'Don't call me a role model!' Transgender actress and activist Laverne Cox says it's 'presumptuous' to think people want to be just like her

Published: 02:59 EST, 14 July 2015 | Updated: 03:57 EST, 14 July 2015

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Laverne Cox hates being called a 'role model'.

The 31-year-old Orange Is The New Black actress - who is one of the most high-profile transgender people in the entertainment industry - is sick of being considered someone who people think they should live their life like and instead believes she should be seen as a 'possibility model'.

Speaking in the new issue of Radio Times, she said: 'I hate the term "role model". It's presumptuous to think that anyone should model their life after you, but I do like the term possibility model.'

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Not a role model: Laverne Cox believes it's presumptuous to think anyone wants to base their life on her and says she would prefer to be a possibility model

Laverne Cox attends the 2015 amfAR Inspiration Gala

And Laverne admitted that while she loves when people tell her she is gorgeous, she wants them to focus less on her looks and more on her acting abilities.

'Even in good lighting I'm an obviously transgender person,' she said. 'I have a deep voice, I have broad shoulders, I have big hands, I have big feet. I don't think any of those things make me less of a woman.

'I've been very blessed. A lot of people have told me that I'm gorgeous and I love hearing that; I'm not going to lie.

Activist: Laverne is a transgender actress and wants people to focus on more then just her looks

Read the full interview in Radio Times

'But I would like to think that I'm compelling not just because of the way I look. That I have something intelligent, smart, insightful, even moving to say. That I'm talented as an actress and that there's something about the content of my character that is beautiful, beyond how I look. I'd like to think that.'

Laverne also admitted that her dreams of fame kept her going when she was younger and dealing with her gender identity.

She explained: 'The gender thing was just something that I was really defiant with as a kid. I knew I wasn't like everybody else and I needed to assert that.

'My hopes and dreams are what kept me going as a kid. I would say, "I'm going to be rich and famous and show you all." It was kind of a childish thing to say, and now as an adult I'm not quite rich, but things have turned out pretty well so far.'

Laverne has used her high profile to raise awareness about the transgender community and revealed her brother M Lamar - who co-stars in OITNB as her character Sophia pre-transition - encouraged her.

She said: 'I asked my brother if I should be political as an actress, he said, 'What's the point of being famous if you can't use it for something that matters?' That's the approach I've tried to take with it.

'I've been wanting to be a superhero for a very long time.'

Read the full interview in this week's copy of Radio Times.

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