Essay Marlee Matlin Biography for Asl - 724 Words

Marlee matlin biography Marlee Matlin is an Academy Award winning American Actress and author. She has been deaf since she was 18 months old, she is also a prominent member of the Deaf community and supports the use of sign language, closed captioning, and is an active member of the National Association of the Deaf. Marlee Beth Matlin was born on August 24, 1965, in Morton Grove, Illinois. Her mother, Libby, was a jewelry sales woman and her father, Donald, operated a used car dealership. Marlee is the youngest of three children and is the only member of her family who is Deaf. She is of Russian Jewish decent and was able to have her Bat Mitzvah by learning Hebrew phonetically. As Matlin recounts in her autobiography,†¦show more content†¦Since her Academy Award, Matlin has played a variety of compelling roles and has since earned multiple Emmy Award nominations. She has appeared in the independent film â€Å"What the Bleep Do You Know?† and has occurring roles in hit television series The L Word, The West Wing, Dancing with the Stars, and Switched at Birth. On the television set of Reasonable Doubts, Marlee met her husband, policeman Kevin Grandalski. She and her husband have 4 children: Sarah, 15, Brandon, 11, Tyler, 9, and Isabelle, 8. After the birth of her children, Matlin branched out into a new direction, fulfilling a longtime dream of writing a children’s book and telling the world what it’s like being Deaf. In 2002, she published her young adult novel Deaf Child Crossing. In 2009, she published her autobiography I’ll Scream Later. Marlee is often credited for introducing millions of viewers and readers to sign language and issues involving the Deaf community. Outside of acting and writing, Matlin is a strong supporter of the Deaf Community. Matlin is particularly influencial because she has worked directly with policymakers. She was instrumental in estabilishing congressional legistlation that all television sets manufactured in the USA be equipped with Closed Caption technology. She also serves on the boards of a number of charitable organizations and is a prominent member of the National Association of the Deaf. While addressing discrimination