From Oscar winner Marlee Matlin to Marvel superhero Alaqua Cox, deaf and hard-of-hearing actors are breaking barriers and reshaping Hollywood with every role. Want to learn more? We rounded up the most iconic performers with deafness to make their mark onstage and onscreen.
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1. Marlee Matlin
After falling in love with acting at age 7 with the International Center on Deafness and the Arts’ “The Wizard of Oz,” Matlin kept on keepin’ on until being discovered just a few years later…by none other than Henry Winkler (no, really!). She soon became the first deaf actor to win an Oscar for her performance in “Children of a Lesser God,” but didn’t stop there: Matlin has tread the boards for Broadway’s “Spring Awakening” revival, appeared on series like “The L Word” and “The West Wing,” and starred in the best picture Oscar winner “CODA.” The subject of the documentary “Marlee Matlin: Not Alone Anymore” is a staunch advocate for deaf performers and other people with disabilities, particularly in her capacity as celebrity ambassador for disability rights with the ACLU.
2. Stephen Colbert
Writer-actor-comedian and 12-time Emmy winner Colbert lost hearing in his right ear as a child when he had to have emergency surgery to remove a tumor. From his start as an improv powerhouse at Second City Chicago, his role as a satirical news correspondent on “The Daily Show” made him a household name, which he parlayed into the satirical spinoffs “The Colbert Report” and “The Late Night Show With Stephen Colbert.” Colbert has been candid about his use of hearing aids and often jokes about his single-sided deafness, opening a dialogue for the deaf community at large.
3. Lauren Ridloff
Following an auspicious start as the winner of the National Association of the Deaf’s Miss Deaf America, Ridloff took to the stage (and earned a Tony nod!) for the Broadway revival of “Children of a Lesser God.” She gained further notoriety for her roles in AMC’s “The Walking Dead”—for which she was awarded the SAG-AFTRA Harold Russell Award honoring onscreen depictions of disability—and MCU’s “The Eternals.” “People with disabilities are multilayered—we are complex breathing human beings defined by more than just what we lack,” the deaf actor and activist explained.
4. Jane Lynch
Queen of comedy and LGBT+ icon Lynch has single-sided hearing loss likely caused by a high fever as an infant. The performer known for her gruff, no-nonsense persona started her career in Chicago at the Steppenwolf Theatre Company, before making a name for herself as the second woman to be chosen to join Second City. Eventually, her determination led her to acclaimed film work (Christopher Guest’s “Best in Show,” “A Mighty Wind,” and “For Your Consideration”) and four Emmy wins for her work on “Glee,” “Hollywood Game Night,” “Dropping the Soap,” and “Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” as well as two SAG awards for “Glee” and “Maisel.”
Becoming an Actor With a Disability: Opportunities, Advice + Support5. Whoopi Goldberg
Goldberg, who wears hearing aids, attributes her noise-induced hearing loss to “years and years of listening to music so loudly and so close to the delicate eardrum.” But that didn’t stop her voice from being heard as a Grammy-winning comedian (“Whoopi Goldberg”), Oscar-winning actor (“Ghost”), Tony-winning producer (“Thoroughly Modern Millie”), and Emmy-winning talk show host (“The View”), making her one of the rarest honorees in the industry: winner of the EGOT. She also works with the Starkey Hearing Foundation to help provide hearing aids for deaf children.
6. Millie Bobby Brown
“You can talk with your face,” said Brown of becoming an actor with deafness. “It’s very easy for someone to say, ‘I’m mad. I’m sad. I’m angry.’ I have to just do it with my face.” She took that belief to rise to stardom as Eleven—a telepathic child who initially primarily communicates using facial expressions—on Netflix’s “Stranger Things,” for which she and her co-stars won the SAG award for ensemble performance in a drama series. She’s also starred in several “Godzilla” and “Enola Holmes” films and works with youth activists as a UNICEF goodwill ambassador.
7. Alaqua Cox
Deaf since birth, indigenous (Menominee) actor Cox is also an amputee with a prosthetic leg. But this didn’t stop her from landing a major debut role—and kicking major ass—as Maya Lopez/Echo in the MCU’s “Hawkeye” and its Disney+ spinoff series, “Echo.” “People with a disability like me can do anything: We can fight, we can flip, we can fall,” explained the performer, who was chosen to receive the Next Generation Advocate Award from the American Association of People with Disabilities. “I’m excited for people to say, ‘Wow, she can do that?’ ”
8. Troy Kotsur
Kotsur performed with the National Theatre of the Deaf and Deaf West Theatre before the latter’s “Big River” transitioned to Broadway, launching the deaf actor’s mainstream career. With his “natural language” as ASL, Kotsur helped develop sign language for the Disney+ “Star Wars” series “The Mandalorian,” and also portrayed the show’s lead Tusken Raider. He was honored with an Oscar and a SAG award for “CODA,” making him the second-ever deaf actor (after Matlin) to win the film industry’s greatest accolade.
