A couple of weeks ago in The
Hollywood Reporter, Troy Kotsur compared the opportunities for deaf actors
like himself to one small hair in a beard’s worth of roles for those who can
hear.
With Sian
Heder’s “CODA,” which stands for Child of Deaf Adults, he plucked it
and made history. He’s the first deaf actor to be nominated for an Oscar. In
1987, Marlee
Matlin became the first deaf performer to be nominated; she went on to
win the Oscar, for “Children of a Lesser God.” Matlin happens to be Kotsur’s
co-star in “CODA.”
Kotsur plays Frank Rossi, a deaf fisherman, gruff yet
surprisingly tender, trying to keep his business in Gloucester, Mass., afloat
with the help of his teenage daughter, Ruby (Emilia Jones), the only hearing
member of their family. Ruby has served as the interpreter for Frank, her
mother, Jackie (Matlin), and her brother, Leo (Daniel Durant) for most of her
life. But she longs to go to music school and become a singer, a dream her
parents can’t understand. (“If I were blind, would you paint?” Jackie asks.)
And the thought of having to navigate life on their own is terrifying.
The critical response to Kotsur’s portrayal has been overwhelmingly
warm. Owen Gleiberman of Variety called
him “an extraordinary actor”; Steve Pond of The
Wrap declared him “a treasure as Matlin’s gloriously profane husband”;
and Peter Travers of “Good
Morning America” said he was “hilarious and heartbreaking.”
The role has also earned Kotsur 31
nominations, including a
BAFTA, a
Golden Globe, the first Screen Actors Guild nod for an individual deaf male
actor and now an Oscar for best supporting actor. So far he has tallied nine
wins, including a Gotham Award and a Spotlight Award from the Hollywood Critics
Association.
In a statement on Tuesday after the Oscar nominations were
announced, Kotsur said he was stunned, explaining, “I can still remember
watching Marlee win her Oscar on television and telling friends I was going to
get nominated one day and them being skeptical. I would like to thank everyone
for this huge honor.”
Despite the scarcity of jobs for deaf actors, Kotsur is not
exactly a stranger to the limelight. In 2003, he shared the role of Pap with a
hearing actor in the Tony-nominated 2003 American Sign Language adaptation
of “Big
River” on Broadway. More recently he helped to develop a sign language
for the Tusken
Raiders in “The Mandalorian.”
Still, “I’m so glad that they recognized me,” Kotsur told
The Hollywood Reporter of the accolades that have come his way, “not because
I’m deaf but because I’m a talented actor.”
