Troy Kotsur signed his name in history at the 2022 Oscar’s when he took home the award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in “CODA”.
Kotsur was the first Deaf male actor to win an Academy Award. His performance in the Oscar winning film permeated barriers that had not been broken since 1987. The first Deaf person to win an Academy Award was Kotsur’s “CODA” costar Marlee Matlin. Matlin won Best Actress for her performance in the 1986 film “Children of a Lesser God”.
Actress Youn Yuh-jung presented the award to Kotsur, and signed his name before she spoke it to the audience. Yuh-jung held Kotsur’s Oscar as he signed his speech.
“This is dedicated to the Deaf community, the ‘CODA’ community and the disabled community. This is our moment.” Kotsur said.
Matlin and Kotsur shared the screen as parents in the Academy Award Best Picture winner “CODA”. “CODA” (which is also an acronym standing for children of Deaf adults) is a coming-of-age film following a daughter (Emilia Jones) who battles to pave her own path in life, based on the 2014 French film “La Famille Bélier”. The daughter, Ruby Rossbi, is a hearing high school senior living in Massachusetts with her Deaf parents (Troy Kotsur and Marlee Matlin) and her Deaf brother (Daniel Durant).
The Rossbi family are third generation fishermen trying to make a living. They struggle to bring in enough money to support their family as they deal with federal regulations and communication barriers. As the only hearing person in the family, Ruby is the Rossbi’s business interpreter.
Her intense love and protection for her family comes across beautifully as she interprets their signs to the exact same level of emotion. Their familial bond looks like it could never be broken. The Rossbi family has open, honest communication, like many families, but theirs is just in American Sign Language.
Ruby has one gift that her family cannot share—her voice. Ruby innocently joins the school choir following her crush (Ferdia Walsh-Peelo). However, this small step accumulates into a life altering leap when her choir teacher (Eugenio Derbez) wants Ruby to audition for the Berklee College of Music.
Struggling to keep their fishing business afloat, Ruby’s parents oppose her going to college. Kotsur and Matlin portray pure heartbreak on the screen as they watch their daughter sing on stage at the school recital. Kotsur shows the pain of never knowing what his daughter’s talent sounds like.
Jones and Kotsur share a sentimental scene as Jones sings her recital song and Kotsur places his hand on her throat. He feels every note through the vibrations and every tear that jones is trying to hold back. Its then that Ruby’s father knows she has to attend Berklee. She has to pursue her own journey outside their family.
In her Berklee audition, Ruby sings and signs the words to Joni Mitchell’s “Both Sides Now.” The Rossbi family watches her sign the lyrics from the balcony of the audition room, and they knew that Ruby was fulfilling her dreams.
As Ruby packs her car for Boston, her parents and brother watch from just outside their house. Ruby runs back and they all share an embrace. And that is when Kotsur speaks his most important and only audible line in the movie, “Go.”
In that moment, it was just a father watching his daughter take her first step into the independent world.
Joanna Hayes can be contacted at [email protected]