NEW YORK (AP) 鈥� When Troy Kotsur at the 2022 Academy Awards, he was thinking about his father.
By then, Kotsur had already become widely celebrated for his acclaimed performance in the family drama 鈥淐ODA.鈥� It was easy to admire the tenacity and talent that had brought Kotsur, in his early 50s, to the movies' biggest stage after years of struggle as an actor in an industry not known for its hospitality to Deaf performers.
To Kotsur, his persistence was most owed to one person: His father. At the Oscar podium, Kotsur dedicated the award to him. 鈥淵ou are my hero,鈥� he said.
鈥淗e didn鈥檛 look at me as having limitations. He continued to push me and push me,鈥� Kotsur said in an interview Thursday through an interpreter. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 why I am who I am today.鈥�
In a short film premiering this week at the Tribeca Film Festival, Kotsur extends and deepens that tribute to explain his father's story and how it shaped him.
Leonard 鈥淟en鈥� Kotsur was the police chief of Mesa, Arizona, whose two other sons could hear. Ninety percent of Deaf children are born to hearing parents but the wide majority of those parents never learn American Sign Language. The elder Kotsur wasn't one of them. He was, Troy says, the best signer in the family.
鈥淢ost deaf kids have hearing parents who unfortunately do not know sign language at all,鈥� says Kotsur. 鈥淪o I need to show them that there鈥檚 nothing wrong with sign language and there鈥檚 nothing wrong with the Deaf person.鈥�
Shortly before Kotsur graduated high school, his father was in a car accident with a drunk driver. He became paralyzed from the neck down and spent the rest of his life in a wheelchair. Crushingly, he could no longer sign as he once did with his son.
鈥淏ut he didn't let that stop him,鈥� says Kotsur. 鈥淎bout six months after the accident, he went back to work. He continued working as the chief of police, paralyzed in a wheelchair. He didn鈥檛 care. He really persisted. And my dad was a great example for me. Me being deaf wasn鈥檛 a big deal. I didn鈥檛 let that stop me. I kept persisting and, surprisingly, I even won an Oscar.鈥�
The accident altered the perspectives of both father and son. In press reports at the time, Kotsur's father spoke about struggling with depression and the frustration of not being able to communicate the same way with Troy.
鈥淔inally, I saw that there were a lot of people worse off than me,鈥� 鈥淚 still have my head and my shoulders, and I can still talk and do things.鈥�
Kotsur and his father, who died in 2001, developed their own sign language based on the gestures that he could manage. For something more elaborate, his father used a keyboard with a pencil taped to his hand.
鈥淲e really had to have the patience to take the time to communicate,鈥� says Kotsur.
A little more than a year after winning his Oscar, that moment has already been usurped by another, more earthshaking one: Kotsur's daughter graduated high school last month. With the prospect of an empty nest with his wife, Deanne Bray, upcoming, Kotsur is looking forward to working more. 鈥淎nd maybe more parties to go to,鈥� he says, smiling.
to his first role since 鈥淐ODA,鈥� which also won best picture. He's to star alongside Maika Monroe in the crime thriller 鈥淚n Cold Light鈥� from director Maxime Giroux.
鈥淭here鈥檚 been a lot of meetings,鈥� Kotsur says of his life since 鈥淐ODA.鈥� 鈥淚鈥檝e had a lot of meetings and some scripts that were already written but didn鈥檛 have a Deaf role. And so we鈥檝e been discussing how we can adapt these roles to have a Deaf person in these projects. We鈥檝e developed a lot of creative projects together, some things that people have probably never thought of, and I鈥檓 pretty excited.鈥�
The 鈥淐ODA鈥� win was . But change in Hollywood can stagnate after making big leaps forward. 鈥淐ODA,鈥� Kotsur thinks, has impacted Hollywood. Most of all, he says, it showed
鈥淎nd it鈥檚 become a domino effect,鈥� says Kotsur. 鈥淚鈥檓 seeing a lot of doors begin to open for Deaf professionals and more opportunities out there.鈥�
Kotsur, himself, is still getting used to being seen as a trailblazer.
鈥淲hen I was younger and I was about 12 years old, I met several Deaf professional stage actors and I wasn鈥檛 really sure if they were hearing or Deaf,鈥� says Kotsur. 鈥淎fter the show, I went up to them and I said, 鈥楬ey, are you actually deaf?鈥� And these actors said, 鈥榊eah.鈥� And I said, 鈥楥an I become an actor in the future?鈥� And they said, 鈥榊eah, of course you can.鈥� And now these Deaf children are asking me, 鈥楥an I act and can I be a filmmaker?鈥� And I say, 鈥榊eah, of course. Of course you can, because I did it. That means you can do it, too.鈥�"
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Jake Coyle, The Associated Press
