Marlee Matlin
Deafness has become synonymous with struggle. When the word is uttered, some automatically assume that person will not get very far in life because too much of life depends on hearing. In some cases, the individual is correct, but not always. Marlee Matlin is a living example of how extraordinary anybody can be, regardless of their circumstances. She began overcoming obstacles at eighteen-months-old, and continued defying the odds throughout her entire life.
Born in Illinois, Marlee Matlin she was able to hear as a baby, but at eighteen-months-old lost eighty percent of her hearing on her left side completely deaf on her right side . While she has never been given a specific answer for why she went deaf at such a young age, doctors have postulated Matlin’s Cochlea was malformed, resulting in losing her hearing . Despite the reason being a genetic malformation, Matlin is the only one in her family, her parents and two older siblings, who has experienced hearing loss. She has overcome many obstacles throughout her life, including reading the Torah at her Bat Mitzvah by learning Hebrew based on the sounds. She also surprised friends, family, and her community by completing high school and college. Unfortunately, because she is part of a marginalized population, she is open to stigmatization and abuse. She described in her autobiographical account, “I’ll Scream Later,” that when she was a child and teenager she experienced sexual abuse by a babysitter and later a teacher .
It seems that everything about Matlin’s life was interesting. For example, she is now a successful actress, having been cast in roles on shows like The West Wing, Law & Order SVU, Seinfeld, and even, Blue’s Clues. She is even still today America’s only deaf actress in history to have won the Academy Award, which she accomplished in 1986 for her role in Children of a Lesser God. She has also been nominated for and won countless other awards from Emmy Awards to Golden Globes. Beyond her career, it is also interesting that she manages to juggle a successful personal life, as well. She has been happily married since 1993, and together with her husband has raised four children. Most interesting of all about Matlin’s life, perhaps, is the fact that she seems to defy every stereotype placed on the deaf community. It is not only refreshing to see an individual who refuses to comply with societal stereotypes, but also inspirational.
As stated, today Matlin is an actor, as well as an advocate for the entire deaf community. She began acting at a very young age when she received the role of Dorothy in, “The Wizard of Oz,” at age seven. She continued acting with the same theater troupe at the International Center on Deafness and Arts for the remainder of her childhood until she was discovered by the famous Henry Winkler, which eventually led her to her Academy Award worthy performance in the role on Children of a Lesser God. She also won a prestigious Golden Globe for this role, and afterward, began making guest appearances on children’s shows such as Sesame Street, wherein she would sign, while other celebrities sang or spoke . Her role on Sesame Street dictated she sign Billy Joel’s “Just the Way You Are,” and it was revolutionary; it was the late 1980’s, and a the first of many times this had been done on television. Children were being introduced to hearing loss, as well as sign language in a new and relatable way. Inadvertently, she became one of the most recognizable faces of the deaf community.
The following years would see Matlin on a slew of popular network shows, from Picket Fences to The Outer Limits. Sometimes she played stereotypical characters, like a lip reader. Other times, she played an average individual who happened to be deaf. She began writing, with her first published novel titled, “Deaf Child Crossing,” and continued her quest for advocacy by hosting the Festival for Cinema of the Deaf in 2004. Matlin has an ability to adapt with the changing social landscape, which she showed in her role on My Name is Earl. She played an attorney, Joy, who is repeatedly mocked for being deaf; she took the jokes in stride, and even managed to make these episodes more hilarious. Her career turned to reality television in the late 2000’s as Matlin took a turn on Dancing with the Stars, and became a contestant on The Celebrity Apprentice, wherein she raised over $900,000 for her charity of choice. Matlin is, if nothing else, a hard-working and ambitious source of inspiration to everybody around her.
In sum, Matlin’s life is not the typical story one may have made synonymous with the word, “deaf.” Though she experienced abuse at a young age, and is the only person in her family to have dealt with hearing loss, she has never let that get in the way of what she wanted to do with her life. At a young age, Matlin realized she wanted to be an actress and, after luckily being discovered by Happy Days’ Henry Winkler, she has made a career out of it. Some may argue this was a simple twist of fate, and they would be right, but Matlin worked diligently to overcome many stereotypes in order to remain successful in a business that did not want her. Outside of her professional career, she has also built a loving, happy home with her husband and children, and become an advocate for the deaf and hard-of-hearing communities. She is inspiring in many ways, and has lived an exemplary life thus far.
Works Cited
Foss, Katherine A. "(De)stigmatizing the Silent Epidemic: Representations of Hearing Loss in Entertainment Television." Health Communication (2014): 888-900.
Knighting, George. American Deaf Actors. New York: General Books LLC, 2010.
Matlin, Marlee. I'll Scream Later. Boston: Simon & Schuster, 2009.
