In 1987, Marlee Matlin made history as the first deaf actress to win an Oscar for her performance in the 1986 film “Children of a Lesser God.”
Last week, Troy Kotsur, Matlin’s costar in the Academy Award-nominated film “CODA,” (an acronym meaning child of deaf adults) made history again as the first deaf actor ever nominated for an Academy Award. As a nominee in the best supporting actor category, Kotsur will compete against actors such as Ciarán Hinds (“Belfast”), J.K. Simmons (“Being the Ricardos”) and “The Power of the Dog” duo of Jesse Plemons and Kodi Smit-McPhee. The awards ceremony will take place on March 27.
Written and directed by Sian Heder, “CODA” is a coming-of-age “dramedy” about a 17-year-old girl named Ruby (Emilia Annis I. Jones) who is the only hearing member of her family. Ruby wants to go to the Berklee School of Music to study voice, but she struggles with the decision because of concerns about leaving her deaf parents (Kotsur and Matlin) and deaf brother (deaf actor Daniel Durant) to fend for themselves in a mostly hearing world.
Based on the 2014 French film, “La Famille Bélier,” “CODA” is also nominated for Oscars in the best picture and best adapted screenplay categories. After its screening at last year’s Sundance Film Festival, Apple outbid several other streaming services, paying $25 million—the highest amount ever paid at Sundance—for the film’s distribution rights.
In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Kotsur, who studied theater at Gallaudet University, said that if he wins the award, “he plans to carry the trophy to the cemetery where his parents are buried,” because they always worried about their son’s career path.
“They really were nervous that I was working as a Deaf actor. They thought it wouldn’t even be possible,” Kotsur said.
Yet, even before Kotsur’s award-nominated role as Frank Rossi, a Gloucester, Mass. fisherman, husband and father, Kotsur had success as a Los Angeles and Broadway stage actor, held small TV roles and directed “No Ordinary Hero: The SuperDeafy Movie”(2013). Kotsur will also star in “Flash Before the Bang,” a soon-to-be released drama based on the true story of an all-deaf track and field team.
The actor, who is said to be “thrilled” by his nomination, is well aware of the significance of his nomination to members of the deaf community. As he told Deadline, an entertainment industry publication, “I just felt so touched that so many deaf people all over the community are so excited and they’re all celebrating. It’s so important for the group of people in our ensemble who just happen to also be deaf,” he said. “It tends to just be one deaf role in a film, like many of Marlee’s roles in the past, and so I hope that Hollywood is beginning to be more open-minded and gives more diverse artists an opportunity to tell their stories. The awareness of ASL and deaf culture is such a positive.”
UPDATE, FEB. 27, 2022: Kotsur became the first Deaf actor to win an individual Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Award for his supporting performance in “CODA”. Additionally, the movie won the award for performance by a cast in a motion picture. Congratulations!
UPDATE, MARCH 13, 2022: Kotsur picked up two more awards for best supporting actor, one from the Critics Choice Awards and the other from the British Academy of Film Awards. Stay tuned for the Oscar ceremony on March 27th.
UPDATE, MARCH 27, 2022: He won! And not only did Kotsur win the Oscar for his stellar performance, “CODA” won for Best Picture. Congratulations to Kotsur and the entire cast and crew of “CODA” for their achievement.
