‘It's hard to find work': Marlee Matlin on making Hollywood history but waiting for change

In 1987, at the age of 21, Marlee Matlin became the youngest person ever to win a best actress Oscar. Footage of her victory appears early in Marlee Matlin: Not Alone Anymore, a new documentary on the trailblazing actor's life and career: Matlin, remarkably fresh-faced even for 21, in her very 80s purple dress, her brunette hair swept up by a floral headpiece, black-rimmed glasses on, appears stunned as William Hurt, her co-star in Children of a Lesser God and her boyfriend at the time, reads her name. Thunderous applause. The camera captures fellow nominee Jane Fonda mouthing 'that's so great' as Matlin, the first and still only deaf actor to win the award, approaches the podium and kisses Hurt. As she delivers her speech in American Sign Language (ASL), she seems almost too shocked to emote, overcome with the gravity of the moment.
Matlin's win was indeed groundbreaking, a watershed moment for deaf representation. But as Not Alone Anymore explains, it was also much more complicated than a feelgood story of societal triumph, or a turning point for deaf creatives. Nor was it one of personal glory. Halfway through the film, the scene is replayed again, this time with the sound taken away – the thunderous applause muted to just a simulation of Matlin's own thunderous heartbeat as she walked to the stage. 'I was afraid as I walked up the stairs to get the Oscar,' Matlin recalls on screen in ASL. 'I was afraid because I knew, in my gut, that he wasn't that happy.' Hurt, 16 years her senior and an established Hollywood star, was intensely jealous of her success, and had already begun physically abusing her. Without sound and with context, what once read as overwhelming shock on her face instead appears as something darker, shaded with fear.
The twist, of sorts, is one of many decisions by director Shoshannah Stern to subvert the hearing perspective that most viewers automatically assume. 'I wanted to return to her Oscar-winning moment twice,' Stern, a deaf actor herself, told me through an interpreter, 'because sound does limit people. There are a lot of things that I feel hearing people miss when they are just listening with their ears and not listening with their eyes.' When I first watched Matlin's win, I assumed, as Stern expected, that 'it's this roaring applause, so we're celebrating'. Without sound, the picture is clearer. 'You could see in that moment how scary it is,' said Stern. 'And it's right there. It's been in front of us this whole time.'
Stern's intrinsic understanding of the deaf perspective was the reason Matlin, who went on to a long career on such shows as Seinfeld, The West Wing, The L Word and, most recently, the Oscar-winning film Coda, decided to make the film at all. 'Almost none of the documentaries that I've seen that have to do with a subject matter like myself have not been done right,' she told me over Zoom via her interpreter, Jack Jason, who has worked with Matlin since 1985. When PBS's American Masters approached her about a documentary, she had one demand: the director had to be deaf, and it had to be Stern, a longtime friend and occasional collaborator who co-created the show This Close. As she did with early financiers of Coda who wanted to cast big-name hearing actors for two deaf roles, Matlin stuck to her guns. Deaf participation, take it or leave it.
'I wanted to have that type of conversation I could [with] Shoshannah, where I could feel free and sign and not worry about an interpreter voiceover, not worry about my surroundings, not worry about any of that, just be there,' Matlin said. 'That was the first time that I felt at ease.'
Much of Marlee Matlin: Not Alone Anymore, which first premiered at the Sundance film festival, features Stern and Matlin in conversation unlike in any prior documentary I've seen, even with deaf subjects. The two women sign without voiceover, just subtitles for hearing viewers. Any ASL interpreters were not only off camera, but in a different room, communicating via earpieces. 'I wasn't accustomed to that approach. I've never seen that,' said Matlin. 'I'm accustomed to being voiced over, because that's how it's been in my entire career. That's the hearing perspective.'
As the first Oscar-winning deaf actor and still the most famous, Matlin knows how, as Stern puts it, 'the world often tries to force perspectives on people, put the weight of explaining an entire community's experience on one person'. Voiceover and interpreters 'are another forced perspective', she said. 'When I'm interviewed by hearing people, I have to look at the interpreter. Where are they? How is my language being translated into English? And then I'm limiting myself. I'm thinking in a way that the hearing interviewer or the hearing director is thinking. I'm not thinking as myself.'
'It wasn't what I wanted Marlee to say in our documentary, it was how she spoke, how that changes when our expectations and our perspectives change,' she added. 'Accessibility is for everyone. It's not just for us as deaf people, but a lot of times that responsibility, that weight, is put on one person.'
