SAN FRANCISCO (AP) – Actress Laverne Cox is being cast as the first transgender person with a wax figure at a Madame Tussauds museum.
Merlin Entertainment spokeswoman Kari Martin says a life-sized likeness of the Orange is the New Black co-star is scheduled to be unveiled at the Madame Tussauds’ in San Francisco on June 26, two days before the city’s annual LGBT pride parade.
Martin says Cox was selected for her visibility as both a transgender icon and as an actress.
She says that while gay and lesbian celebrities such as Elton John, Harvey Milk and Billie Jean King have been represented in wax, none of the 19 Madame Tussauds around the world has had a transgender figure.
Cox called having a wax figure in her image an improbable and extraordinary honor.
