Pulse Magazine

As the University of Texas Rio Grande’s Student Activities continues its stellar Distinguished Speaker Series, students gathered at the Texas Southmost College Performing Arts Complex at the Brownsville campus on Wednesday March 22, to welcome legendary Oscar and Golden Globe-winning actress Marlee Matlin to its stage. Matlin is now a member of an impressive list of guest speakers, which includes Common, Anderson Cooper, Terry Crews, and many other notable stars. 37 years after her Oscar win, Matlin remains vibrant and articulate in her ability to hand down listeners sage advice and insights into the glory and tribulations of a prominent Hollywood actress, director and producer.

Matlin, who has been deaf since she was 18 months old, first gained notoriety for her performance in 1986’s Children of a Lesser God, in which she won the Oscar for Best Leading Actress that year and for which she remains the youngest ever to win in the category as well as the only deaf actress to win. Over her almost 40-year career, Matlin has starred and guest starred in many television shows, including Family Guy, The L Word, Seinfeld, and Switched at Birth earning her a total of four Primetime Emmy Nominations. In 2022, Matlin performed in the Apple TV film CODA (short for Children of Deaf Adults), which tells the story of a young hearing woman (Emilia Jones) growing up with a deaf family and how her unique family life affects her experiences in the outside world. The film won three Oscars at the 94th Academy Awards, including Best Picture.

Through her longtime translator Jack Jason, Matlin recounted meeting her longtime mentor Harry Winkler and his advice that helped her navigate the often treacherous roads of Hollywood, “If you will it, it is not a dream.” She discussed how Winkler is always there for a call when she needs to this day and how he was instrumental in helping her get the role of Sarah Norman in her debut film.

But her career has also had its share of downsides: during her speech, Matlin discussed what it was like to hear a well-known film critic call her Oscar win a sympathy vote. However, what made the speech poignant was her ability to weave an uplifting story throughout her career such as when she decided to get sober soon after becoming a part of the Hollywood machine.

Photo courtesy of UTRGV Student Activities

In addition to her live-streamed speech on the stage in Brownsville, Matlin also visited the Edinburg campus, where she met privately with an Acting II class to discuss her career as well as the politics of the entertainment industry. UTRGV Acting Professor Dr. Brian Warren had the pleasure of welcoming her to his class. “It was very effective for the students,” Dr. Warren said. “She stressed a lot about preparation, and we try to lecture about that; how much work you have to do for any role, I think hearing that from her was great.”

The class was populated with both acting and American Sign Language students who took a variety of lessons from her lecture. “Learning from her perspective and her feedback on how we can become better interpreters,” said UTRGV student and Sign Language Interpreting major Merced Flores. “I hope this will make more people want to become interpreters here in the Valley because we really need them.”

The acting students also took a lot from the once-in-a-lifetime experience. Alondra Gonzalez, a theater major, said the experience gave her hope. “I’ve always wanted to do on-screen acting,” she told Pulse Magazine. “If you really want to get it, you will.”

Matlin took time to give the acting students the best advice she could, telling them the need for thick skin in the industry as well as the importance of knowing film history. She discussed what she felt was her most challenging role: playing a physicist in What the Bleep Do We Know, and her dedication to getting to know everyone on set.

Perhaps the most inspiring moment from her lecture came when she relieved criticism from members of the deaf community after the 60th Academy Awards. As is tradition at the ceremony, the previous years winner announces the nominees and winner of the opposite category and Matlin was tasked with announcing major Hollywood players like Micheal Douglas, Robin Williams, and Jack Nicholson. She decided to speak the winners’ names instead of having a translator do it for her. She said the backlash from her community hurt her but also inspired her to “get loud.” Ever since, she has been an outspoken advocate for not only deaf rights but the rights of all those with disabilities.

To close her speech, she instructed the 150-person audience to raise their hands as she taught them to sign “courage,” “dream,” and “success,” leaving the theater with the courage to get loud, dream big, and will their success into existence.