Not Alone Anymore illustrates that weight, which Matlin felt acutely as a very young person experiencing rapid professional success. Cast in Children of a Lesser God fresh out of high school, Matlin was new not only to screen acting but the world beyond her small community in suburban Chicago. The youngest of three children in a hearing family – Matlin became deaf at 18 months, for unknown reasons that, she recalls, nevertheless left her parents guilt-stricken – she attended a mixed deaf/hearing school and began acting at age seven; she was inspired, in part, by Henry Winkler, a lifelong mentor she first met backstage at a school show at age 12. (In 1993, Matlin married Kevin Grandalski, a cop she met on the set of Reasonable Doubts, in the Winklers' back yard. They have four children.)
Matlin's family was not fluent in ASL, and it took years for her to understand the loneliness and isolation at home. She coped by smoking marijuana. At 19, she began dating Hurt, who was then 35. Her drug use escalated with the physical and emotional abuse; she has said she smoked 20 joints a day, plus cocaine. In the midst of her awards season run, she entered rehab. She emerged sober, and also the face of a deaf community she did not totally understand. 'I didn't realize that there were more deaf people out there, outside of Chicago, a whole community. It was bigger than what I even realized,' she said.
Not Alone Anymore powers through cringey clips of interviewers asking Matlin to explain deafness. How did it feel to be deaf? Had she come to terms with it? Matlin powered through as best she could. She quickly became an activist, successfully pushing legislation in the US requiring closed captioning on TV and streaming sites. But she struggled as the lone representative of deafness for hearing people. The film lingers on backlash from the deaf community when Matlin spoke at the 1988 Oscars, which many felt encouraged the stereotype that deaf intelligence was connected to one's ability to imitate hearing speech. Matlin says the incident, fanned by hearing media attention, drove her away from the deaf community for over a decade. 'I had no guidance in terms of someone to sit down to me and explain about the language that was being used, about the language that I used,' she said. 'I had to find out the hard way.'
Matlin faced similar media blowback, though of a different tenor, when she disclosed Hurt's abuse, as well as incidents of molestation by a babysitter and teacher in her childhood, in her 2009 memoir, I'll Scream Later. Not Alone Anymore again assembles very pre-#MeToo clips in which interviewers discounted or dismissed her experience. In one clip, Joy Behar asks about 'spectacular' sex with Hurt. 'Marlee has always been ahead of the curve,' said Stern of Matlin's willingness to speak up years before it became more common to do so.
When Hurt died in 2022, at the age of 71, Matlin found her name once again brought up in his wake. 'On social media, I had to look at both sides of the conversations,' she recalled. In posts and comments, some people accused her of lying about the abuse; others were mad at those who accused her of crying wolf. 'They were trying to define me,' she said. 'And I would have none of that. I wanted them to stop, but at the same time, I decided to step away from the conversation' during Coda's press run. Did she wish now that she said anything? 'No, I don't,' she answered, after a beat. 'Because nothing would satisfy these people. And why should I have to? I didn't trust what would happen if I did get involved, because of my past experience of being ignored, of being overlooked, not getting any help. But it was interesting to observe, to see the two factions fighting about me thinking that they knew me.'
It's a typically strident answer from Matlin, who has never minced words, particularly on how her Oscar did not open up more opportunities for deaf actors – the film's title comes from her emotional reaction to Coda costar Troy Kotsur's supporting actor Oscar in 2022, becoming only the second deaf actor to win. As with Matlin's 1987 trophy, Kotsur's win hasn't changed much. 'I'm not seeing more opportunities open up,' said Stern.
'It's still up to deaf people or people from a minority group to explain their experience to the majority,' she added. 'We continue to say what is expected of us, which is: 'Great story. Representation has changed! There's going to be so many job opportunities!' That's what people are expecting us to say. And if we say that, nothing's going to change.'
'My least favorite question is: Are you working? What's next?' said Matlin. 'I hate answering that question. I say, 'Oh, well, I have this.' I try to change the subject, talk about something else because they won't understand what I'm going through.
'It's hard to find work,' she said, but still insists: 'This is something I love to do. This is a business that I love being in. I love acting. I love it all.'
Naturally, she can't say what is next – 'waiting for a yes or no, an answer, that's typically what I do' – beyond press for a film she and Stern both hope challenges some perspectives. 'I hope it makes people think. I hope that people feel seen,' said Stern. 'I hope people know that they have value in how they see the world, and you don't just have to accept how things have been done for so long.'
Marlee Matlin: Not Alone Anymore is out now in US cinemas

