Marlee Matlin

Bullseye with Jesse Thorn

NPR

Society & Culture

4.5 • 2.6K Ratings

🗓️ 19 August 2025

⏱️ 60 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Earlier this year, Marlee Matlin was the subject of the documentary Marlee Matlin: Not Alone Anymore. The film chronicles her life and career as a performer and her efforts to make movies and TV more inclusive for deaf performers. Marlee and her longtime interpreter Jack joined us to talk about the documentary, Marlee’s career in showbusiness and much more.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Support for NPR and the following message come from the Walton Family Foundation,
0:05.1	working to create access to opportunity for people and communities by tackling tough social and environmental problems.
0:12.0	More information is at walton family foundation.org.
0:17.1	Bullseye with Jesse Thorne is a production of Maximum Fun.org and is distributed by NPR.
0:23.6	It's Bullseye. I'm Jesse Thorne. In 1987, Marley Matlin got her first movie role. She was barely 20 years old. She'd been doing mostly community theater before that. And the role that she got wasn't just any role. It was the lead part in a big Hollywood drama, Children of a Lesser God,
0:56.3	in which she starred, opposite William Hurt. And Children of a Lesser God wasn't just any
1:02.1	big Hollywood drama either. The movie was nominated for five Academy Awards, including Best Picture,
1:08.2	and for Matlin's part, Best Lead Actress.
1:16.5	And when the 1987 Oscars rolled around, Marley Matlin won.
1:21.1	It made her the youngest winner in the history of the best actress category and the first deaf person to win an Academy Award.
1:25.9	Here she is giving her acceptance speech
1:27.6	with help from her ASL interpreter, Jack Jason.
1:30.7	I just want to thank a lot of people.
1:34.5	I, to tell you the truth, I didn't prepare for this speech,
1:38.1	but I definitely want to thank the Academy and its members.
1:44.0	And I want to thank my mother and father, Eric, Mark, Gloria, Zachary, and Liz.
1:53.7	They're here tonight with me.
1:56.8	And I just want to thank all of you.
2:00.7	I love you.
2:01.7	I love you.
2:09.1	When a story like that happens in show business, an overnight success story,
2:13.2	it's not uncommon for that success to just sort of fizzle out.
	...

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