There’s something prestigious about being the first person to do something and that’s because being a pioneer is rarely easy.
Because while it can remain hard for underrepresented members of a community to flourish even after a historic stride is made, the door is always the hardest to open for the first person who made it through.
But while there are some far less pleasant reasons that we live in exciting times, there are some advantages to being around while great changes are underway. And one of them is that we can live to see a series of important historic firsts take place over a relatively short time period .
And while the star of today’s story could soon be making history in more than one way, we can say that he’s already got one ground-breaking achievement under his belt and walked a trail that few have blazed.
The evening of February 27 saw the broadcast of the 28th Annual Screen Actor’s Guild Awards and a major highlight came when when they announced the winner for outstanding performance by a male actor in a supporting role.
And as People reported , that’s because it went to Troy Kostur, who made his mark as Frank Rossi in the multiple award-nominated Coda .
This marks the first time that a deaf male actor has won this award without being part of an ensemble cast.
And when his win was announced, an emotional Kostur signed some powerful words that were translated off-camera by an ASL interpreter.
As he said, “I’ve been a member [of SAG] since 2001 and so now, I feel like I’m finally part of the family.”
And while we’ll soon see that he had a couple of jokes for his wife and daughter, Kostur also took a moment to shine a light on the struggles he had overcome to get to where he is.
In his words, “I know you all are artists, and I know you all know what it’s like to be a starving actor. Back then I used to sleep in my car, I slept in my dressing room backstage, I couch-surfed and all of that. You feel me, right?”
And while he showed his customary appreciation for Coda’s producers and cast (which included fellow trailblazer Marlee Matlin who is the only deaf actor to win an Oscar), he shared a special dedication to his wife Deanne Bray that kept those struggles in mind.
As he put it, “She is still here with me today, she’s been with me through all these years of struggle. Thank you so much for being my backbone and thank you for supporting me. I love you.”
Although Kotsur was floored by his win, he said in January that he already felt satisfied to be recognized with a nomination.
In his words, “Do you see my beard? I have many pieces of hair making up my beard. Can you count them? No, you don’t have the time for that. That is like so many of the hearing actors out there with many opportunities. But a deaf actor is just like one small hair.”
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Kotsur’s victory reaction is available here so you can see all of its dimensions for yourself.
h/t: People
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