Kristen LopezContributorHollywood & Entertainment I write about entertainment, focusing on disabled representation. Emily Blunt is in talks to play a deaf and blind woman, continuing the problems of disabled representation. (Photo by Erica Price/WireImage)GETTY In the disabled community there’s a term: “cripping up.” It’s in reference to when an able-bodied person puts on the role of […]
FORWARD – March 21, 2019 By Jenny Singer Yes, Chella Man’s full identity is complicated — he even says so himself. “There is an extreme lack of representation for young, Deaf, queer, Jewish, Asian, transgender artists — sorry, that is a mouthful!” he told Teen Vogue in October 2018. “I decided to be my own representation.” And so he has. The […]
THE HEKTOEN INTERNATIONAL – Sign Gene: the first deaf superhero film By Paul Dakin Published March 19th, 2019 If the superhero genre really is “about transformation, about identity, about difference,” then the description can readily be applied to Sign Gene, the world’s first deaf superhero film. Written and directed by Emilio Insolera, who was born […]
He’ll play Jericho, who is able to possess other people’s bodies through eye contact.BY MATHEW RODRIGUEZMARCH 19 2019 3:15 PM EDT32.2K SHARES Trans YouTube star, artist, and model Chella Man is about to add “actor” to his resume. The 20-year-old genderqueer artist has been case in the role of Joseph Wilson, or Jericho, in the upcoming […]
By Kyra Lisse || Contributing Writer The scene opens to an adolescent boy, his face framed with… Read more at: The College Reporter http://www.the-college-reporter.com/2019/02/24/contributing-writer-reviews-the-sign-for-love-film-screening-a-must-see/
Lauren Ridloff was initially a fan of “The Walking Dead” before joining the cast in season 9. She adored the AMC series so much that her husband would Facetime the television screen to her so that she could watch while feeding their newborn in another room. Ridloff, a former kindergarten teacher, began acting professionally in […]
By MATTHEW DESSEMJAN 19, 201911:35 PM In an interview with the Press Association, The Good Place actress Jameela Jamil said she turned down a recent offer to portray a deaf woman in hopes that a deaf actress would be cast in her place. Jamil made her comments in the wake of a conversation about disability representation sparked by Bryan Cranston’s role […]
By Neil Genzlinger Nov. 1, 2018 Bernard Bragg, a trailblazer for deaf performers who in 1967 became a founder of the National Theater of the Deaf in Connecticut, died on Oct. 29 in Los Angeles. He was 90. The actress Marlee Matlin, a longtime friend, confirmed his death. Mr. Bragg, who was born deaf to deaf […]
INDIEWIRE – Model and activist Nyle DiMarco took to social media to criticize the deaf storyline in Netflix’s latest teen rom-com Sierra Burgess Is a Loser,” the new Netflix rom-com starring “Stranger Things” breakout Shannon Purser and Noah Centineo, is facing backlash over a storyline featuring the titular character pretending to be deaf…Read more at […]
A recent Twitter storm spiraled as the Deaf community responded to an article published by The Hollywood Reporter (THR) highlighting John Leonetti’s new film; “The Silence”, which premieres in December. The film features a hearing actor playing a Deaf role, which was subject to criticism from Deaf people including Deaf actress Marlee Matlin and Deaf model Nyle […]
Sara Novic is a Deaf writer and assistant professor of creative writing at Stockton University. Her first novel, “Girl at War,” was released by Random House in 2015. The views expressed in this commentary are her own. The Deaf community uses a capital “D” to differentiate between people who identify with Deaf culture and identity, […]
PACIFIC STANDARD Emilio Insolera’s new film uses the underground history of sign language as the premise for a superhero thriller. COBY MCDONALD APR 10, 2018 When Emilio Insolera was…Read more at WHEN SIGN LANGUAGE IS A SUPERPOWER
Screenwriters Bryan Woods and Scott Beck recall how the actor-director fought to make Millicent Simmonds his onscreen daughter, a move that “brought an extra depth to the film.” The silent world of A Quiet Place was made more authentic thanks to a smart casting choice by actor-director John Krasinski. Millicent Simmonds (Wonderstruck) delivers a powerful performance as part […]
After months of depressing news in the entertainment industry, this year’s Oscars were a predictably subdued affair. But, amid a crowd desperate for an uplift, one star cut through the gloom: six-year-old Maisie Sly, a deaf girl from Swindon who was at the centre of the ceremony’s most touching moment. This came when Rachel Shenton, the British actress […]
