Whether you’re a fan of his earlier work or his current work, actor Troy Kotsur could not be more deserving of this Oscar. And it is a historic win as well.
For those who have yet to see CODA, Troy plays Frank Rossi, a deaf fisherman from Gloucester, Massachusetts. He is the patriarch of a family that consists of a wife and a son who are also deaf and a daughter who can hear.
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The movie details his struggle to understand his daughter’s dreams of becoming a singer. And his performance just won him an Oscar, also making him the first male deaf actor to win an Academy Award.
The first deaf actor to win an Oscar happened back in 1987, when Marlee Matlin, his CODA co-star won for her role in Children of a Lesser God. And people will be talking about Kotsur’s performance in CODA for years to come.
According to NPR, Kotsur was born deaf and grew up in Arizona before attending school at Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C. where he studied acting. You may recognize Kotsur’s earlier work in Criminal Mind, CSI: NY, and Scrubs.
He also held a role in The Mandalorian, where he created a fictional sign language for the tribe of nomads on the planet Tatooine, NPR reports. And it was a full-circle moment for Kotsur who fell in love with acting while watching the earlier Star Wars movies.
“It was so visual, the costumes, it just blew me away,” he signed, according to NPR. “I watched it again and again. And it got me hoping that someday I could make a movie.”
Brilliant! Congratulations, Mr. Kotsur!