Entertainer with hearing loss – Marlee Matin

The entertainment industry has a long way to go to include those who are deaf and have hearing loss equally. But still, there are some people with hearing loss who have made major waves in the entertainment industry. Among them is Marlee Matlin

Marlee Matlin

This award-winning actress is probably the best-known of all the actresses, actors and musicians in the entertainment industry who are deaf or hard of hearing. By the time Matlin was 18 months old, she was declared legally deaf as she lost all of her hearing in her right ear and 80 percent in the left ear. By the time Matlin was seven years old, she knew she wanted to be an actress. She acted in her first play – taking the leading role of Dorothy in “The Wizard of Oz” – at the Center on Deafness in the Chicago suburbs. In 1986, she won an Academy Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role for her work in the film “Children of a Lesser God.” She has also won a Golden Globe and been nominated for four Emmys for her work in television.

Currently, Matlin acts in the sitcom “Switched at Birth.” In a paramount episode in early March 2013, she and the entire cast of the show acted in the first episode in television history done completely in ASL. Matlin both signs and speaks, depending on what is necessary for her acting role, something she’s been criticized for from various segments of the deaf community. But in a 2009 After Ellen interview, Matlin said that she has to do what is best for her and what she thinks is right, and that she doesn’t worry about what other people think:

“I can’t be everyone’s answer to making everything right in the world just because the world has historically not understood people who are deaf,” she said. “I’ve learned I’m just one of many and that whatever people want to put on me belongs to them, not me.”

Source: healthy hearing.com