Marlee Matlin

At 58 years old, Marlee Matlin has this physical status:

Career

Matlin made her stage debut in The Wizard of Oz's International Center on Deafness and the Arts (ICODA) children's theatre at the age of seven and continued to perform with the ICODA children's theatre company throughout her childhood. For an essay entitled, "I Was Not a Movie Star," she received second prize in the Chicago Center's Annual International Creative Arts Festival at the age of 13.

She was discovered by Henry Winkler during one of her ICODA theater appearances, which culminated in her debut in Children of a Lesser God (1986). Sarah Norman, a reluctant-to-talk deaf woman who falls for a hearing man, received mainly critical feedback, and Matlin's performance as a listening woman in her casting received a lot of praise, including Richard Schickel of Time magazine: "[Matlin] has an unusual talent for concentrating her emotions — and the audience's — in her signing." But there's more here, an ironic intelligence, a tenacious but not distancing wit, that the movies, with their legendary ability to photograph thought, can be seen in only a few performances." "She holds her own against the powerhouse she's portraying, demonstrating with a ferocious fear of being rejected and wounded, which is really what her resistance is about," Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times wrote, "She leads her own against the powerhouse she's portraying, portraying with passion and almost painful fear of being rejected and hurt," she says, "She speaks with her eyes, not crying," Matlin writes. A Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Drama and an Academy Award for Best Actress. Matlin, who is just 21 years old at the time, is the youngest actress to be nominated for the Best Actress award. She was the only Deaf nominee and recipient in any category from 1936 to 2022, when deaf actor and filmmaker Troy Kotsur received the award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in CODA, in which Matlin also served as a supporting role.

Billy Joel performed a new version of "Just the Way You Are" with lyrics by Tony Geiss two years later. Matlin's ending was a sign language during the song and he hugged Oscar the Grouch. Billy Joel invited her to perform in his film "We Didn't Start the Fire," one year after that. In 1989, Matlin portrayed a deaf widow in the television film Bridge to Silence. She spoke in a different way than using sign language in that role. "The beautiful, emotionally touching Matlin is too good for this well-intentioned but sentimental slop," the magazine liked, but not like the film. Matlin received the Academy Award for Best Actor at the 1988 Academy Awards. She proclaimed the names of the nominees and of Michael Douglas, the winner, after signing her name in ASL.

Matlin was nominated for a Golden Globe for her role as the lead female protagonist in the television series Reasonable Doubts (1991–1993). Matlin was nominated for an Emmy Award for a guest appearance in Picket Fences (1992) and became a regular on the program in 1996. In the 1994 television drama Against Her Will: The Carrie Buck Story, based on the 1927 United States Supreme Court case Buck vs. Bell 274 U.S. 200. Matlin played a hearing woman for the first time in her career, earning her a CableACE nomination for Best Actress. She had a key supporting role in the 1996 drama It's My Party (1996). She appeared in The West Wing and Blue's Clues as a performer. Seinfeld ("The Lip Reader"), The Outer Limits ("The Message"), The Practice," the Firm, The Practice, and the Special Victims Unit are among the television appearances. She was nominated for Primetime Emmy Awards for her appearances in Seinfeld, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, and The Practice.

In 2004, she co-produced the 3rd Annual Festival of Cinema of the Deaf in Chicago. She appeared in the film What the Bleep Do We Know! the same year, she appeared in the film What the Bleep Do We Know! Amanda is the same as Amanda. In 2006, she appeared in Desperate Housewives as a deaf parent. Joy Turner played a regular role in My Name Is Earl as public defender for Matlin's deafness at Matlin's expense, as well as the mother of one of the victims in an episode of CSI: New York. Matlin appeared in season 4 of The L Word as Jodi Lerner, a lesbian sculptor and girlfriend of one of the show's protagonists, played by Jennifer Beals.

Matlin interpreted the "Star Spangled Banner" in American Sign Language at Super Bowl XLI in Miami, Florida, and at Super Bowl 50 in Santa Clara, California, respectively, on February 4, 2007, 2007, and February 7, 2016. She appeared on Nip/Tuck as a television executive in January 2008. Matlin appeared in Dancing with the Stars, ABC's sixth season, in 2008. Fabian Sanchez, a newbie, was her dance partner. Matlin and Sanchez were the sixth couple to be banned from the competition.

Matlin was named on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on May 6, 2009. Matlin appeared on Seth & Alex's Almost Live Comedy Show, hosted by Seth MacFarlane and Alex Borstein on November 8, 2009. Matlin herself became a comedic actress after Borstein imitated Matlin's calling MovieFone and singing "Poker Face" and launching a scathing tirade against Borstein, including the fact that she was not allowed to provide her own voice for Family Guy. In the Season 10 episode "The Blind Side," Matlin continued to perform Stella, Peter Griffin's coworker, and "The Blind Side"; Stella later became a recurring character.

Matlin created My Deaf Family, a reality show she hosted to various national television executives in 2010. Although they expressed curiosity, no television network had purchased the rights to the program. Matlin introduced the pilot to YouTube on March 29, 2010 and introduced a viral marketing campaign. Matlin appeared in No Ordinary Hero: The SuperDeafy Film in 2013.

Matlin appeared on the Syfy television show The Magicians from beginning in 2017. Matlin was announced by Deadline on July 31, 2017 as a series regular in the ABC thriller Quantico's third season. Jocelyn Turner, an ex-FBI agent, appeared in the role. Matlin was featured in an article by Hearing Like Me in 2019 as someone who might bring more #DeafTalent to "Life and Deaf," a new comedy series that premiered in the 1970s that aims to investigate the life of a child with deaf parents. According to Deadline, Marlee Matlin was supposed to be executive produced for this program. Matlin appeared in CODA, an American comedy-drama film that follows a hearing teenage girl who is a child of deaf adults (CODA for short). Emilia Jones plays the hearing girl, Matlin and Troy Kotsur as her culturally deaf parents, and Daniel Durant as her deaf brother; her role received her the SAG Award for Best Ensemble.

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