The Life of Marlee Matlin
Jack Ryan
Fresno State
Marlee Beth Matlin is not only an academy award winning actress but also an author despite being legally deaf. Although Marlee lost her hearing at a very young age, she still went on to pursue an acting career which landed her roles in numerous movies and television shows. As well as having a successful acting career Marlee Matlin also went on to publish four books.
Marlee Matlin was born August 24, 1965 in Morton Grove Illinois. She is the youngest of three children from her parents Libby Matlin, who sold jewelry, and Donald Matlin, who was a car dealer. At 18 months Marlee was diagnosed with a disease called roseola that permanently destroyed all of the hearing in her right ear and 80% in the left ear making her legally deaf. She later suggests that her hearing loss may have been caused by a genetically malformed cochlea, nut the real reason for her hearing loss is still unknown to this day. Marlee’s hard working parents made the decision to educate her in their community instead of having her go to a special school. Matlin discovered acting through a program at the Center on Deafness that brought deaf and hearing kids together. Marlee gained an interest for acting at a very young age and the first leading role that she landed was Dorothy in a production of The Wizard of Oz with a children’s theater company in Chicago. Marlee Matlin did not let being deaf hold her back as she graduated from John Jersey High School and obtained a degree in criminal justice from Harper College. She never lost her passion for acting since after she graduated college she continued to do shows around Chicago for several years.
Marlee Matlins big break came with the starting role in a play known as Children of a Lesser God, which eventually got made into a movie. Children of a Lesser God was the first movie that Marlee starred in and this film is what launched her very successful career. At the age of...