Marlee Matlin

Matlin was born in Morton Grove, Illinois, to Libby (née Hammer; 1930–2020) and Donald Matlin (1930–2013), who was an automobile dealer.

Matlin lost all hearing in her right ear and 80% of the hearing in her left ear at the age of 18 months due to illness and fevers.

In her autobiography I'll Scream Later, she suggests that her hearing loss may have been due to a genetically malformed cochlea.

She is the only member of her family who is deaf.

She has a sense of humor about her deafness: "Often I'm talking to people through my speakerphone, and after 10 minutes or so they say, 'Wait a minute, Marlee, how can you hear me?' They forget I have an interpreter there who is signing to me as they talk. So I say, 'You know what? I can hear on Wednesdays.

Matlin and her two older brothers, Eric and Marc, grew up in a Reform Jewish household.

Her family roots are in Poland and Russia.

Matlin attended a synagogue for the Deaf (Congregation Bene Shalom), and after studying Hebrew phonetically, was able to learn her Torah portion for her Bat Mitzvah.

She was later interviewed for the book Mazel Tov: Celebrities' Bar and Bat Mitzvah Memories.

She graduated from John Hersey High School in Arlington Heights and attended Harper College in Palatine, Illinois.

She had planned a career in criminal justice.

In her autobiography, Matlin described two instances in which she was molested: by a babysitter at age 11, and by a teacher in high school.

Matlin made her stage debut at the age of seven, as Dorothy in an International Center on Deafness and the Arts (ICODA) children's theatre of The Wizard of Oz, and continued to appear with the ICODA children's theatre group throughout her childhood.

At the age of thirteen, she won second prize in the Chicago Center's Annual International Creative Arts Festival for an essay titled, "If I Was not a Movie Star."

Marlee Matlin (born August 24, 1965) is an American actress, author, and activist.

She is the recipient of numerous awards, including an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award, in addition to nominations for a BAFTA Award, and four Primetime Emmy Awards.

Deaf since she was 18 months old, Matlin made her acting debut playing Sarah Norman in the romantic drama film Children of a Lesser God (1986), winning the Academy Award for Best Actress.

She is the first deaf performer to win an Academy Award, as well as the youngest winner in the Best Actress category.

She was discovered by Henry Winkler during one of her ICODA theater performances, which ultimately led to her film debut in Children of a Lesser God (1986).

The film received generally positive reviews and Matlin's performance as Sarah Norman, a reluctant-to-speak deaf woman who falls for a hearing man, drew high praise: Richard Schickel of Time magazine wrote: "[Matlin] has an unusual talent for concentrating her emotions -- and an audience's -- in her signing. But there is something more here, an ironic intelligence, a fierce but not distancing wit, that the movies, with their famous ability to photograph thought, discover in very few performances."

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times was also impressed with Matlin, writing, "She holds her own against the powerhouse she's acting with, carrying scenes with a passion and almost painful fear of being rejected and hurt, which is really what her rebellion is about," and Paul Attasanio of The Washington Post said, "The most obvious challenge of the role is to communicate without speaking, but Matlin rises to it in the same way the stars of the silent era did -- she acts with her eyes, her gestures."

Children of a Lesser God brought her a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Drama and an Academy Award for Best Actress.

Only 21 years old at the time, Matlin remains the youngest actress to receive the Oscar in the Best Actress category.

She was the only Deaf nominee and recipient in any category for 36 years until 2022, when deaf actor and filmmaker Troy Kotsur won for Best Supporting Actor for his role in CODA, in which Matlin also played a supporting role.

Two years later, she made a guest appearance on Sesame Street with Billy Joel performing a revised version of "Just the Way You Are" with lyrics by Tony Geiss.

Matlin used sign language during the song and hugged Oscar The Grouch during the song's conclusion.

One year after that, Billy Joel invited her to perform in his video for "We Didn't Start the Fire".

Matlin attended the 1988 Oscars to present the Academy Award for Best Actor.

After signing her introduction in ASL, she spoke aloud the names of the nominees and of Michael Douglas, the winner.

In 1989, Matlin portrayed a deaf widow in the television movie Bridge to Silence.

In that role, she spoke in addition to using sign language.

People magazine did not like the film, but praised Matlin's work, writing, "the beautiful, emotionally moving Matlin is too good for this well-intentioned but sentimental slop."

Matlin starred in the police drama series Reasonable Doubts (1991–1993), which earned her two Golden Globe Award nominations, and her guest roles in Seinfeld (1993), Picket Fences (1993), The Practice (2000), and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (2004–05) earned her four Primetime Emmy Award nominations.

For her role in CODA (2021), she won the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture.

Matlin is a prominent member of the National Association of the Deaf, and her interpreter is Jack Jason.

Matlin was nominated for a Golden Globe for her work as the lead female role 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 that series during its final season (1996).

She played Carrie Buck in the 1994 television drama Against Her Will: The Carrie Buck Story, based on the 1927 United States Supreme Court case Buck v. Bell 274 U.S. 200.

In that role, Matlin portrayed a hearing woman for the first time in her career, which earned her a CableACE nomination for Best Actress.

In 2009, she received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.