CODA star Troy Kotsur just made Academy Awards history with his 2022 Best Supporting Actor win.
“This is dedicated to the deaf community, the CODA community and the disabled community. This is our moment,” Kotsur said during his acceptance speech. During his speech, Kotsur highlighted the “deaf theater stages” where he first honed his acting skills, and also praised CODA’s director, Siân Heder, for “bringing the deaf world and the hearing world together.” He also took a moment to honor his father, who he called the best signer in his family, but who was paralyzed in a car accident. “Dad, I learned so much from you. I’ll always love you, you are my hero,” Kotsur added.
In a very sweet moment, presenter Yuh-Jung Youn used sign language to announce Troy as the winner before reading his name aloud.
In CODA, Kotsur plays Frank Rossi, the father of the film’s core family, who are all deaf except for their youngest daughter. Kotsur is now the second deaf actor to win an Academy Award, following his CODA co-star Marlee Matlin, who took home Best Actress for her first-ever film role in 1986’s Children of a Lesser God. The actor and director has been candid in the media about the ups and downs of his 20-plus year acting career.
“Receiving these nominations, I feel like the choices I made and the tough struggle I went through really was worth it,” Kotsur told Backstage.com.
Kotsur, 53, had taken home several high-profile awards during the run-up to the Oscars, including the SAG Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role, Best Supporting Male at the Independent Spirit Awards, and Best Actor in a Supporting Role at the BAFTAs. Notably, he lost the Supporting Actor Golden Globe to fellow Oscar nominee Kodi Smit-McPhee. Kotsur was the odds-on favorite to win, per Gold Derby. Kotsur’s win, as well as CODA winning Best Adapted Screenplay, adds more fuel to the predictions that CODA will take home the night’s biggest award with Best Picture.
The acclaim Kotsur earned for his work in CODA has helped boost him into the spotlight, his next film will be Flash Before the Bang, the story of a track and field team at the Oregon School for the Deaf.