CODA's Troy Kotsur Makes History
Troy Kotsur can’t resist telling a good story. From entertaining classmates - as a schoolboy to his brilliant performance as a supporting actor in ODA, one of the most acclaimed films of the year,
he’s been on an amazing journey.
He’s the first Deaf actor — the capital “D” refers to Deaf culture — to win an individual Screen Actors Guild Award®, a British Academy Film Award and a Critics’ Choice Movie Award, and only the second,
after his CODA co-star Marlee Matlin, to win an Oscar. A proud union member, he was also the 2021 recipient of the SAG-AFTRA Harold Russell Award, which recognizes an individual who has substantially contributed to the overall awareness of the disability experience through media.
CODA, which stars Emilia Jones, tells the story of a teen whose family is deaf, and the challenges she faces growing up straddling the hearing and deaf worlds. It won the Oscar for Best Picture and the SAG Award for Outstanding Cast in a
Motion Picture.
Right on the heels of his Oscar win, SAG-AFTRA interviewed Kotsur via Zoom to discuss his penchant for storytelling, the impact of CODA’s popularity on people with disabilities and his love of Star Wars.
WHAT SET YOU ON THE PATH TO BEING AN ACTOR?
When I was younger, I would watch a lot of film and TV and cartoons like Tom and Jerry. [With] Tom and Jerry, you had cat and mouse without dialogue, so [I was able to appreciate it] as a deaf audience member.
The next day, I’d have to take the bus to school; it was almost a two-hour commute. We’d have 15 young deaf kids on the bus, and for the hour and a half, I would tell stories; it was like theater on the road. I would reenact Tom and Jerry, and they were my audience members. I’d stand in the aisle. I’d do Tom, I’d do Jerry, the chase scenes, the tongue sticking out, the punches and all of that, and the kids’ eyes just lit up. I enjoyed it, and I found in that moment, it was fun, and so the next night, I’d watch a new episode. And the next day on the bus, I’d do Tom and Jerry again.
It was almost like studying to figure out how to become a storyteller, and I found I truly enjoyed it. When I saw their eyes light up and I saw the laughter, it felt so good, and it was such an important moment, because I found that I had a passion for acting. So that led me to the theater stage, which of course led me here today.
IN THE LAST FEW YEARS, THERE HAVE BEEN SEVERAL SUCCESSFUL FILMS THAT PLACED DEAF CHARACTERS AT THE CENTER OF THE STORY, INCLUDING A QUIET PLACE AND SOUND OF METAL, AND LAUREN RIDLOFF IN THE WALKING DEAD AND IN ETERNALS. DO YOU THINK THESE PROJECTS AND THE SUCCESS OF CODA ARE SIGNS THAT THE INDUSTRY IS INTERESTED IN FULLER REPRESENTATIONS OF DEAF CHARACTERS AND TELLING THOSE STORIES?
Yeah, I believe that CODA has really been one of the most impactful films in quite a while. There’s been a real cultural transformation, and it really shows what real Deaf culture is like. In these other films, you tend to have just one deaf role or actor who happens to be deaf. But in our film, we had an ensemble deaf cast of three actors — mother, father and son — that used ASL as their language to communicate. So you’d see this real, conversational sign language.
And, of course, a lot of F-bombs and vulgarities too. And, finally, it gave folks 30 seconds of silence to really experience and have an inside view to our deaf world and Deaf culture.
Our film is impactful, and I am starting to see more doors open. I’m starting to see more hearts and minds open. I’m seeing more diverse stories being told.
WHAT DOES AUTHENTIC DEAF REPRESENTATION ONSCREEN LOOK LIKE TO YOU?
I feel like we just have this instinct because we grow up in the Deaf culture. It’s just inside of us. We’re born that way; we grew up that way all of our lives. A hearing actor really can’t play deaf. You have to have that lived experience, and you have to have swum in that deep lake, that ocean of Deaf culture, to really immerse yourself in it.
Some deaf people really struggle to find their identity. It depends on the individual and how attached you are to Deaf culture, so I think authenticity means raw. It means real.
So many hearing actors have played disabled [people], hoping to get nominations, and that’s not authentic.
There’s always controversy as an actor that you should be able to portray anyone in anything, even if you don’t have that lived experience, [but] a white actor can’t play a person of color — or shouldn’t anyway — and it’s the same for a non-deaf actor in a deaf role.
This authenticity is communicated with eye contact. You have to walk and talk and use your eyes. We use our eyes to communicate; we’re visual community storytellers. I’ve seen this real stiffness when hearing actors play deaf, and we just don’t buy it; we can tell it’s inauthentic.
HOW DO YOU FEEL A MOVIE LIKE CODA HELPS DEEPEN UNDERSTANDING OF THE DEAF COMMUNITY TO THE GENERAL PUBLIC?
