Marlee Matlin will receive the 2,383rd star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame May 6, honoring an extensive television and movie career, including being the youngest winner of the best actress Academy Award.
Actor-producer Henry Winkler and Anne Sweeney, president of Disney-ABC Television Group, will join Matlin in speaking in the ceremony in front of the Musso & Frank Grill on Hollywood Boulevard, the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, which administers the Walk of Fame, announced Monday.
The ceremony will also include children from the Northbrook, Ill.-based International Center of Deafness & the Arts performing a song.
Matlin, who lost all hearing in her right ear and 80 percent of the hearing in her left ear at the age of 18 months because of roseola infantum, made her stage debut in the 1974 at the age of seven in the center’s production of “The Wizard of Oz,’’ as Dorothy. She continued to appear with its children’s theatre group throughout her childhood.
The 43-year-old Matlin will receive the star three weeks after the publication of her autobiography, “I’ll Scream Later” and a day before she will receive the Mary Pickford Award at the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce Community Foundation’s 16th annual Women of Distinction luncheon.
Born and raised in the Chicago suburb of Morton Grove, Matlin was discovered in a Chicago stage production of the Tony Award-winning play, “Children of a Lesser God.”
Matlin was then cast in the film version, which premiered in 1986, winning the best actress Oscar at the age of 21, the youngest to win the award and one of the few performers to win an Oscar in a film debut.
Matlin’s other film credits include “Walker,’’ “The Man in the Golden Mask,” “The Player,’’ “It’s My Party,’’ “Hear No Evil,’’ “The Linguini Incident,” “What the #$*! Do We (K)now!?’’ and its sequel, “What the Bleep!? Down the Rabbit Hole.’’
Matlin also has an extensive list of television credits, including starring in the 1991-93 NBC crime drama, “Reasonable Doubts” and was a cast member of Showtime’s “The L Word’’ for its final three seasons.
Matlin is a four-time Emmy nominee, three for outstanding guest actress in a drama for appearances on “Picket Fences,’’ “The Practice’’ and “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.’’ The fourth was for outstanding guest actress in a comedy for the 1993 episode of “Seinfeld,’’ “The Lip Reader.’’
Matlin also starred in the made-for-television movies, “Bridge to Silence,” her first speaking role, “Against Her Will: The Carrie Buck Story,’’ “Dead Silence,’’ “Freak City,’’ “Where the Truth Lies,’’ and “Sweet Nothing in My Ear.’’
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