Troy Kotsur says accessibility in Hollywood has improved after Coda success

The deaf actor presented an award with Greta Lee at the 30th annual Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards.
AP
Ellie Iorizzo25 February 2024
The Weekender

Sign up to our free weekly newsletter for exclusive competitions, offers and theatre ticket deals

I would like to be emailed about offers, event and updates from Evening Standard. Read our privacy notice.

Oscar-winning deaf actor Troy Kotsur said he has seen improvements in accessibility in Hollywood following the success of 2021 film Coda.

The 55-year-old, who presented an award at the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards broadcast live on Netflix, praised the streaming giant for making the show accessible for all.

“They have accessibility this year regarding closed captioning and audio description on Netflix so I am thrilled, we’re really looking forward to it,” he said, ahead of the ceremony.

Kotsur was part of the cast of Coda about a family of deaf fishermen, which won the best picture Oscar in 2022, while he was named best supporting actor.

“In general, I have really seen some improvements and some doors beginning to open,” he said.

“Some folks have told me that there is a big production coming up with a deaf director, deaf producers and deaf actors and I’m seeing Hollywood begin to open their doors and I’m seeing more and more projects come in, and so really I have seen a lot of change.

“It doesn’t happen overnight, it does take time and it takes time for progress, we all have to work together and understand how to work together. There’s nothing about us, without us.”

Kotsur appeared on stage with US actress Greta Lee, both performing sign language to present the award for best male actor in a TV movie or limited series.

It comes a year after the Bafta film awards were criticised for a lack of diversity, following a translation error while Kotsur was presenting an award by sign language on-stage.

A miscommunication saw Carey Mulligan incorrectly announced as the winner of the supporting actress award for her performance in She Said, before the announcer quickly corrected themselves and confirmed Kerry Condon was the winner for The Banshees Of Inisherin.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in