All I really know about hearing is that I'm deaf, and without my hearing aids I hear absolutely nothing at all!
At some point we have to stop and say, There's Marlee, not, There's the deaf actress.
Differences are scarier now. The dollar isn't so guaranteed if you don't follow what they see as the norm. But I don't moan about it. I just keep working.
Every one of us is different in some way, but for those of us who are more different, we have to put more effort into convincing the less different that we can do the same thing they can, just differently.
Everybody's got a job to do, and I do mine as best I can.
Hollywood embraced me in the late '80s because there was a good project I was in and it was different. Nowadays, it's about corporate mentality, box office, youth.
How many deaf people do you know in real life? Unless they live in a cave, or are 14, which seems to be true for most people in this business, what could I possibly tell them that they don't already know?
I am proud to be working with the Starkey Hearing Foundation to raise money to donate hearing aids to needy people.
I am writing my second novel for children for Simon and Schuster.
I can hear you and I can watch your mouth move, and then I put together the sounds and the visual image, and I can understand the words as I integrate the two signals.
I find the mantle of, she works hard for the money, or, she's overcome so many obstacles a bit overused.
I got a good handshake. A lot of executives tell me I have the best handshake in Hollywood.
I have a great husband, great parents and in-laws, and I have help with a nanny. It's not easy, but there are others who do it every day and don't have a high-profile job as I do.
I have made the choices that work best for me. I know I cannot please everyone, and that's fine.
I just did Law and Order Special Victims Unit, and one interviewer acted as if I was acting for the first time.
I learned to speak first, and then to sign. I have never really known what it was like to hear, so I can't compare hearing aids to normal hearing.
I listen to Billy Joel. He is fabulous. I saw him with Elton John when they toured together, it was so great.
I was the youngest and only girl in a family of two older brothers.
I would absolutely love it if you didn't have to ever change the batteries. I am so cautious about that, I even keep batteries with me all the time.
I'm different, and my manner invites questions. I'm never afraid to answer.
I'm gonna be unemployed when people read this. Ha.
I've always wanted to write a book relating my experiences growing up as a deaf child in Chicago. Contrary to what people might think, it wasn't all about hearing aids and speech classes or frustrations.
I've been around since I was 19, I won the Oscar when I was 21, I've had a couple of TV series. I've continued to work despite the predictions of some naysayers.
If I were offered a cochlear implant today, I would prefer not to have one. But that's not a statement about hearing aids or cochlear implants. It's about who you are.
In my own mind, I really have no sense of what you can hear. Hearing is something that I am really not familiar with.
It must have been born in me. I've been doing it since I was 7 years old. Maybe it was my family-we're very dramatic... we're Jews.
It seems we're always in transition and that it's more about trends than it is about what's meaningful.
It was ability that mattered, not disability, which is a word I'm not crazy about using.
It's crazy. I picked the business to work in that wants people to be as much the same as each other as possible.
Maybe my way of communicating through sign made me more in tune with my body and how it moved. Who knows? I just know when I saw a stage for the first time, I wanted to be on it.
The best feeling in the world is when your child comes up to you and lays their head in your lap, for no other reason but just because. I can't wait to have more.
The hearing aids are very helpful for speech reading. Without the hearing aids, my voice becomes very loud, and I cannot control the quality of my voice.
The only thing I can't do is hear. I can drive, I have a life with four kids, I work on TV, I do movies, so the deafness question, is it that they want to know because, what? Not sure.
There is nothing better than being a parent. It is the most challenging job one could ever ask for. I love being a mom and I love being a friend to my children as well.
Watch me when people say deaf and dumb, or deaf mute, and I give them a look like you might get if you called Denzel Washington the wrong name.
What parent has it easy? I just never make the difficulty of it an obstacle. I just do it.
What the Bleep Do We Know was not written with a deaf person in mind, but when they met me, it clicked with them to have me in it. But that happens with a lot of actors in Hollywood, not just with me.
When aspiring actors ask me how they can make it in this business, I always ask them, Do you really want to act? I did it because I wanted to do it.
When I was 13, I told Henry Winkler I wanted to act. He said, Do it and don't let anyone stand in your way. His validation just made it all the more true. I haven't stopped thanking him since.
When it comes down to it, it's about who you know, and who's a fan. It's about whether you're the right age, whether you're hot or not, whether the studio is into you or not.
She used to live with William Hurt.
On February 4, 2007, Marlee Matlin performed the Star Spangled Banner in American Sign Language at Super Bowl XLI in Miami, Florida.
While starring in Reasonable Doubts, Marlee appeared in 2 public service announcements for NBC's The More You Know. Her topics were a teacher tribute and violence prevention.
Marlee Matlin announced that she has signed a contract to be on The L Word for three seasons,starting season 4.
Marlee will make an appearance as a guest in the ABC show, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition this fall.
Marlee uses daily the Internet answering to friends, fan mail, and penning notes to herself.
In her dressing room, Matlin has a Telecommunications Device for the Deaf, and a television with closed-caption technology while at home, she has a series of signaling devices to alert her when the doorbell or the phone rings, or even when her baby cries.
In 2004 she played in What the Bleep Do We Know? as a depressed wedding photographer who tries to keep control through meditation and spirituality.
Marlee lives in Los Angeles.
In 1995, Marlee served as Chairperson for National Volunteer Week and was honored in ceremony in the White House by the President.
Marlee will publish her new book “Leading Ladies” in 2007.
Marlee starred in Against Her Will: The Carrie Buck Story, playing a character who was not deaf.
When filming Walker in Nicaragua Marlee took time to visit hearing impaired children, as she always does throughout her travels.
Marlee Matlin is actively involved with a number of charitable organisations. Among them are the Children Affected by AIDS Foundation, Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, and the Starlight Children's Foundation, Red Cross Celebrity Cabinet.
At age 21 she became the youngest woman to have received an Oscar for Best Actress and one of the four to have accomplished that in their debut.
Marlee is totally deaf in her right ear, and has lost 80% of her hearing in her left ear.
In 1993, Marlee married a police officer, Kevin Grandalski.
Her full name is Marlee Beth Matlin.
She married Kevin Grandalski on August 29, 1993. They have 4 children.
Marlee received an Academy Award for Best Actress at age 21 for her work in "Children of A Lesser God" at the time she became the youngest actress to be so honored.
Marlee Matlin's Emmys: Nominated for Outstanding Guest Actress In A Drama Series in 2004 for her portrayal of Dr. Amy Solwey on the NBC show Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Nominated for Outstanding Guest Actress In A Drama Series in 2000 for her portrayal of Sally Berg of the NBC show The Practice Nominated for Outstanding Guest Actress In A Comedy Series in 1994 for her portrayal of Laura on the NBC show Seinfeld Nominated for Outstanding Guest Actress In A Drama Series in 1994 for her portrayal of Laurie Bey on the CBS show Picket Fences
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