Marlee Matlin, the first Deaf actor to win an Academy Award, looks back on her remarkable life, career, and the complexities of being the “first.” Director Shoshanna Stern, also deaf, provides an intimate profile of Matlin who, now for the first time in her own language, reflects on her life and reclaims her story, from her Illinois childhood to becoming a star at age 19, of playing the lead in Children of a Lesser God opposite William Hurt and weathering a tumultuous relationship with Hurt marked by domestic violence and substance. After winning the Academy Award for best actress, Marlee channeled her sudden rise to fame into advocacy towards accessibility. She staged a long career in television and insisted deaf actors be cast in 2022’s Oscar winning film Coda.
