MESA, AZ — From a struggling actor to an Oscar winner, Valley native Troy Kotsur is preparing to sign the National Anthem at the Super Bowl in Glendale.
A lot has changed for Kotsur’s career since winning an Academy Award for his role in last year’s best picture, CODA, Child of a Deaf Adult.
After becoming the first deaf man to win an Oscar, the Mesa native was on Sesame Street, met President Joe Biden, is expected to play a football coach at a deaf school for a show on Disney+ coming soon, he’s worked with Seinfeld creator, Larry David and even met his idol – Steven Spielberg.
Speaking about Spielberg, Kotsur recalled a story about meeting the fellow Valley native at the Oscars.
“He said I hope we can work together, I said ‘can I send you a script?’ He said, ‘send me two!’” said Kotsur.
Kotsur says he once had to fight for the few deaf roles available in film and TV.
Now he’s the one getting calls from directors and producers for roles designed for deaf actors.
Recently he got a call from the National Association of the Deaf to sign the National Anthem alongside Chris Stapleton at the Super Bowl.
“I said, ‘yes! I’m in. It doesn’t matter if the (Cardinals) aren’t in the Super Bowl or not this is my hometown, I’m in,’” he said.
The Westwood High School graduate said the biggest audience he’s performed for live on stage is 2,000 people. Last year alone, just under 100 million people watched the Super Bowl.
The Super Bowl is another opportunity for Kotsur to continue to show there’s no limit to what he and others alike can do.
“I think I need to stretch out my signs and make them bigger and it’s nice to have a screen so everyone can see my signs and hear the music. I’m looking forward to it,” he said.
