CODA star Troy Kotsur made history as he won Best Supporting Actor at the BAFTA 2022 Film Awards tonight (Sunday, March 13th).
The star, who plays Frank Rossi in the coming-of-age drama about a teenage girl (Emilia Jones) who is the only hearing member of her family, became the first deaf actor to win a BAFTA in one of the main categories.
During his speech, Kotsur congratulated Bond which is celebrating its 60th anniversary at the ceremony and jokingly asked whether producers had ever considered casting a deaf Bond.
Speaking to press backstage after his win, he said he hoped his win and the film’s success would raise more awareness of the deaf community in Hollywood and lead to more representation in cinema.
“I really believe that it took a long time for Hollywood and for filmmakers to accept actors who happen to be deaf,” he explained. “And I noticed in general, there was so much fear – you’re afraid of what you don’t understand, or you’re afraid of financial risks, you have to cast A-listers, you’re worried about losing money and all of the above and really, it took years.”
You did it, @TroyKotsur! Now it’s time to celebrate your first BAFTA win (and also make that James Bond idea happen) ❤️ #EEBAFTAs pic.twitter.com/6HgiGAALFJ
— BAFTA (@BAFTA) March 13, 2022
He continued: “And now with CODA, it was really the right team and the right director, the right script and this authentic casting.
“So thanks to Marlee Matlin, my co-star, we’re really trying to encourage filmmakers to fight for that authenticity and Marlee knew my work on stage and my point is, the theatre stage was my platform to get folks to know me and know my work.
“The deaf community is quite small and international deaf community is quite small but hearing people out there [they] just aren’t aware, they’re quite ignorant of it. But thanks to our film it feels like that separation between the two worlds is now being pulled together and bridged as one so we can finally make that connection and understand each other.”
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