Troy Kotsur made history by becoming the first deaf performer to win an Academy Award in the best supporting actor category for CODA at the 2022 Oscars. 

Visibly moved by the acknowledgment, he walk to the stage with tears in his eyes as the audience at the Dobly Theatre stood up and clapped for him in American Sign Language. Pachinko actress, Youn Yuh-Jung, presented the award and also held it for him while he use sign language to deliver his acceptance speech. 

"This is amazing to be here on this journey. I can't believe I'm here," Kotsur signed. "I really want to thank all of the wonderful deaf theater stages where I was able to develop my craft as an actor." 

“My dad, he was the best signer in our family, but he was in a car accident and he became paralyzed from the neck down, and he no longer was able to sign,” Kotsur said, delivered in American Sign Language (ALS) during his acceptance speech. “Dad, I learned so much from you. I’ll always love you. You are my hero.”

Marlee Matlin, his co-star in the film, is the first-ever deaf actor to ever win an Oscar for best actress in 1987 for her performance in the movie “Children of a Lesser God.” 

He dedicates his win to the deaf community, the CODA community, and the disabled community. 

CODA is a coming-of-age, comedy-drama film written and directed by Sian Heder. It is a remake of the 2014 Frech-Belgian film La Famille Belier about Ruby Rossi (Emilia Jones) as a child of deaf adults (CODA) and the only hearing member of a deaf family, who is trying to help her family’s struggling fishing business while aspire to be a singer. 

Performance recognition for CODA

Troy Kotsur did not only win the Oscars for his outstanding role in CODA but also several awards too. He won two awards in the 2022 Screen Actors Guild Awards for “Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture” and “Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture” 

He is a 2021 Academy Award winner in the Best Supporting Actor category. He managed to take home several supporting role or actor nominees from the BFTA Awards, Critics’ Choice Awards, Gotham Awards, and also the Independent Spirit Awards in 2021. 

He is nominated in the 2021 Ovation Awards for Best Lead Actor in a Play for his work in “Cyrano” and also the 2021 Golden Globe Awards for Best Supporting Actor–Motion Picture.