Troy Kotsur made history by becoming the first deaf male actor to win an Oscar. Previously, his ‘CODA‘ co-star Marlee Matlin, became the first deaf person to win the best actress Oscar in 1987, for the movie ‘Children of a Lesser God’. 

In his acceptance speech, Kotsur communicated “This is dedicated to the Deaf community, the CODA community and the disabled community. This is our moment”. 

Kotsur’s performance throughout the film has been commendable with an outstanding scene where his character asks his daughter to sing so he can place fingers on her throat to feel the vibrations. In another part of the movie, Kotsur’s character improvised American Sign Language gestures while talking to his teenage daughter and her friend about practising safe sex. 

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Before acknowledgement at the Academy awards, Kotsur won the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTAs) and the Screen Actors Guild awards, apart from Film Independent Spirit and Critics Choice. 

David Kurs, a fellow actor, spoke to NPR about Kotsur, saying “If Troy were a person who could speak and hear, if he were a hearing person, his star would have risen many, many years ago”. 

Early life and work

Kotsur was born in 1968 and grew up in Mesa, Arizona. After studying acting at Gallaudet University in Washington D.C., Kotsur toured with The National Theatre of the Deaf. 

He performed the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical ‘Big River: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.’ Kotsur also acted in Los Angeles’ Deaf West Theater, where he led productions like ‘Cyrano’, ‘Our Town’ and ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’. 

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He’s had a good stint on television shows as well, appearing in popular series ‘Criminal Minds’, ‘CSI: NY’ and ‘Scrubs’. Kotsur also played a Tusken Raider on ‘The Mandalorian’, the ‘Star Wars‘ series, where he developed a fictional sign language for the tribes of Tatooine. 

Speaking to NPR, Kotsur had said that watching ‘Star Wars: A New Hope’ in the 1970s sparked his acting bug, adding “It was so visual, the costumes, it just blew me away. I watched it again and again. And it got me hoping that someday I could make a movie.”