Marlee Matlin Class of 1983

Actress Acting has been a part of Marlee Matlin’s life for quite some time, starting with her first role in a children’s theater company at the age of 7. While at Hersey, she continued to act with numerous companies throughout the Northwest Suburbs. After graduating Hersey, she attended Harper College to study Criminal Justice. Marlee continued to pursue her passion of acting, performing on stage throughout Chicago and the Midwest. She was finally noticed for her outstanding performance in a production of the Tony-Award winning play Children of a Lesser God, and was cast in the film version in 1986. Although this was her film debut, her performance won her a Golden Globe Award and an Academy Award for Best Actress. Since then, she has appeared in numerous movies and television shows, garnering an Emmy nomination in 1992 for her portrayal of Laurie Bey in an episode of the television show Picket Fences. Marlee has been a positive role model for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. In 1995, she testified at a Congressional hearing and helped to get a law passed that requires televisions to be manufactured with chips that provide closed captioning on the screen. In addition, she serves as the National Spokesperson of the National Captioning Institute and is on the Board of Directors for the Corporation for National and Community Service.