Marlee Matlin

Marlee Matlin Bio

Marlee Matlin, born August 24, 1965, is an American actress and activist whose trailblazing career has helped redefine opportunities for deaf performers. Deaf since infancy, she rose to prominence with her screen debut in Children of a Lesser God (1986), earning the Academy Award for Best Actress and becoming the youngest winner in that category. Over the following decades she built a versatile presence across film, television, and theater while championing disability rights and accessibility on a global stage.

Beyond her screen work, Marlee Matlin advocates for the deaf community through public service, organizational leadership, and published writing. She has testified before United States Senate committees, served on federal boards appointed by the President, and supported charitable organizations including the American Civil Liberties Union and Easter Seals. Her memoir, public appearances, and ongoing activism have made her one of the most recognizable ambassadors for inclusion in entertainment.

Early Life and Background

Marlee Matlin was born in Morton Grove, Illinois, on August 24, 1965, to Donald Matlin, an automobile dealer, and Libby Hammer Matlin. She grew up in a Reform Jewish household alongside two older brothers, Eric and Marc, with family roots in Poland and Russia. At eighteen months old, an illness left her completely deaf in her right ear and with roughly eighty percent hearing loss in her left ear, making her the only deaf member of her immediate family.

Matlin attended Congregation Bene Shalom, a synagogue for the Deaf, where she studied Hebrew phonetically and prepared for her Bat Mitzvah. Her parents encouraged her artistic interests from an early age, and at seven she made her stage debut as Dorothy in a children’s theatre production of The Wizard of Oz with the International Center on Deafness and the Arts. At thirteen, she earned second prize at the Chicago Center’s Annual International Creative Arts Festival for an essay titled If I Was Not a Movie Star, signaling an early ambition toward performing.

She graduated from John Hersey High School in Arlington Heights, Illinois, and later attended Harper College in Palatine. Before entering the entertainment industry, Matlin had planned a career in criminal justice. Her life changed when actor Henry Winkler discovered her during an International Center on Deafness and the Arts theatre performance, which led directly to her casting in Children of a Lesser God.

Path to Acting

Marlee Matlin’s transition into professional acting began through her years with the International Center on Deafness and the Arts children’s theatre group, where she appeared in numerous productions throughout her childhood. These formative stage experiences allowed her to develop her craft and provided a community that nurtured her talents as a young deaf performer. Her creative writing recognition at thirteen further revealed a performer with discipline and emotional depth.

The pivotal moment arrived when Henry Winkler attended one of her theatre performances and saw the potential for a major film role. This discovery led to auditions for the romantic drama Children of a Lesser God, a screen adaptation of Mark Medoff’s award-winning play. Matlin’s casting as Sarah Norman, a reluctant-to-speak deaf woman, marked her feature film debut and immediately placed her among the most talked-about performers of the year.

Critics responded with strong praise following the film’s release. Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times wrote that Matlin carried scenes with passion and an almost painful fear of being rejected, while Paul Attanasio of The Washington Post noted that she acted with her eyes and gestures in the tradition of the silent era. These early reviews signaled a performer who could communicate complex emotions without dialogue, a skill that would define much of her later work.

Marlee Matlin Career

Early Career (1986–1990)

Marlee Matlin’s screen career began in 1986 with Children of a Lesser God, a performance that earned her both the Academy Award for Best Actress and the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama. At twenty-one, she became the youngest Best Actress winner and the first deaf performer to receive an Academy Award. The role established her as a singular talent capable of anchoring a major studio production.

Following this debut, Matlin appeared in the 1989 television movie Bridge to Silence, portraying a deaf widow, and made a guest appearance on Sesame Street with Billy Joel performing a revised version of Just the Way You Are. She also joined Billy Joel for his music video We Didn’t Start the Fire and presented the Academy Award for Best Actor at the 1988 Oscars ceremony, signing her introduction in American Sign Language before announcing the winner aloud.

Breakthrough (1991–2009)

Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, Marlee Matlin became a familiar presence on television, reflecting the limited film opportunities available to deaf actors. She starred as district attorney Kathryn McKenzie on the police drama Reasonable Doubts from 1991 to 1993, earning two Golden Globe nominations for Best Actress in a Television Series Drama. She also earned a Primetime Emmy nomination for her guest appearance in Picket Fences and another for her widely praised guest role in Seinfeld.

Matlin joined the cast of The West Wing in 2000 as political strategist Joey Lucas, a recurring role she played through 2006. She appeared in The Practice, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, and ER, earning additional Emmy nominations along the way. She also joined the cast of The L Word in 2007 as sculptor Jodi Lerner, a recurring arc she would revisit in subsequent seasons, and appeared as Melody Bledsoe in Switched at Birth beginning in 2011, a long-running role that highlighted deaf culture for younger audiences.

On May 6, 2009, Marlee Matlin received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, cementing her status as a permanent fixture in American entertainment history. That same year, she published her memoir I’ll Scream Later, which chronicled her career, her personal struggles, and her advocacy work.

Notable Works and Milestones

Among Marlee Matlin’s signature works, Children of a Lesser God remains the defining project of her career, while her long arc on The West Wing introduced American Sign Language to millions of weekly viewers. Her casting in CODA (2021) reunited her with the same subject matter as her debut, this time as a deaf parent in a hearing family. That role earned the cast the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture in 2022, making her part of the first ensemble to include deaf performers in a leading capacity.

Marlee Matlin Award Nominations

Marlee Matlin has earned multiple high-profile nominations across her career, including four Primetime Emmy Award nominations for guest appearances in Seinfeld, Picket Fences, The Practice, and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. She has also received Golden Globe nominations for her leading work in the television drama Reasonable Doubts, recognizing her consistent impact on the small screen. These nominations reflect her sustained recognition from major industry bodies over more than three decades.

Marlee Matlin Awards Won

Marlee Matlin has won an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award across her career. Her 1986 film debut brought her the Academy Award for Best Actress and the Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama, while her supporting role in CODA earned a shared SAG Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture in 2022. She has also received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Gallaudet University, and the Morton E. Ruderman Award in Inclusion.

Marlee Matlin Family

Marlee Matlin was born to Donald Matlin and Libby Hammer Matlin. Donald worked as an automobile dealer, and Libby raised Marlee alongside her two older brothers, Eric and Marc, in Morton Grove and the surrounding Illinois suburbs. The family maintained Reform Jewish traditions, attending Congregation Bene Shalom, a synagogue for the Deaf, where Marlee prepared for her Bat Mitzvah.

Matlin married Burbank police officer Kevin Grandalski on August 29, 1993, at the home of her friend and fellow actor Henry Winkler. The couple met while Matlin was filming a scene from Reasonable Doubts outside the studio grounds and Grandalski had been assigned to provide security. They have four children: Sarah, born in 1996; Brandon, born in 2000; Tyler, born in 2002; and Isabelle, born in 2003.

Personal Life

Beyond her acting career, Marlee Matlin has been a prominent advocate for deaf rights, accessibility, and inclusion. She has served on federal boards appointed by President Bill Clinton, testified before Senate committees, and worked with the American Civil Liberties Union as a celebrity ambassador for disability rights. Her interpreter, Jack Jason, has worked alongside her at public events and television appearances for decades.

Matlin has published several books, including her debut novel Deaf Child Crossing, its sequel Nobody’s Perfect, and her 2009 memoir I’ll Scream Later. In 2025, she became the subject of the documentary Marlee Matlin: Not Alone Anymore, directed by Shoshannah Stern and premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. On June 15, 2026, she delivered the commencement address at the University of Oregon alongside her youngest daughter Isabelle.