Troy Kotsur Height, Age, Girlfriend, Wife, Family, Biography, & More

Some Lesser Known Facts About Troy Kotsur

• Troy Kotsur is an American actor and film and stage director who won an Academy Award for playing the role of Frank Rossi in the American film ‘CODA’ (2021) in the category of Best Supporting Actor on March 27, 2022, becoming the first male deaf actor to win an Oscar. ^[3]The Independent

• Kotsur grew up as the only deaf member of his family. His hearing impairment was discovered by his parents when he was just nine months old. In an interview, while sharing how his mother discovered his deafness, he said,
  

  I was in the crib when my mother spoke behind me but I didn’t respond…She came back with two pans from the kitchen. She banged real loud but I still didn’t hear.”

  

  Childhood picture of Troy Kotsur with his family

• After discovering their son’s deafness, Kotsur’s parents started taking American Sign Language (ASL) lessons to aid Kotsur to develop communication skills.

• When Troy was 7, his younger brother Brett Kotsur drowned in their backyard swimming pool. Brett was underwater for almost forty minutes before he was saved. Unfortunately, the incident led to severe brain damage and dysfunctionality in Brett after which he had to depend on a ventilator for the rest of his life. Brett died at the age of 21.

• At the age of eight, Kotsur was mesmerized by an American epic space film of the Star Wars trilogy. Enchanted by the visuals and costumes, Kotsur went on to view the film over 28 times. In an interview, while talking about the Star Wars film, he said,
  

  It was so visual, the costumes, it just blew me away. I watched it again and again. And it got me hoping that someday I could make a movie.”

• Although he was intrigued by acting at a very young age, he first appeared on stage after joining Westwood High School. Kotsur’s drama teacher at Westwood High, Jay Jones, encouraged him to perform a pantomime skit in the senior variety show. The sparks of his passion for acting were fueled by watching the standing ovation he received following his electrifying performance.

• Apart from participating in skits and plays, he also played varsity basketball during his high school days.

• When Troy was 17, his father, Len, suffered a serious car accident, which paralyzed his body from the neck down. Following the horrific accident, a communication gap arose between the father and son as Len could no more use ASL to communicate with Troy. Len died in 2001.

• After high school, he had a stint as an editor at Phoenix’s TV station KTSP-TV (now KSAZ-TV).

• In 1989, while attending Gallaudet University, he appeared in his first play, Susan Zeder’s ‘In a Room Somewhere,’ directed by Victor Brown.

• In an interview, Kotsur talked about initial struggles in the entertainment industry and said,
  

  During auditions, I would generally never get the role because most of the time they would ask, “Can you speak?” And of course another actor could speak better than I could, since I’m completely deaf and that can be a challenge… I was doing it the old-fashioned way back in the ’90s: I had to buy $300 worth of envelopes and stamps and send these headshots to 300 different casting directors, and out of that, I may get one audition.”

• While studying at Gallaudet University, he secured an opportunity to work with the National Technical Institute for the Deaf’s touring company called Sunshine Too, where he worked from 1990 to 1991.

• Thereafter, he joined the National Theatre of the Deaf (NTD), Connecticut, for two years, touring with the plays Treasure Island (1991-1992) and Ophelia (1992-1993).

• In 1993, he made acquaintance with Deanne Bray when she visited NTD in Chester, Connecticut, where Kotsur was working as an actor. The couple started dating in 1997. The American actress Deanne Bray is best known for playing the title role in PAX TV’s Canadian-American TV series ‘Sue Thomas: F.B.Eye’ (2002-2005).

• In 1994, he joined Deaf West Theatre, Los Angeles, where he worked as an actor and stage director.

• In 1997, he starred in the ASL adaptation of Lyle Kessler’s theatrical production ‘Orphans’ in which he worked alongside American Deaf artist Chuck Baird.
  

• Other popular theatrical productions in which he appeared include ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ as Stanley, ‘True West’ as Lee, and ‘Of Mice and Men’ as Lenny. As a stage director at Deaf West Theatre, he directed the ASL adaptations of numerous plays like Aladdin And The Wonderful Lamp, Eye, The Giving Tree, Aesop Who?, Three Musketeers, Lone Star, Where’s the Cross?.

• From 2002 to 2005, he played the recurring role of Troy Myers in the Canadian- American TV series ‘Sue Thomas: F.B.Eye.’ Telecast on Pax TV (now Ion), Troy Kotsur shared the screen with his wife, Deanne Bray, the protagonist of the show. In the show, Troy Myers is a deaf car thief who later becomes an informant of the protagonist, Sue Thomas.
  

  A still from the TV show ‘Sue Thomas F.B.Eye’ featuring Troy Kotsur as Troy Myers

• Other American TV series in which he appeared include Doc (2003), CSI: NY (2006), and Scrubs (2007).