By Mike Hale Feb. 13, 2018 It isn’t easy to stand out these days in the ranks of half-hour personal dramedies, where shows like “Better Things,” “Insecure” and “Atlanta”are among the best and most challenging series on television. “This Close,” streaming on Sundance Now beginning Wednesday, isn’t at those shows’ level — it’s more conventional, with familiar relationship and family situations, […]
Jameela Jamil turned down the role of a deaf woman as it “wouldn’t be appropriate”.The Good Place star, who was born partially deaf, said that she refused the recent job offer because she can now hear, and insisted that the part should instead be given to “a brilliant deaf woman”.“I said it wouldn’t be appropriate […]
The movie, which won Best Picture, tells “disabled people [that they] should go and be with their kind,” one critic said. Warning: This article contains spoilers for “The Shape of Water.” Elsa Sjunneson-Henry was psyched when she heard about Guillermo del Toro’s “The Shape of Water.” As a speculative fiction author and editor who is legally blind […]
CHCH By Kyle Miller – December 22, 2017, 10:01 am Downsizing is a comedic drama directed and co-written by Alexander Payne (Nebraska). The film premiered at the Venice Film Festival and stars Matt Damon, Christoph Waltz, Hong Chau, Jason Sudeikis, and Kristen Wiig. Chau earned a Best Supporting Actress Golden Globe Award nomination for her performance. DOWNSIZING IMAGINES […]
The film’s casting director and grown-up star, Julianne Moore, on the remarkable debut of Millicent Simmond by Lisa Liebman OCTOBER 20, 2017 10:00 AM At the heart of Todd Haynes’s sophisticated new family film, Wonderstruck, is the innocent curiosity of two intrepid 12-year-old deaf runaways. Based on the novel by Brian Selznick, Haynes’s visually arresting movie, which opens on Friday, interweaves the […]
Edgar Wright had a very specific type of actor in mind when he penned the part of Joseph, the disabled foster father to Ansel Elgort’s getaway driver in the summer smash Baby Driver. “I wrote the character being 85, African American, and deaf,” Wright told Yahoo Movies. So the filmmaker tasked his casting director, Francine Maisler […]
Under mounting pressure from a wide variety of demographics who feel underrepresented in film and television, the entertainment industry is finally beginning to show signs of diversity. It is important to recognize that this gradual movement toward a multicultural media is only the result of long and tiresome grassroots efforts. The fight for representation… Read […]
THE WASHINGTON POST The current deaf staging of “Spring Awakening” on Broadway demonstrates that non-hearing actors are just as capable as the hearing. By Sandra Mae FrankSandra Mae Frank is an actress currently starring in “Spring Awakening” on Broadway.December 8, 2015 As a deaf actor, I’m always getting the same questions: What it is like to […]
THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER 4:10 PM PDT 5/11/2015 by Mike Barnes She guest-starred on a 1968 episode of the CBS crime drama ‘Mannix’ and helped pave the way for other hearing-impaired actors. Audree Norton, who many consider the first deaf actress to appear in a featured role on an American network TV series, has died. She was […]
SIGN LANGUAGE NYC – by Lydia Callis Over the past couple weeks, the #DeafT [Talent] movement spread like wildfire across social media. Using this hashtag, members of the Deaf community publicly spoke out against the cultural appropriation…Read more at: https://www.signlanguagenyc.com/category/deaf-actors/ Note: The title, hastag and link were originally published by the author/publication The title has […]
NEW YORK TIMES Phyllis Frelich, the actress who made a groundbreaking and Tony-winning Broadway star turn in 1980 in “Children of a Lesser…Read more at: https://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/15/arts/phyllis-frelich-deaf-activist-and-actress-dies-at-70.html
HUFFPOST – By Lydia Callis, Contributor Think about the last five movies you saw. Were there any deaf individuals in them? When was… Read more at https://www.huffpost.com/entry/deaf-culture-in-hollywood_b_5056676?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAEzvhdrTTOvDAOxtKx4iA0WjHFtUBHA_oyM2x0zYBJhVxgCc9C-agdfn6Q6aJ-w06-FmwWrSgTjPhJNlteJl4GFwBvZ2HaG7LL-Xmh9ynmnaoP3-mmtCJaCYeIxtYtsMxGHS9NFfrtFjTHOk_BCykveV84wWZQpWMGT7B29I76bK
A deaf Jewish teen from Queens finds her voice as a young American Sign Language poet in “Deaf Jam.”…Read more at: https://variety.com/2011/film/reviews/deaf-jam-1117944885/
