Troy Kotsur's Oscar

By Julianne Giordano, 2023

Published 5/2/22

The Oscars were a big hit this year, with everybody talking about Will Smith slapping Chris Rock after he made a joke about Smith’s wife Jada Smith. It was shocking to everybody, with people taking sides in the situation, either against Chris Rock for making a joke about Jada’s alopecia or against Will Smith for choosing to approach the issue with violence. But if you just look past all of that drama, you’d be able to see the historic event that took place at the awards this year.

Troy Kotsur, a deaf actor, won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for his role in the movie CODA. The movie is about Ruby, the sole hearing person in her family, working to keep her family’s business alive while falling in love with singing and her duet partner. Kotsur made history by being the first deaf man, and second deaf person in history, to win an Oscar. The last deaf person to win an Oscar was Marlee Matlin in 1987, who won Best Actress for her role in the film Children of a Lesser God. She congratulated Kotsur on his win.

In the Academy’s 94-year history, only two deaf people have won Oscars, with 35 years between those wins. Hopefully Troy Kotsur’s win marks a change, setting the stage for more actors and actresses with disabilities to be nominated for (and hopefully win) Oscars in the future