My Life as Oscar Historian, 1986-Present
Oscar 2022: Acting Categories–Most Predictable Year Ever
The four acting categories in this year’s Oscars are utterly predictable. It is one of the easiest years ever to anticipate the road to gold.
Best Actor: Will Smith, King Richard (third nomination)
Best Actress, Jessica Chastain, the Eyes if Tammy Faye (tird nomination)
Best Supporting Actor: Troy Kotsur, CODA (first nomination)
Best Supporting Actress: Ariana DeBose, West Side Story (first nomination).
Racial Composition:
Will Smith is Black
Ariana DeBse is Latina (and queer)
Jessica Chastain is Caucasian
Troy Kotsur is Caucasian and deaf
Troy Kotsur said he felt ‘blessed’ to be first deaf man nominated for an Oscar.
Age Distribution:
None of the projected winners is particularly young, especially in the lead cattegories.
Will Smith is 53 (born September 25, 1968)
Jessica Chastain is 44 (she will be 45 by the time she wins; born March 24, 1977)
Troy Kotsur is 53 (born July 24, 1968); oldest acting winner this year (older than Smith by two months!)
Ariana DeBose is 31 (born January 25, 1991); youngest acting winner this year.
CODA
In addition to Kotsur’s Oscar nomination for best supporting actor, the movie also earned nominations for best adapted screenplay and best picture, one of the first movies with a predominantly deaf cast to do so.
CODA, which stands for Child of Deaf Adults, tells the story of Ruby Rossi, the only hearing person in her family living from a fishing town in Massachusetts. Kotsur plays Ruby’s father, Frank Rossi.
Kotsur said the deaf community is “thrilled” to see American Sign Language captured on the big screen in “CODA.”
“It’s really important to show hearing people what it’s like as a fly on the wall and immerse themselves in deaf culture,” he said. And really, we had the right team, the right story, the right cast and crew and it just hit it at the right moment.”
Marlee Matlin
“We always said we hope to work together one day,” he said. “And Marlee told me, ‘Hey, Troy, you’re on my bucket list,’ and so it’s such a blessing. We got to have so much fun working together on ‘CODA.'”
Following his work on “CODA,” Kotsur said he has several projects in the works, including one called “Flash before the Bang,” a true story about a team of eight deaf runners from the Oregon School for the Deaf, who won the state championship in the 80s.
“The title comes from deaf runners having to see a flash of the starter pistol before the sound,” he said. “It’s kind of like feeling thunder before seeing lightning.”
With the recognition CODA is receiving, Kotsur said he hopes it will help to change how the world perceives deaf people.
“It’s such a blessing that Hollywood will begin to recognize deaf talent and increase deaf awareness,” he said. “And I hope that it changes their perspective, rather than thinking of deaf people as villains or folks to have sympathy about, it is a culture. It is a language. We have our own language, and we have our own culture.”
