Marlee Matlin Quotes

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Marlee Matlin

Profession : Actress

Birth : August 24, 1965

I'm different, and my manner invites questions. I'm never afraid to answer.

Marlee Matlin

I was the youngest and only girl in a family of two older brothers.

Marlee Matlin

The hearing aids are very helpful for speech reading. Without the hearing aids, my voice becomes very loud, and I cannot control the quality of my voice.

Marlee Matlin

I got a good handshake. A lot of executives tell me I have the best handshake in Hollywood.

Marlee Matlin

I'm not broke. Like everybody else, I owe money.

Marlee Matlin

How many deaf people do you know in real life? Unless they live in a cave, or are 14, which seems to be true for most people in this business, what could I possibly tell them that they don't already know?

Marlee Matlin

I know what it's like to be growing up, called 'deaf and mute' and 'deaf and dumb.' They're words that are very degrading and demeaning to people who are deaf and hard of hearing. It's almost... it's almost libelous, if you want to say that.

Marlee Matlin

It was ability that mattered, not disability, which is a word I'm not crazy about using.

Marlee Matlin

It was my father who instilled the 'never say no' attitude I carry around with me today, and who instilled in me a sense of wonder, always taking us on adventures in the car, never telling us the destination.

Marlee Matlin

I became deaf when I was 18 months old. And I learned to sign when I was 5 years old.

Marlee Matlin

The only thing I can't do is hear. I can drive, I have a life with four kids, I work on TV, I do movies, so the deafness question, is it that they want to know because, what? Not sure.

Marlee Matlin

Everybody's got a job to do, and I do mine as best I can.

Marlee Matlin

I find the mantle of, she works hard for the money, or, she's overcome so many obstacles a bit overused.

Marlee Matlin

Differences are scarier now. The dollar isn't so guaranteed if you don't follow what they see as the norm. But I don't moan about it. I just keep working.

Marlee Matlin

Hollywood embraced me in the late '80s because there was a good project I was in and it was different. Nowadays, it's about corporate mentality, box office, youth.

Marlee Matlin

I can hear you and I can watch your mouth move, and then I put together the sounds and the visual image, and I can understand the words as I integrate the two signals.

Marlee Matlin

I learned to speak first, and then to sign. I have never really known what it was like to hear, so I can't compare hearing aids to normal hearing.

Marlee Matlin

I listen to Billy Joel. He is fabulous. I saw him with Elton John when they toured together, it was so great.

Marlee Matlin

I've always wanted to write a book relating my experiences growing up as a deaf child in Chicago. Contrary to what people might think, it wasn't all about hearing aids and speech classes or frustrations.

Marlee Matlin

It seems we're always in transition and that it's more about trends than it is about what's meaningful.

Marlee Matlin