-Welcome. Thank you.
-That is about an amazing band that makes you want to dance.
-That's exactly right.
-Shout out to the band.
[ Cheers and applause ]
-Welcome to the show.
You've recently been named E's red carpet host.
-Yes. -This is -- this is a big deal.
[ Cheers and applause ] -Yes.
-This is a big deal.
-We -- it's such an honor and I'm having such a good time.
we just did the People's Choice Awards a few months ago
and on Sunday, we're doing the Screen Actors Guild Awards,
the S.A.G. Awards. And I love artists.
I love actors. The S.A.G. Awards are always so much fun,
and it is star-studded.
When I got the list of the people I'm potentially
interviewing, I was like -- [ Gasps ]
I really had a gasp, but I was like,
"I need to really get it together."
Because they're names like -- -Who are you excited about?
-People like Leonardo DiCaprio. -Uh-huh.
-Like, if you're an actor, and Leonardo DiCaprio is,
like, [emphatically] an actor. -Yeah.
-Denzel Washington is [emphatically] an actor.
-Yeah, he's unbelievable. Yeah.
[ Laughter ]
-Cate Blanchett -- "Cate the Great."
-No. "Cate the Great," she's unbelievable.
-It's fun, though, because it's two hours.
I realized the day of, I was like,
"I can't go to the bathroom. I can't leave."
I have to be on the red carpet for two hours.
So I stopped all liquids at 2:00 P.M.
-That's smart. -Because the red carpet starts
at 6:00. -Very smart.
-And you're there the whole time,
and there's all this stuff coming at you, but you have to
be on your toes and be on -- think on your feet.
And anything can happen,
and that's actually really fun and exciting.
-You've had a bunch of jobs, but this one I read about
and it made me laugh because I go,
"I don't know if I remember this."
But I remember the show, kind of.
Was it like, "I Will Work for Diddy," or something?
Or -- -"I Want to Work for Diddy."
I was on -- in 2008, I did a reality show
called "I Want to Work for Diddy."
-I remember the show. -It was my phase of saying "yes"
to everything. -Yeah.
-[ Laughs ] -Did you want to work for Diddy?
-No, girl.
[ Laughter ]
No. It was an --
[ Laughter ]
[ Cymbal crashes ]
[ Laughter and applause ]
-That's it. I don't know.
I can't take that.
-It was an -- it was an opportunity to be on television.
This was 2008, so, like, a transperson had never been
on a competition reality show in 2008.
-Yeah. -It was about building
relationships with the casting director.
I didn't really want to do it, but they loved me.
And I think I -- because I didn't care, I went in,
I was myself. And the interesting of them --
there are so many interesting things that happened
on that show, but because I had watched "Making the Band,"
I knew that Diddy would wake you up in the middle of the night
to do stuff, and I was like, "I do not want to be
on national television without my makeup
at 2:00 in the morning."
So, at night, I would wash all my makeup off, reapply it,
and then go to sleep.
[ Laughter ]
-See? That's how you do it.
[ Cheers and applause ] -And sure enough --
-Genius. -The second challenge,
we were wakened at, like, 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning,
and I woke up, and I was like, "Yes."
[ Laughter ]
-And here you are now. -Yes.
-Here you are now. I want to talk about "inventing Anna" too.
-Oh, my God. - You're doing it great, though.
Everyone is crushing on the show.
It's -- congrats, number one show on Netflix.
-Thank you. Thank you. -Not too bad.
[ Cheers and applause ]
Number one show on Netflix.
But your character is based on a real person.
-Yes. I play -- so "Inventing Anna" is about
this woman named Anna Delvey, AKA Anna Sorokin,
who is a fake heiress who conned the New York social scene
several years ago. It's based on a true story.
And I play a woman named Kacy Duke, who was her
personal trainer and she's a life coach.
And I got to meet Kacy. She trained me.
I had a four hour lunch with her
where she told me her life story.
She lived this incredible life.
She's -- Speaking of Denzel Washington,
she trained everyone from Denzel Washington
to Lenny Kravitz to Julianne Moore.
And she's been in the business for, you know, over 30 years.
She's a legend. And she's this really spiritual woman
who is incredible.
And she got, sort of, roped into this crazy, crazy scheme --
-What does she think of your performance?
-She has been so ama-- and I was so nervous.
I was, like, really in so much anxiety.
Because I was like, "Oh, my God. if Kacy hates it,
this is going to be terrible."
But she sent me the sweetest message.
She sent me flowers. She said, "Congratulations.
Laverne is killing it."
-Aww. -She has been so sweet.
And a friend of hers tweeted me.
They said -- they were like, "I've known Kacy Duke
for 20 years and Laverne Cox nailed it."
And I was like, "Oh, my God." -That's all you need.
-Yeah. -That's all you need, right?
[ Cheers and applause ]
-It's a great show. I want to show everyone a clip.
Here's Laverne Cox in "Inventing Anna."
Take a look.
-She is out there by a pool while I am here dodging
calls from my credit card company.
-I heard if you legally change your name,
they can't make you pay that.
But chill. She'll know.
-Easy for you to chill, she paid you back.
And how are you so calm right now?
-I'm just not letting Anna take anything more from me.
No more of my time. No more of my attention.
-I wish I had your zen. You're not angry at all.
-Here's the thing about anger.
When you're angry, you're just a character
in someone else's story.
But when you let your anger go, you reclaim your own story,
become your own protagonist again.
[ Cheers and applause ] -Laverne Cox!
Check out "Inventing Anna,"
which is streaming now on Netflix.