CODA actor Troy Kotsur, on Sunday, made history at the BAFTA Awards by becoming the first deaf actor in the history of the award show to claim an individual prize. He picked up the trophy for outstanding performance by a male actor in a supporting role for CODA.
Kotsur also made an SAG record in the same category in February. Kotsur spoke through a sign language interpreter and thanked the British Academy for recognising his work. At the SAG awards earlier, he also thanked his wife Deanne Bray for being with him through his years of struggle. “Thank you so much to all the members of SAG. I am so proud to be a member. I’ve been a member since 2001, and so now I feel like I’m finally part of the family,” he said. He added: “I know you all are artists, and I know you all know what it’s like to be a starving actor. Back then, I used to sleep in my car. I slept in my dressing room backstage, I couch-surfed and all of that, you feel me, right? So, thank you so much. I’m so grateful to SAG [for protecting] us actors.”
CODA, an acronym for child of deaf adults, is a coming-of-age comedy drama which tells the story of a teenage girl Ruby and her deaf fishing family. At the heart of the film is Ruby's conflict as she desires to leave home to pursue her singing talent, leaving behind the family who is dependent on her to deal with the hearing world. The film, which has been bagging may awards, is being seen as a pathbreaking moment in Hollywood in terms of onscreen representation. Besides Kotsur, the film features deaf actors in key roles and much of the dialogue is in American Sign Language (ASL).
The film, adapted by writer-director Sian Heder from the French film La Famille Bélier, has also been nominated for three Oscars. His CODA costar Marlee Matlin was the first deaf person to ever be nominated and to win an Oscar for Children of a Lesser God in 1987.
Kotsur has 20 years of experience in the industry, performing in theatre, TV and Broadway. Now he hopes that together he and Matlin can “help Hollywood to have some empathy” by changing the way deaf people are seen and portrayed on screen, he told The Guardian. “It's been a hellish long journey,” he said.