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Learn with AIFact CheckingText to SpeechAI Summary

Related Articles

Daily Mail​

37 minutes ago

• Daily Mail​

Dominic Sessa transforms into tragic young Anthony Bourdain in biopic

Dominic Sessa has transformed into Anthony Bourdain while filming scenes for the upcoming biopic Tony earlier this week in Massachusetts. The actor, 22, could be seen stepping into the shoes of a younger version of the late celebrity chef while on the set of the A24 project in Provincetown on Thursday. Bourdain was known for starring in shows including the Travel Channel's No Reservations and CNN 's Parts Unknown before his tragic death by suicide in 2018 at the age of 61. Dominic wore a pair of black flared pants and a red button-up, which was layered with a black leather jacket, befitting of Seventies style. The actor also sported brown curly hair as he shot scenes on a ferry. Dominic was seen holding a conversation with another person while leaning against a railing as the ferry slowly moved along the water. While the official synopsis has remained under wraps, the biopic is set to follow Bourdain's summer in 1976 in Provincetown, where he had his first introduction to the restaurant industry. In April, it was revealed that Antonio Banderas has also joined the cast, although his role is not yet known. The movie will be directed by Matt Johnson, with a screenplay by Todd Bartels and Lou Howe. Bourdain began his career in the food industry while studying at Vassar College and took on jobs at seafood restaurants in Provincetown. In an interview with Boston Magazine in 2017, the TV personality reflected on his time in the seaside town. He said: 'It's a very emotional place for me. I came of age there in the early Seventies in a very magical, golden, naive time that I don't think we'll see the likes of again.' 'And I will say being in Provincetown when I was 17… it was predominantly gay, as it still is. It was a time in history of boundless optimism when we really thought anything was possible. 'I think of the people I lived with and worked with and who befriended me then… whatever value system I learned then informed what came later.' Bourdain further reflected: 'That's where it all started for me. Those were the kitchens that formed my expectations. I thought it was going to be like that forever.' And while talking to The Guardian that same year, the author talked about his first job as a dishwasher in the Massachusetts town. He said: 'I only became happy - in fact, intensely satisfied - as a dishwasher at a restaurant in Provincetown in Cape Cod, my first job.' The late star added that he had been 'a shy, goofy, awkward teenager. But in this blue collar, factory-like environment, there was no blurred line, no grey area, no philosophical question to fret over. He said: 'Dishes had to go in the washer and come out taintless and doing this swiftly and competently meant I was acknowledged as a human being by colleagues I wanted to be like. The day they promoted me to dunking fries I was overjoyed.' Anthony had also been candid about his past drug use during his youth, and he later quit heroin in the Eighties. He had told The Guardian: 'I was an unhappy soul, with a huge heroin and then crack problem. 'I hurt, disappointed and offended many, many, many people and I regret a lot. It's a shame I have to live with.' He later dropped out of university and graduated for the Culinary Institute Of America in 1978. The star notably worked as a chef in restaurants in New York City throughout the Eighties and Nineties. He had also been the executive chef at Brasserie Les Halles, beginning in 1998. Anthony penned a number of books during his career, including as Kitchen Confidential: Adventures In The Culinary Underbelly (2000), which became a New York Times bestseller. The chef had also written articles for publications such as The New Yorker - which published a popular excerpt of Kitchen Confidential before its publication - The Los Angeles Times, Esquire, and The Independent. He gained wider recognition due to his television appearances after hosting shows including Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations (2005–2012) on the Travel Channel. The digital series Explore Parts Unknown (2017) garnered the star an Emmy win for Outstanding Short Form Nonfiction Or Reality Series. Bourdain tragically died by suicide in France at the age of 61 while filming Parts Unknown.

