Winning your first Oscar is a real honor and one to cherish forever. Looking over the 2022 Academy Awards winners, CODA took home Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Supporting Actor. CODA’s Best Supporting Actor, Troy Kotsur, shared the adorable way he traveled home with his golden trophy.
Troy Kotsur posted a photo on Twitter of his Best Supporting Actor trophy with its seat belt on while riding shotgun. Kotsur captioned that after the Oscars, he drove six hours back home with his “new friend.”
After Oscar weekend. I drove back to home, along with my new friend in my car for 6 hours that kept me company @AppleTVPlus @sianheder @MarleeMatlin @EmiliaJonesy @EugenioDerbez @TheAcademy @DeanneBray @ pic.twitter.com/odoMiKcRKuApril 4, 2022
Troy Kotsur and Kodi McPhee from The Power of the Dog were head to head in the Best Supporting Actor Oscar race. After all, both actors were the only ones with Golden Globe, Critics Choice and SAG nominations this year. Kotsur is considered the second deaf actor to win an Academy Award after his CODA co-star Marlee Matlin, who won Best Actress in 1987 for Children of a Lesser God. I'm confident the legacy Matlin started will continue for many years to come after CODA’s Best Picture win. There already has been recent deaf representation in Marvel’s Eternals through Lauren Ridloff's Makkari, as well as the “realistic representation” of Maya Maya Lopez, a.k.a. Echo, in Disney+’s Hawkeye.
CODA made history at the Academy Awards through this being the first time a movie released exclusively on a streaming service (Apple TV+) won Best Picture. Plus, this film helped bring representation to the deaf community, as well as pointed the spotlight on deaf actors Daniel Durant and Troy Kotsur. CODA even got the attention of the French president! Believe it or not, CODA was not Kotsur’s first major role. He popped up The Mandalorian playing a Tusken Raider Scout, and also developed the Tusken Raiders' sign language. He wanted to look towards the “culture and environment” of the Tusken Raiders to develop brand new signs for them instead of using American Sign Language.
With the deaf community receiving all of this recognition after CODA winning Best Picture, we can end up seeing more deaf actors on our screens in the future. If CODA got a sequel or TV spinoff, the Best Supporting Actor winner says that he would be up for it if the original cast was game. Considering the film shows audiences a dysfunctional family, this can open up the opportunity to tell many stories. Audiences can receive more stories about what it feels like to be a CODA (child of deaf adult) and the drama that may occur between the hearing and the deaf community.
If you’re a fan of Troy Kotsur and are ready for more, there are plenty of other things to watch featuring the Oscar-winning CODA star. I can't wait to see what else is in store for this talented actor continuously making a name for himself.
