PHOENIX — Academy award-nominated actor and Valley native, Troy Kotsur, got a warm homecoming from family and friends at Sky Harbor on Thursday.
The Mesa native who got his start on stages and learned American Sign Language in the Valley made history this month as the only deaf male actor to ever be nominated for an Oscar.
Through an interpreter, Kotsur was emotional upon seeing dozens of people holding signs celebrating his historic Oscar nomination
“Some of my teachers from when I was a kid are here, I can’t believe how many people came out to celebrate this with me,” said Kotsur through an interpreter.
As he turned around a crowd of friends and family raised both hands and shook them, the sign for applause.
The Westwood High Graduate has played smaller roles in shows like CSI and Scrubs.
His performance in CODA, Child of Deaf Adults, landed him a best-supporting actor nomination for this year’s academy awards. The movie is also up for best picture.
In CODA, Kotsur and Marlee Matlin play deaf parents to the only-hearing daughter in the family who wants to pursue a career in music.
”It’s been 25 years that I’ve seen him struggle and seen his commitment and love to this craft and to see it come to fruition, I’m overjoyed,” said Kotur’s wife, Deanne Bray-Kotsur through an interpreter.
“Seeing that movie it’s all like, unity, between hearing and deaf, between CODA and the hearing world and I think it’s really cool,” said Kyra, Kotsur’s daughter.
Watch the Academy Awards on ABC15, March 27 2022.