Oscar Nominations have been released, and Tony Kotsur has made history as the first deaf male and second deaf actor to be nominated for an Academy Award.
Kotsur has been nominated for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in CODA, a film about a child of deaf adults (or CODA) named Ruby, played by Emilia Jones, who aspires to go to music school but struggles to leave her family behind due to her critical role as interpreter. Kotsur portrays Ruby’s father, Frank Rossi, who runs the family fishing business and struggles to let Ruby go, and he delivers an extremely emotional and nuanced performance.
Marlee Matlin, CODA co-star who stars opposite Kotsur and plays Jackie Rossi, Frank’s wife, was the first deaf actor to receive an Academy Award nomination and win for Best Actress in Children of a Lesser God in 1986, making history in her own right.
CODA was directed by Sian Heder and distributed by Apple after they acquired the film for $25 million after the 2021 Sundance Film Festival. The film is also nominated for Best Picture.
Kotsur is nominated alongside Ciaran Hinds (Belfast), Jesse Plemons (The Power of the Dog), J.K. Simmons (Being the Ricardos), and Kodi Smit-McPhee (The Power of the Dog).
CODA is available to stream on Apple TV. The Oscars premieres on ABC on March 27th at 5 pm PT/8 pm ET.
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