Marlee Matlin Gives Keynote Speech

Gina Wilhelm Actress - Marlee Matlin Gives Keynote Speech

Academy Award winner Marlee Matlin gave the keynote address at the Council for Exceptional Children Convention and Expo in Seattle Wednesday night.

The deaf actress told the audience of educators that she got where she was because "people like you listened to me."

She said that growing up, her parents taught her to do what she loved, and be accepted doing it.

She told about her start in acting, playing Dorothy in a community theater production of "The Wizard of Oz" at age 13.

Henry Winkler, near the height of his popularity, came to see the show. Matlin insisted on meeting him so she could tell him she wanted to act as well.

Her mother took Winkler aside. She wanted him to speak carefully. She didn't want Marlee to go to Hollywood and be disappointed.

Instead, he told her "Marlee, sweetheart, you can be whatever you want to be." Winkler himself had struggled with undiagnosed dyslexia as a child.

Years later, she has found success, appearing on "Dancing with the Stars," "The West Wing," and of course, winning the Oscar for "Children of a Lesser God."

Gina Wilhelm Actress