The animated series that inspired Troy Kotsur to be an actor and his exciting journey towards the Oscar

Desk

Published on:

On Sunday, Troy Kotsur became the second deaf actor (first male) in Academy history to win an acting award at the Oscars, following his CODA co-star Marlee Matlin, who took home the acting award. Best Actress in 1987 for Children of a Lesser God. His portrayal of charismatic fisherman Frank Rossi, patriarch of the CODA family, made him a favorite this awards season, leading to his landmark Oscar.

As Kotsur thinks about what winning the Oscar will mean for his career, he begins to cry. “He was so tired of struggling financially for so many years,” he says through interpreter Justin Maurer. “Now receiving these awards has saved my life, my career, my family. I’ve taken so many risks, and without these nominations and awards, I don’t know what would have happened.” He reflects on a different life, one in which he had not been chosen for CODA. “I would be working in a fast food restaurant or as a grocery bagger.”

The cast of CODA after winning Best Picture

CODA’s amazing journey to the Oscar for Best Picture (in addition to Best Adapted Screenplay and Kotsur’s award), began at Sundance in January 2021, where Apple acquired the film for $25 million, the biggest sale in history. the history of the festival. But Kotsur didn’t see any of that amazing money in his wallet, jokingly saying, “I’m still waiting for my check.” Despite the historic victory that the underdog movie and its cast achieved against the big favorite of the entire season, The Power of the Dog, the conversation of the Oscars has focused solely on Will Smith slapping Chris Rock in the middle of the ceremony after a joke about his wife, Jada Pinkett-Smith. But to change the conversation, we decided to focus on Kotsur’s landmark achievement, his career, and how Tom and Jerry made him want to be an actor.

Read Also  Keanu Reeves' Favorite Movie Villain: Revealing His Most Memorable Combatant

In an exclusive interview, Variety asked the actor what inspired him to pursue acting, and his answer was incredible. “When I was younger, I watched cartoons and mostly Tom and Jerry, since there was no dialogue. It was just cat and mouse chasing each other. The next day, I was on the school bus, which was about an hour-and-a-half trip to the school for the deaf. All the deaf children were on the bus together, and they listened to me as I told them about the episode the day before,” Kotsur said.

“Some of these kids didn’t even have a TV at the time. I would tell them the story of Tom and Jerry and I’ll never forget what it was like to see their eyes light up, their reactions and laughter. It made me feel so cool. That’s where something it clicked. I wanted to continue that feeling. That led me to acting on stage, TV and film. It always felt great to see an audience react to a performance, which was the most impactful to me. I don’t give a damn more. I just wanted to generate this in the audience.”

Read Also  The excellent Netflix movie that has Mads Mikkelsen in John Wick mode

In addition to the historically iconic animated show’s inspiration for him, Kotsur once again focused on how his father became a hero to him and how he inspired him to keep going despite life’s adversities. “I’m deaf… big deal. What I can do? I could play golf, fish, camp, have sex, but my dad couldn’t. He couldn’t even feed himself. My dad taught me all about sacrifice and courage.”

In his emotional Oscar acceptance speech, Troy spoke about how his father lost all communication with him after he was hit by a drunk driver when Kotsur was 17 years old. The accident left his father completely paralyzed from the neck down, and there was no way he could continue to use sign language, but as Kotsur said; “her mind of him was still strong.”

“I had to ask my mom or my brothers to interpret for me. Sometimes he would try to use a pencil or write on a computer. I would have to wait a few minutes to see what my dad would tell me. It was a challenge to communicate with him, but it was patient”. Kotsur said. “He had the same sense of humor, the same way of speaking, but the only barrier was that he couldn’t sign anymore, so we had to make these big changes as a family.” Still, the CODA actor made it clear that getting through this difficult time together made his father his biggest hero, and inspired him to pursue his acting dreams.

Read Also  A Black Adam Action Figure Reveals Dwayne Johnson's Potential Enemy

As for his future projects, Troy Kotsur said that he had seen several action-adventure scripts and several biopics of deaf historical figures. “We have such a rich history in the deaf community. We’ve had tragedies, we’ve had success, but nobody knows about them. They’ve been ignored for so long. I want to bring this treasure to audiences from cinematic storytelling.”

Leave us your message with your opinion or comment about a series, movie or program. What would you like to read about celebrities, movies, series or platforms? Do not forget to write to us at [email protected]!

News and Images Source

Leave a Comment