First deaf male to win an Oscar for acting

At the 94th Academy Awards on 27 March 2022, deaf actor Troy Kotsur (USA) won Best Supporting Actor for playing Frank Rossi in the comedy-drama CODA (USA/France/Canada, 2021). Kotsur was the first male and the second-ever deaf actor to be Oscar-nominated in an acting category (Best Actor or Best Supporting Actor) after his CODA co-star Marlee Matlin (USA), who won Best Actress for her role as Sarah Norman in Children of a Lesser God (USA, 1986).

CODA (“Child Of Deaf Adults”) also won Best Adapted Screenplay and the biggest prize of the night, Best Picture, at the 94th Academy Awards in Los Angeles, California, USA, making a clean sweep of all three categories in which the film was nominated. However, none of the Oscars’ four acting categories featured cast members from CODA other than Kotsur, 53.

“This is dedicated to the deaf community, the CODA community and the disabled community,” said Kotsur in his acceptance speech through an interpreter. “This is our moment.”

Major awards won by Kotsur in the first quarter of 2022 included Best Actor in a Supporting Role (75th British Academy Film Awards), Best Supporting Actor (27th Critics’ Choice Awards) and Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role (28th Screen Actors Guild Awards), but his ground-breaking win at the Oscars was unquestionably his biggest accolade to date.