HARTFORD, Conn. — Troy Kotsur, who took home the trophy for best supporting actor at Sunday night’s Academy Awards ceremony, began his professional acting career over 30 years ago as a member of the National Theatre for the Deaf in Connecticut.
Kotsur, who won for the film “CODA” (which also took home the Best Motion Picture prize) is only the second deaf actor, and the first male deaf actor, to win an Oscar.
From 1991 to 1993, Kotsur performed primarily in two shows for the company. Kotsur was Hamlet in the play “Ophelia,” a new perspective on the Shakespeare play written expressly for the company by Jeff Wanshel. Kotsur was also in the cast of the National Theatre of the Deaf’s popular children’s theater adaptation of the Robert Louis Stevenson adventure story “Treasure Island,” which toured around the country.
