The emotional indie movie “CODA,” about a struggling deaf family, took home the top prize at the Screen Actors Guild awards on Sunday, strengthening its chances of being a dark horse for the Oscars next month.
“CODA” is an acronym for child of deaf adult, and it follows Ruby, a high school student, as she balances her musical goals with her family’s reliance on her to interact with the “hearing” world.
“We deaf actors have come a long way,” signed a visibly shocked Marlee Matlin, a deaf former Oscar winner who plays Ruby’s mother, as she and her co-stars accepted the statuette for best cast in a motion picture.
“This validates the fact that we deaf actors can work just like anybody else,” added Matlin, before teaching the star-studded audience the sign for “I love you.”
The win at the SAG Awards, which are voted on by Hollywood’s acting union, is a significant forerunner to the Academy Awards, where actors make up the largest voting bloc.
