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Troy Kotsur
At this year's Academy Awards,
Troy Kotsur became the first deaf
man to win an Oscar for best supporting
actor. He was also the first deaf
man to win a British Academy Film
Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award,
and a Critics' Choice Movie Award.
Kotsur was born in Mesa, Arizona,
on July 24, 1968. His parents first
noticed that he was deaf when he was
9 months old. They learned American
Sign Language so they could communicate
with him.
They encouraged Kotsur to play sports
so he could make friends with other
children. Kotsur first became interested
in acting while attending school.
After experiencing some success in
theater at school, he decided to
attend college in order to study acting.
He joined a theater company and performed
in many plays. Eventually, he appeared
in TV shows and movies. Even though he
has only acted in six movies, he was
able to win an Academy Award for his
performance in the movie CODA.