Troy Kotsur earned the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Frank, the Deaf fisherman father of a hearing daughter who wants to be a singer in director Sian Heder’s “CODA.” The film also won the Academy Award for Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay. Kotsur is the first Deaf male actor and only the second Deaf actor overall to win the Oscar, after his “CODA” co-star Marlee Matin for her role in "Children of a Lesser God." Kotsur also earned BAFTA, Critics’ Choice, Gotham, Independent Spirit and Screen Actors Guild awards, and was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for his role in “CODA.” Other recent film credits include “Wild Prairie Rose,” “No Ordinary Hero: The SuperDeafy Movie,” which he also directed, “Universal Signs,” and “The Number 23.”

 In television, Kotsur was most recently seen in the Disney+ series "The Mandalorian," for which he created the Tusken sign language, and was also used in the show’s spinoff series "The Book of Boba Fett." Other television roles include "CSI: NY," "Scrubs," "Criminal Minds," "Strong Medicine," "Doc," and "Sue Thomas: F.B. Eye." A native of Mesa, Arizona, Kotsur began acting in grade school, with some of his earliest performances including reenacting "Tom and Jerry" cartoon storylines to his classmates. He studied theater, film, and television at Gallaudet University in Washington, DC, and following graduation, toured with the National Theatre of the Deaf.