeMarcus Ware, an Auburn native and Pro Football Hall of Famer, popped up on “The Masked Singer” in April 2024 as Koala, covering “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” by Tears for Fears. Country star Sara Evans, a former Birmingham resident, competed in February 2023 as Mustang, covering “Here I Go Again” by Whitesnake.
Also, Alabama’s Taylor Hicks, who won the “Idol” crown in 2006, popped up as a celebrity guest on a “Masked Singer” tour in 2022. Hicks was unmasked during a show at the Orpheum Theatre Memphis, after performing as the character of Boom Boom Box.
If you watch: “The Masked Singer” airs on Wednesdays at 7 p.m. CT on FOX.
