Marlee Matlin, Best Actress Oscar Winner and the Younger

The first post of Unusualverse could not be other than the film "Children of a Lesser God", a film that won an Oscar in 1987 for best actress and nominated in four other categories. The winner of the Oscar was none other than the young deaf Marlee Matlin.

Poster of Children of a Lesser God (picture: Paramount Pictures)

Children of a Lesser God

Sons of a Minor God marks a milestone in the normalization of sign language in cinema, not only because of the excellent public and critical acclaim the film received in the 1980s (it is rated at 7.2 in imdb), with the consequent social and media impact, but also because it shows how a story that revolves around Deaf people and sign language can offer as much entertainment and awaken as much tenderness as any romantic drama starred by hearing people.

In the following video we can see the trailer of the film:

Marlee Matlin is currently ranked number one among the youngest actresses in the Oscar for Best Actress, at exactly 21 years and 218 days. In the following video, a scene in which Marlee Matlin takes the Oscar and expresses her gratitude in sign language in front of thousands of people:

Marlee Matlin has not stopped working since then and has starred in numerous movies and TV series, even getting her own star on Hollywod's Walk of Fame in 2009.

Marlee Matlin with her star at the Walk of Fame

Marlee Matlin in the Walk of Fame (photo: Zimbio)

An Acclaimed Actress

Marlee, now 53 years old, became deaf at 18 months of age and began playing at only 7 years old with a children's piece, the traditional Wizard of Oz. She continued to play theatrical performances throughout her childhood until she was chosen to perform the film Children of a Lesser God.

Since then she has developed a successful career, with more than 60 films and TV series. When she travels to other countries for filming, Marlee takes the opportunity to visit Deaf children, which she has done in Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy, Australia, Mexico, Canada, etc., a habit that seems to have begun in Nicaragua with the filming of Walker (with the famous actor Ed Harris), just a year after Sons of a Minor God.

Marlee has also published four books, one of them autobiographical. In recent years she has participated in several successful TV series, such as Quantico, The Magicians or Switched at Birth. In the following video you can see a scene from the last series in which he starred (English subtitles):

In addition, Marlee has a great sense of humor and jokes about her deafness. When they once forgot that she was being interpreted into sign language during a phone call, after 10 minutes of conversation, they asked her with surprise: "Wait a minute, Marlee, how can you hear me? And Marlee replied, "Do you know what's going on? On Wednesdays I can hear.

Marlee Matlin's artistic career could have been extinguished gradually as has happened with many actresses, but Marlee has taken every opportunity to prove her worth over the years. She is definitely an acclaimed actress and by now she is probably the most famous deaf actress in the world, having provided hundreds of hours of entertainment.