Daily Mail​

an hour ago

• Daily Mail​

Shahs Of Sunset star Lilly Ghalichi files for divorce from same husband for the fourth time

Lilly Ghalichi is ending her marriage to Dara Mir - again. The Shahs Of Sunset star filed for divorce from her husband for the fourth time, according to court documents obtained by TMZ. Ghalichi submitted the filing on June 20, listing June 19 as the official date of separation. has not received a response to its request for comment from Ghalichi. The couple first tied the knot in a lavish ceremony at the Beverly Hilton in May 2017. Since then, their relationship has been a rollercoaster. Mir initially filed for divorce in 2019, but the two reconciled. Ghalichi then filed twice in 2020 - each time later calling off the split. Now, the pair appears to be moving forward with dissolving their marriage. They are requesting joint legal and physical custody of their two children, daughter Alara and son Kashton, per the outlet. The filing also notes that a prenuptial agreement is in place. According to Bravo, Lilly began her romance with Dara in March 2016 when she was applying for a parking space in the apartment building where her future husband was a board member. 'I not only found my equal. He far surpasses anything I could ever be,' the influencer and vlogger told Bravo's The Daily Dish in 2016. 'He is a very private so many fake people. There's so many users. 'You never really know people's intentions and with him you don't even have a shred of doubt because he doesn't have these things. He doesn't care about these things.' The self-proclaimed 'Persian Princess' was previously in a decade-long on/off relationship with a Houston-based lawyer called Ali. She native rose to fame in 2012 when she put her career as a lawyer aside to become a reality star on the popular Bravo show. She appeared for two seasons. Lilly is also the entrepreneur behind the highly acclaimed Lilly Lashes worn by many A-list stars. Shahs Of Sunset debuted on March 11, 2012, and ended on August 29, 2021.

The Sun

an hour ago

• The Sun

Huge popstar and reality TV favourite pulls out of gig just days before taking to the stage

POP fans have been left gutted after one huge star pulled out of a massive gig just days before she was due on stage. The singer, 22, had been due to headline at a big Pride festival but has cancelled due to a "scheduling conflict". 6 6 JoJo Siwa had been due to entertain thousands of fans at Back Lot Bash in Chicago next weekend. The Pride inclusive music festival is taking place across two days and JoJo was supposed to be headlining on Sunday June 29. But an announcement on Backlot Bash's official Instagram account today read: "Due to a scheduling conflict, JoJo Siwa will no longer be performing at Chicago's Back Lot Bash." No further information has been given by organisers and JoJo has not commented on the cancellation on her own social media accounts. In the lead up to this year's Back Lot Bash, the Bulletproof star had appeared as the main headshot on the event's promo flyers. On ticket website Do312 the festive had been billed as the '21st Annual Back Lot Bash with Jojo Siwa'. The news comes just days after Celebrity Big Brother star JoJo announced she was also postponing her American tour. The star had an 11-date run of gigs booked back home in the States in July. But during the week, JoJo - who has been practically inseparable with Chris Hughes since meeting him on CBB in April - dropped the bombshell. JoJo Siwa says she'll NEVER break up with Chris Hughes saying their relationship is 'earthquake proof' In a statement, the former Dance Moms star said: "I've got some news that breaks my heart to share... my US tour has to be postponed. "I promise I'll be back before you know it to perform for all the beautiful people in the US!... "Announcements will be coming soon, including some Europe shows!:). "Thank you so much for your understanding and support. I can't wait to see you all soon! "To my Dream Guest VIPs, my team will be reaching out to you individually to plan something special. "Refunds will be issued at point of purchase." New direction JoJo is believed to be plotting to spend more time in the UK amid her blossoming romance with former Love Island star Chris. She has also reportedly been 'dropped by Columbia Records' after they signed JoJo just one year ago. Other stars on the record label's books include Adele, Beyoncé and Harry Styles. But the dancer is no longer listed on Columbia's website, where she was previously featured. The Sun previously contacted JoJo's rep for comment following the claims about her future with the record label. In a recent interview with Hits Radio, JoJo spoke about her new music and hinted that she was going it alone. JoJo admitted she choreographed and directed the music video for her current song Bulletproof and was turning over a new leaf with "more genuine" songs. 6 6 6