Laverne Cox Tells Kevin Bacon HowFootlooseInspired Her: 'If It's On TV, I Watch It'

Mar. 15, 2025

Laverne Cox; Kevin Bacon.Photo:Rodin Eckenroth/Getty, Jason Mendez/Getty

Rodin Eckenroth/Getty, Jason Mendez/Getty

Laverne Coxis now only one degree of separation fromKevin Bacon.

The Daytime Emmy Award-winning actress joined Tuesday’sepisodeof theSix Degrees With Kevin Baconpodcast, meeting Bacon for the first time and beginning their conversation with love for his 1984 breakoutFootloose.

Bacon, 65, joked, “I was in that.”

Cox added that 1983’sFlashdance, another favorite dance-heavy film, came on right afterFootloose. “My entire elementary school life flashed before my eyes!” she recalled. “It was such a moment. I know you’ve done many things sinceFootloose, but that is how I discovered you.”

“In 2024 it’ll be the 40th anniversary of making that movie,” said Bacon ofFootloose, which celebrated 40 years this February. Calling that fact “scary,” he said, “I’m not quite sure how to process that yet.”

Lori Singer and Kevin Bacon in “Footloose”.Everett

Everett

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Footloose,Flashdanceand the 1980 musicalFamewere formative influences on her future life as an artist, Cox explained. “I begged my mother to put me into dance classes. And finally, when I was in third grade, I started studying tap and jazz.”

She also revealed some of the hardships of being a “very femme child” and assigned male at birth. “I was bullied as a kid, you know, beaten up and chased home from school every day,” she recalled. “So when I would dance, I would create these characters and have music in my head and I would go someplace else. And it really saved my life as a kid.”

Early dance performances included choreographing “Manhunt,” Karen Kamon’s number fromFlashdance, for a talent show. “I’ve always been a performer and I always knew that I would transition to acting even when I was a dancer,” said Cox, who studied both at Indiana University Bloomington and Marymount Manhattan College.

“After I graduated and realized I needed to stop being in denial about being trans,” she shared, “I was like, ‘Well, there’s no trans actors.’ This was the mid- to late-’90s. ‘What am I gonna do?’”

Laverne Cox on Feb. 24.Emma McIntyre/Getty

Emma McIntyre/Getty

Cox went on to become the first openly transgender personnominatedfor a Primetime Emmy Award, for playing Sophia Burset on Netflix’sOrange Is the New Black, in 2014. She’s danced and performed in multiple musical projects since, including 2011’sMusical Chairs, 2016’sThe Rocky Horror Picture Show: Let’s Do the Time Warp Againand live onLip Sync Battle.

Bacon launched hisSix Degreespodcast, which airs new episodes on Tuesdays, as part of non-profitSixDegrees.org. Among the actor-producer’s upcoming credits areBeverly Hills Cop: Axel Fwith Eddie Murphy andMaXXXinewith Mia Goth.

source: people.com