Oscar-winning actor and star of the best picturing Oscar-winning film ‘CODA’ Marlee Matlin gives her speech at The Hollywood Reporter’s Raising Our Voices event.
00:00I'm going to make sure that you all watch my words, not my eyes.
00:16Sorry, I didn't realize.
00:21I had to say that.
00:25Thank you all for being here this afternoon.
00:27Thank you to each and everyone who came on stage and gave their stories, their wisdom,
00:33their experiences, their everything, as much as we all need to hear this.
00:38We all need to see this.
00:38So thank you.
00:39Thank you, each and every one of you who showed up today on stage.
00:42Thank you so much.
00:43You're making the world a better place.
00:46Thank you, Troy.
00:47Wait a minute.
00:47Hold on.
00:48I must thank so many people, yes, but we only have time for maybe two.
00:53So I'm going to, I mean, two people who believed in me and who have been there alongside me,
00:59supporting me during my entire career, each and every day.
01:03Jack, of course, my interpreter.
01:04Okay, whatever.
01:06Yes.
01:08He likes to hear him speak and talk about himself that way.
01:10Okay.
01:10And I have to thank two people, Steve LaManna, my agent from Innovative Artists, who has been
01:19my rock and my supporter from the very beginning.
01:22So thank you so much, Steve.
01:23And to Lisa Perkins, my publicist.
01:27So your fierceness, your sense of, you know, supporting me, believing in me, both of you.
01:33Thank you so much for being here.
01:35I love you.
01:35Okay, now, thank you, Troy, for that lovely introduction.
01:42It was only a matter of time that film audiences and Hollywood recognized your brilliant talent.
01:51Many of us in our community knew how talented you were.
01:56Now, thank goodness, everyone knows.
02:00And while I'm giving thanks, I'd also like to thank Sean Heater, our director, who wrote
02:07and directed the film, as well as the most perfect role for Troy.
02:14And in fact, to all of them involved in the film, Deb Akila, our casting director, our producers,
02:21Sundance, and everyone at Apple.
02:25And Daniel Durant.
02:27Daniel, I love you.
02:28But back to Troy.
02:33You really touched our hearts, Troy, every time that you showed up on a stage to accept
02:38the many honors that you received this year.
02:40And for one, I'm very, very thankful for you picking up that gold statue at the Oscars.
02:48And I can say now, I'm not alone any longer.
02:55I love you.
02:58When I first set foot on the stage, 19 years old, I had no idea what was ahead for me.
03:06I was just Marlee Matlin from Morton Grove, Illinois, doing what I loved, which was act.
03:11But not long after I received the Academy Award, and in fact, just the next day, when I faced
03:19audism and stereotyping in the press, did I realize that if I wanted to continue to be an actor who
03:28happened to be deaf in Hollywood, I couldn't just sit there.
03:31Before I had to make noise, I had to collaborate, I had to make things happen for myself.
03:38Most importantly, I had to speak out about those who wished to handicap me and the community I represented.
03:46I had to raise my voice.
03:51It's funny because just a couple of weeks ago, when the cast of CODA was fortunate enough to spend an hour, an hour, in the Oval Office with President Biden,
04:01saying, I heard that message mirrored back to me.
04:06And that message was, the president spoke about growing up as someone who stuttered.
04:13And he spoke of people who said to him, you know, keep the faith, as a means to encourage him to keep his eyes on goals towards breaking down barriers.
04:25But it was his grandmother, he told us, who wisely saw things a different way.
04:30He told us, she said to him, rather than keep the faith, better to spread the faith.
04:40And I remember that moment, all of us just looked at each other, somewhat astonished.
04:47Because here he is, the president of the United States, and he got it.
04:51He faced barriers just like we did.
04:53He heard people say that we need to just stick it out and hope and pray that things would get better.
05:01Well, that moment just reaffirmed to me what I and everyone like me knew.
05:07That only when we make noise, only when we collectively work together to collaborate, to raise our voices,
05:16can measures towards ensuring diversity, equity, and inclusion succeed.
05:23Now, speaking of DE and I, particularly in our industry,
05:29I believe that there are a few more additions and footnotes we need to make.
05:35First, foremost, I've been saying this over and over and over again.