I think it increased awareness of the deaf community as well as CODAs, children of deaf adults. My real-life daughter is a CODA. I’ve seen what CODAs have been through and their journey, because they have to traverse these two worlds. There’s two different languages, sign language at home and spoken English at school and in the outside world.
But CODAs are so tired of educating everyone, explaining to hearing people and [responding to] all their questions, and it’s constant daily education. Now our movie can just speak for itself, and a lot of CODAs really feel seen and feel identified. I’ve seen my daughter begin to feel proud; I’m seeing the impact out there.
SO, YOU HAD THE OPPORTUNITY TO WORK IN THE STAR WARS FRANCHISE.
Oh, my God, I love Star Wars so much, and I’ve loved it for so many years.
Keep in mind that ... I can’t hear. Zero. And back then, there was no captioning or subtitles. But I’ll never forget sitting in the theater. It was a huge theater with a big red curtain, and so I actually thought I was going to see a dance or a musical with my family, and it was going to be really boring. The curtain opens. And I’m like, ‘Oh, it’s a movie. Okay, I wonder what it’s going to be.’
The best moment in my life, perhaps, is when this destroyer flies across this giant screen, and it was loud, I could feel the rumbling. I was 8 years old. I was freaking out. I had never seen anything like this in my life. There’s laser gun shots onscreen, there’s just these wonderful costumes, these robots, these aliens.
I’d never seen those types of monsters and aliens. It was extremely visual; it blew my mind. I told my parents, I wanted to see it again. So I ended up watching Star Wars 28 times in 1977.
TELL US ABOUT YOUR WORK AS A SIGN LANGUAGE CONSULTANT ON THE MANDALORIAN.
I met [producer] Dave Filoni. He said, ‘Think about when cowboys met Indians, and how they communicated with gesturing or sign language. That’s the Mandalorian communicating with the Tuscan Raiders.’ I played around with some signs, and I sent him some rough examples, some options for Tuscan Raider sign language. I didn’t want to use American Sign Language; I wanted to create a type of sign language for that desert landscape, for that Tuscan Raider culture.
I would come up with option A, option B and option C, and I would send those over to Dave, and if he picked option B, we’d shoot an ASL reference and send it over. And I was telling myself, ‘Why am I teaching two people these signs? Maybe they don’t know I’m an actor.’ So my manager called them and said, ‘Hey, Troy is also an actor. Instead of Troy teaching sign language, he can just act.’
They didn’t even know I was an actor. It wasn’t like I begged them for the job, I was just glad that they asked me, and of course I was over the moon. I was [thinking] ‘This is my dream come true. I get to work in Star Wars, and I get to wear a Tuscan Raider costume.’
It’s been great. What a wonderful experience. My dream was to join the Star Wars family.
IN 2015, YOU WROTE AND DIRECTED THE FILM NO ORDINARY HERO: THE SUPERDEAFY MOVIE. WOULD YOU BE INTERESTED IN DIRECTING MORE FILMS?
When I was growing up, I wanted to direct. I was inspired by Spielberg, and I really wanted to become a director, but I realized that Hollywood wasn’t quite ready for a deaf director because of communication [issues]. I would love to have a bit more experience. With SuperDeafy, it was such a rich experience. It was a challenge, because we only had 12 days of shooting. We had a lot of deaf and hearing actors all working together with four interpreters. Maybe you wonder how a deaf director works. It’s just like a hearing director would use an ASL consultant. [A deaf director would use] a sound dialogue coach, so I can borrow the sound dialogue coach’s ears and say, ‘How is the dialogue? Is it flat? Does it feel emotional?’
And then they can put forward their notes, just like an ASL consultant can put forward notes on ASL onscreen, like a dialogue coach.
I have a few ideas in mind; I would love to do something like Freaky Friday, [in which] mother and daughter switch bodies, and the mom becomes the kid and the kid becomes the adult. I am imagining something like if it was a deaf and hearing person switching, and what it would be like to be hearing and what it would be like to be deaf. Something like that would be really great to turn the tables, and we would just need to find someone to write it.
WHAT PROJECTS DO YOU HAVE IN THE WORKS?
We’re discussing a project called Flash Before the Bang, and I’m excited about it because there are so many deaf roles. It’s based on a true story from the Oregon School for the Deaf, where they won the state [track and field] championship. I’ll play the head coach. It’s a large team and a lot of deaf opportunities, and that would be a big step forward. We had three deaf roles in CODA, and this would have more than 10. I’m really hoping that we keep pushing the boundaries forward and give more opportunities to young deaf kids to show that we can do it. Then there will be more diversity, more diverse storytelling and more freedom.
This item was originally featured in the SAG-AFTRA magazine spring 2022 issue.