Matlin, Marlee (1965-…), is an American actress. She has appeared in dozens of motion pictures and television programs. In 1987, Matlin became the first deaf performer to win an Academy Award. She won the Oscar for best actress for her performance in Children of a Lesser God (1986). It was her motion-picture debut. In the film, Matlin played a custodian and former student at a school for the deaf. Matlin also became the youngest person to win the best-actress Oscar. She was 21 years old. In addition to her Oscar, Matlin won a Golden Globe Award for Children of a Lesser God.
Marlee Beth Matlin was born on Aug. 24, 1965, in Morton Grove, Illinois. She lost most of her hearing at the age of 18 months. As a young girl, she began acting at the Children’s Theater for the Deaf in Chicago. In her late teens, Matlin was cast in a Chicago production of Children of a Lesser God, which eventually led to her being cast in the film.
Matlin has appeared in many other movies, both for theatrical release and for television. Her films include Bridge to Silence (1989); Hear No Evil (1993); Against Her Will: The Carrie Buck Story (1994); It’s My Party (1996); Dead Silence (1997); and When Justice Fails and Where the Truth Lies (both 1999). Matlin’s later movies include Askari (2001); What the #$*! Do We (K)now!? (2004); Sweet Nothing in My Ear (2008); No Ordinary Hero: The SuperDeafy Movie (2013); Some Kind of Beautiful (2014); Multiverse (2019); and CODA (2021).
In addition to acting in movies, Matlin has had regular roles in a number of TV series. Such series include “Reasonable Doubts” (1991-1993), “Picket Fences” (1993-1996), “The West Wing” (2000-2006), “The L Word” (2007-2009), “Switched at Birth” (2011-2017), “Quantico” (2015-2018); “The Magicians” (2015-2020), and “Family Guy” (1999- ).
Matlin has long been an advocate of closed captioning, a system that presents the dialogue and sound effects of TV programs and movies as text on a TV screen. She has spoken in a number of countries to promote closed captioning. In the early 1990’s, Matlin helped persuade the government of the United States to pass legislation requiring that TV’s built in the country support closed captioning.
Matlin also has written and co-written a number of books. These include the youth novels Deaf Child Crossing (2002), Nobody’s Perfect (2006, with Doug Cooney), and Leading Ladies (2007, with Doug Cooney); and the memoir, I’ll Scream Later (2009).