05:40Let's remind people that we, deaf and disabled artists, are part of the diversity directive.
05:47Not, should be, are, okay?
05:54Secondly, representation and access in Hollywood matters.
05:58In whatever form, whether it's in commercials, in Super Bowl halftime shows,
06:04in the Star Spangled Banner at a sporting event, reality TV, streaming platforms, network TV, and feature films.
06:13And whatever, behind or in front of the camera, it needs to be something there.
06:20There, and even as something as simple as walking across an award stage, representation and access matters.
06:29Deaf and disabled people, as tokens, are passe.
06:34You don't rely on your deaf or disabled actors to act as technical assistants, okay?
06:40An award show or public event without open captioning or subtitles on video content isn't accessible.
06:49Two seconds of an interpreter on screen is not cool.
06:54Definitely not accessible.
06:57And saying that the cost to make a set accessible is something to be considered for the next time is not right.
07:05But, being represented, having access so that everyone can see the 20% of the world that we represent is very cool and very right.
07:17I would also encourage everyone working in conjunction with DE&I inclusion directives to look outside the workplace to our communities that serve as proving grounds for careers in the industry.
07:35To see where resources and pathways just aren't there.
07:39I was fortunate enough to have a theater arts center experience near my home growing up that welcomed both hearing and deaf kids.
07:49But, for many, many deaf young people, opportunities like this, whether we're talking about community theaters or trade schools that are accessible or even access to interpreters, they just don't exist.
08:03So, look, collectively, we can help make a change, we can be mentors like Henry Winkler was for me.
08:14We can invest time in our schools, in local theaters, in our communities, and most importantly, we can continue to speak to our representatives where you are, where you are.
08:28I know it sounds old school, but I believe it works.
08:31So, raise your voice, spread the confidence.
08:37Looking back about CODA and how historic that win was on Oscar night and how wonderful it was that our film really, really busted out that myth that no one wants to see a family-friendly film without special effects or a coming-of-age story with a young girl and her working-class deaf family.
09:00With open captions, thank you, Sean, thank you, Sean, for that, and that we were on a stage, the cast, the directors, the producers, and our interpreters, for everyone to see, showing that we could do it.
09:16That inclusion and authenticity and accessibility and accessibility in films can be entertaining and creatively and commercially successful.
09:26You know, it's hard to imagine any executive these days, or who has the ability to finance a film, or a studio who can greenlight a project, after what we succeeded, saying, well, how do we do it?
09:42I mean, particularly when it comes to casting actors who are deaf or hard-of-hearing or disabled.
09:50As Sean said in one of the many, many screenings this past year, movie-making is problem-solving.
09:57If you have a script with a special effect, you figure it out.
10:02If you have a location that doesn't exist, you figure it out.
10:07If you need a writer's room with writers who represent the story that you are telling, you figure it out.
10:14There are directors, there are sound engineers, there are hair and makeup artists, there are even people who work in executive positions out there.
10:27All of them you have to do is just figure it out.
10:30Reach out.
10:31Make things accessible.
10:33Whether we're talking about interpreters, or captioned video content, directing sign language, whatever it may be.
10:41All it takes is to play creatively and put us on an equal level playing field.
10:47We are not assets.
10:49All we have to do, you just have to ask us.
10:51Just like those who made CODA happen.
10:55I know, and I just said about earlier, but I have to repeat it.
10:59I'm so grateful that I'm not alone any longer.
11:03Troy's name is right there.
11:05Right there at the Academy Museum.
11:08And he's already in Wikipedia.
11:10Wikipedia as the second deaf actor to win an Academy Award.
11:15You can't stop now.
11:18But I know that this time, it won't be another 35 years.
11:24That's because there are events like today.
11:27Industry professionals like you all, who have demonstrated that you are eager to include us in making noise right beside us.
11:35And as we looked earlier, as I looked earlier, to generations like Linda Bove and Bernard Bragg, who inspired me.
11:43And as Troy and Daniel have said, that I inspired them.
11:47We hope that you can look to us as one of the thousands of artists who are deaf and disabled to inspire you.
11:57To ensure that the future of diversity, equity, and inclusion, accessibility, and authenticity in Hollywood is a success.
12:07By raising your voice with us, it can happen.
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