• Following his film debut in 2007, Kotsur featured in the 2009 documentary titled ‘See What I’m Saying: The Deaf Entertainers Documentary.’

• In 2011, he came into the spotlight with the musical play ‘Big River’ in which he played the signing role of Huckleberry Finn’s drunkard father, Pap. Based on Mark Twain’s novel “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,” the play was staged at the American Airlines Theater in New York City. In the Broadway show, each role was portrayed by a combination of hearing and signing actors. In the play, Kotsur played the signing role of Pap, alongside the hearing American actor Lyle Kanouse.
  

  Lyle Kanouse (left) in the hearing role and Troy Kotsur (right) in the signing role of Papp in the play Big River (2011)

• He garnered popularity with the titular role in the ASL adaptation of Stephen Sachs’ play ‘Cyrano’ (2012). A Deaf West Theatre’s production, the play narrates the story of a brilliant deaf poet named Cyrano who falls in love with a beautiful hearing woman named Roxy. As the story unfolds, Roxy, who doesn’t understand sign language, falls in love with Cyrano’s hearing brother, Chris.
  

  Troy Kotsur (center) as Cyrano in 2012

• In 2012, he appeared in the episode “The Silencer” of the American police procedural crime drama ‘Criminal Minds.’ In the episode, he played the role of John Myers, an escaped inmate who sews his victims’ mouths shut.
  

  Troy Kotsur as John Myers in Criminal Minds (2012)

• The production team of ‘Criminal Minds’ took a remarkable step in Hollywood casting by rewriting John Myers’ character in the episode from a hearing role to a deaf role solely so they could hire a deaf actor. The casting director of the show saw Troy Kotsur on stage in the hit play ‘Cyrano’ at the Fountain Theatre, Los Angeles. Blown away by Kotsur’s performance, the casting director convinced the show’s team to change the role in the episode from a hearing character to a deaf character to hire Kotsur.

• His directional debut film, ‘No Ordinary Hero: The SuperDeafy Movie’ (2013), premiered at the Heartland Film Festival. In the film, a deaf actor named Tony Kane, who plays a superhero on TV, protects an eight-year-old boy named Jacob from bullies at school.

• In 2015, Kotsur starred in another popular theatrical production ‘American Buffalo’ for which he was nominated for the LA Drama Critics Circle Award (2015).
  

  Paul Raci (left) and Troy Kotsur (right) as Teach in American Buffalo (2017)

• He garnered immense appreciation for playing the role of James Hansen in the indie drama film ‘Wild Prairie Rose’ (2016). The central character of the film, Rose, returns to her rural hometown to aid her ailing mother, and she falls in love with James, a deaf man.
  

  A still from the film Wild Prairie Rose (2016) featuring Troy Kotsur as James

• In 2017, he starred in numerous theatrical productions of Deaf West Theatre like Our Town, American Buffalo, and Edward Albee’s At Home at the Zoo.
  

  A picture of Troy Kotsur (left) as Peter in the play ‘Edward Albee’s at Home at the Zoo’

• In the same year, he starred in the short film ‘Father’s Day Breakfast’ as Stephen, a deaf father of his hearing son named Michael. The short film chronicles the journey of the father-son duo in which they struggle to showcase their love for each other.

• For the 2018 romantic play ‘Arrival & Departure,’ directed by Stephen Sachs, Kotsur partnered with his wife Deanne Bray. The play follows two married strangers, who stumble upon each other in a New York City subway station and innocently fall into love.
  

• In the Star Wars franchise’s live-action TV series ‘The Mandalorian’ (2019), Kotsur played the role of a Tusken Raider belonging to a tribe of nomads on the planet Tatooine. Apart from appearing in the series, Kotsur also developed a fictional sign language for the Tuskens.
  

  Troy Kotsur as a Tusken raider in The Mandalorian (2019)

• Kotsur’s breakout role came in the coming-of-age comedy-drama film ‘CODA’ (2021) in which he played the role of a deaf fisherman named Frank Rossi who struggles to relate to his teenage daughter, Ruby. In the film, Ruby is the only hearing member of her family, who wants to pursue a career in music instead of joining her father’s business.
  

  Troy Kotsur as Frank Rossi in the film CODA (2021)

• Apart from being the first deaf male actor to win an Oscar, he is also the first deaf person to win an individual Screen Actors Guild Award. ^[4]Vanity Fair

• Kotsur has a pet dog named Stella. He posts various pictures with Stella on his Instagram account.
  

  Troy Kotsur and Deanne Bray with their pet dog, Stella

• In a Facebook post, Deanne Bray shared a fun fact about her marriage with Kotsur and revealed that she got married to him twice, first in September 2001 and then in November 2001. However, she did not mention the reason behind the marriages.