In one of the best stories of the entire awards season, Troy Kotsur has topped his remarkable run by winning the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. The “CODA” star became just the second deaf actor to win an Academy Award following his co-star Marlee Matlin who won Best Actress for “Children of a Lesser God” in 1987. Kotsur’s win also was the first Oscar for streaming service Apple TV+.
READ MORE: Troy Kotsur Is Living A Dream Thanks To “CODA” [Interview]
Over the course of a grueling season, Kotsur took a number of major awards including the SAG Award for Outstanding Best Performance by a Male in a Supporting Role as well as for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture, the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role, the Independent Spirit Award for Supporting Male, the Gotham Award for Supporting Male, the Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture and the Critics Choice Award for Best Supporting Actor.
Deaf since birth, Kotsur began his career on the stage in 1989. He landed his first TV credit in 2001 (“Strong Medicine”) and his first feature credit was for the 2007 Jim Carrey thriller “The Number 23.” Over his career, he directed himself in 2013’s “No Ordinary Hero: The SuperDeafy Movie” and appeared in a production of the musical “Big River” on Broadway.
In an interview with The Playlist earlier this month, Kotsur discussed being overwhelmed attending the first Oscars Luncheon since 2000.
“I met several celebrities like Jessica Chastain and Rosario Dawson, and many of these folks happened to know sign language, which really surprised me,” Kotsur says. “That was really cool. And maybe I can work with them in the future. It’s nice to meet actors who know sign language. And I’m sure there’s many more out there that I’m not even aware of, and so all of this stuff is new to me. And it was so cool to meet so many actors and really, I couldn’t even move because so many folks were coming up to me. Andrew [Garfield] from ‘Spider-Man,’ he stopped me and waved and he said, ‘Hey, I love you,’ and blah, blah, blah, blah. And so it really touched me, and to meet so many of these folks and shake their hand because I’m a big fan of many of theirs, and I don’t even realize they recognize me. I’m extremely proud of my work and it feels good to be seen and validated, and have my work be recognized”
“CODA” is available worldwide on Apple TV+.
