Oscar Winner Troy Kotsur Inks Deal With Verve

Deaf actor Troy Kotsur has just signed with Verve for representation, as per Deadline.

Earlier this year, Kotsur made history when he became the first Deaf male actor and the second Deaf actor to win an Academy Award for his role in “CODA.” Actress and “CODA” costar Marlee Matlin was the first when she picked up her Oscar win in 1987 for “Children of a Lesser God.”

“CODA” was also nominated for – and won – adapted screenplay and the headline prize of the night, Best Picture.

Kotsur will now be represented by Verve for future projects.He will still be represented by Mark Finley at Metric Talent and attorney Logan Clare of Johnson Shapiro Slewett & Kole.

He had joined the Deaf West Theatre in Los Angeles and starred in various productions, including “Cyrano,” “Of Mice and Men,” and “A Streetcar Named Desire.”

In 2015, he was nominated for the L.A. Drama Critics Circle Award in the Deaf West Theatre production of Spring Awakening. He also appeared on Broadway in the Tony-nominated American Sign Language (ASL) production of “Big River: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.”

Kotsur also made his directorial debut in the film “No Ordinary Hero,” which shows a Deaf actor who plays a superhero on a TV show learning to start believing in himself.

In addition to appearing in TV series like “CSI: NY,” “Scrubs,” and “Criminal Minds,” Kotsur also became the first Deaf actor in the “Star Wars” franchise when he appeared in a season 1 episode of “The Mandalorian.”

In episode 5, titled, “The Gunslinger,” the titular Mandalorian Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal) crossed the deserts of Tatooine and ran into a group of Tuskens. Although the original trilogy portrayed the Tuskens as reckless and violent, “The Book of Boba Fett” – “The Mandalorian” spin-off series – had gone a long way in improving the reputation of the Tuskens and showing that they had a complex culture of their own. This involved creating their own sign language, which Kotsur developed himself.

Back in 2020, Kotsur told the Daily Moth how important it was to him to make sure that the Tusken sign language reflected their own culture and environment. “I did research on the culture and environment of Tuskens,” he explained. “I researched on the desert called ‘sand people.’ That is what Luke Skywalker calls them, ‘sand people.’”

“Anyway, my goal was to avoid ASL [American Sign Language],” he added. “I made sure it became Tusken Sign Language based on their culture and environment.”

In late March, Troy Kotsur became the first Deaf male actor to win an Academy Award. A transcription of Troy Kotsur’s acceptance speech, which was given to his interpreter prior to the ceremony, was obtained by the Los Angeles Times and transcribed below.

“This is amazing to be here on this journey. I cannot believe I’m here. Thank you so much to all the members of the academy for recognizing my work.”

“It’s really amazing that our film ‘CODA’ has reached out worldwide. It even reached all the way to the White House. And they invited the cast of ‘CODA’ to visit and have a tour of the White House. We met our president, Joe, and Dr. Jill [Biden], and I was planning on teaching them some dirty sign language, but Marlee Matlin told me to behave myself. So don’t worry, Marlee, I won’t drop any F-bombs in my speech today.”

“Instead, I really want to thank all of the wonderful Deaf theater stages where I was allowed and given the opportunity to develop my craft as an actor. Thank you.”