Marlee Matlin

**Marlee Beth Matlin** (born August 24,1965) is an American television and movie actress. She is also deaf. Deaf means she cannot hear. She is the first deaf person to win an Academy Award for Best Actress. At the age of 21, she was also the youngest woman in history to win. She won for her part in _Children of a Lesser God_. In addition to her acting work, she also works with the National Association of the Deaf. She is known for her work on television shows such as _Reasonable Doubts_, _Desperate Housewives_, _The West Wing_, and _Switched at Birth_.

## Early life

Matlin was born in Morton Grove, Illinois to Libby and Donald Matlin. Her father sold cars for a living. She has two older brothers. They are Eric and Marc. At 18 months of age, she lost all hearing in her right ear and 80% of her hearing in her left ear. She thinks she lost her hearing because of a genetic problem in her cochlea.She is the only person in her family who is deaf.

She and her family are Jewish. Matlin had a Bat Mitzvah. A Bat Mitzvah is a coming of age party for girls in the Jewish tradition. She had to read the Torah. The Torah is an important book for Jewish people, and it is in Hebrew. Because she was deaf, she learned to read it by memorizing the sounds of the Hebrew letters. She went to John Hersey High School in Arlington Heights and Harper College.

As a child, she had some bad experiences. Two adults touched her in a sexual way. This is called sexual abuse or molestation. She was molested by her babysitter when she was 11 years old and later by a teacher in high school.

## Early work

Matlin first acted when she was seven years old as Dorothy in the _Wizard of Oz_ for a children's theater. As a child, she acted many times with the children's theater. Henry Winkler saw her at one of these shows and asked her to act in _Children of a Lesser God_ (1986). _Children of a Lesser God_ is about a deaf woman who works cleaning a deaf school. A new teacher comes to the school, and he tries to get her to speak out loud. They fall in love, but because she is deaf and he is hearing, there are some problems. For this movie, Matlin won an Academy Award for Best Actress and Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Drama.

In 1988, Matlin was a guest on _Sesame Street_. She sang _Just the Way You Are_ with Billy Joel. She used sign language during the song and hugged Oscar the Grouch at the end.

## Work

From 1991-1993, Matlin worked on _Reasonable Doubts_ which was a crime show. Matlin was a deaf lawyer, and she worked with a police officer who knew sign language. The police officer was played by Mark Harmon. For _Reasonable Doubts_ Matlin was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for lead female. Nominate means that people suggest that she should win.

Next, from 1993-1996 Matlin worked on "Picket Fences." This television show was about strange things in the town of Rome, Wisconsin. At first, Matlin was a guest on this show. In the third year of the show, her character became the leader of the town. During the last year of the show, Matlin was a regular actress on the show. She was nominated for an Emmy Award for her work on "Picket Fences."

In 1994, Matlin acted as Carrie Buck in _Against Her Will: The Carrie Buck Story_ (1994). This television movie is about the United States Supreme Court case _Buck v. Bell_ 274 U.S. 200 (1927). Matlin played a hearing woman for the first time, and she was nominated for a CableACE award for Best Actress.

From 2000-2006, Matlin worked on _The West Wing._ This television show is about the American White House. Matlin's character helped the President.

Matlin was also a guest on many television shows such as _Seinfeld_ ("The Lip Reader"), _ER_, _The Practice_, _Law & Order: Special Victims Unit_, _Desperate Housewives_, and _CSI: NY._ She was nominated for Emmy Awards for her work on _Seinfeld_, _Law & Order: Special Victims Unit_, and _The Practice_.

From 2007-2009, Matlin worked on _The L Word_. Matlin started working on this television show in its fourth year. She was Jodi Lerner. Jodi is a gay artist who works with stone. Jodi is the girlfriend of the show's main character, Bette Porter. Bette Porter is played by Jennifer Beals.

In 2008, Matlin appeared on _Dancing with the Stars_. Matlin danced with Fabian Sanchez. They were the sixth group to leave the competition.

Matlin did another reality television show called _The Celebrity Apprentice_. _The Celebrity Apprentice_ is hosted by Donald Trump and is on NBC. Matlin finished in second place. She won some money, and she gave the money to the Starkey Hearing Foundation. In the fifth show called "The Art of the Deal" on April 3, 2011, Matlin made $986,000 for her group. This was the most money that had ever been given at one time on a television show. Trump added $14,000 to make one million dollars to give to the Starkey Hearing Foundation.

From 2011-2017, Matlin played Melody Bledsoe on _Switched at Birth,_ a family television show on ABC. _Switched at Birth_ is an hour-long drama about two young women who discover they were switched at birth and grew up in very different environments. One of the young women is deaf and goes to a school for deaf students. According to ABC Family, it is "the first mainstream television series to have multiple deaf and hard-of-hearing series regulars, and scenes shot entirely in American Sign Language (ASL)". The show's first episode got the highest ratings any ABC Family show's first episode had ever gotten.

In addition to acting, Matlin has done other public work. On October 15-18, 2004, Matlin was the host of the 3rd Annual Festival for Cinema of the Deaf in Chicago. Annual means people do it every year. On February 4, 2007, Matlin sang the "Star Spangled Banner" in American Sign Language at the 41st Super Bowl in Miami, Florida. She also participated in the first-ever national television advertising campaign for "celebrating Jewish heritage and promoting charitable giving to the Jewish community." Matlin has been a frequent guest narrator at Disney's Candlelight Processional at Walt Disney World.

On May 6, 2009, Matlin got a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

## Books

In 2002, Matlin wrote her first book. It is called _Deaf Child Crossing_, and it is based on her childhood. She also wrote a second book called _Nobody's Perfect._ The second book was turned into a stage show at the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts in October 2007.

In 2009, Matlin wrote a book about herself. The name is _I'll Scream Later_. She tells about her drug problem and about the time when she was dating William Hurt, who was also an actor.

## Private Life

Matlin married Kevin Grandalski on August 29, 1993. Grandalski is a police officer. They met when she was working on _Reasonable Doubts_. Grandalski was working security and helping with traffic that day. They have four children: Sarah, Brandon, Tyler, and Isabelle.

Matlin works with many groups to help people. She works with Easter Seals, the Children Affected by AIDS Foundation, and the Red Cross. She also supports Jewish groups. For example, she is a lifetime member of Hadassah Women's Zionist Organization of America.

In 1987, Matlin got an honorary degree from Gallaudet University.