Actors With Disabilities Who Played Characters With Disabilities
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Hollywood is moving past its dark past of hiring white actors to play POC characters but it is still commonplace to hire non-disabled actors to play disabled characters. Able-bodied actors feigning disability is distasteful but, unfortunately, the norm. There are hundreds (maybe thousands, maybe even millions) of actors with disabilities but they are often underestimated and overlooked in favor of their able-bodied colleagues. It is not very often when movies or shows have a main character with disabilities but it is even less often that these characters are actually played by actors with disabilities — so, we wanted to highlight movies and TV shows like All the Light We Cannot See, Sex Education, The Peanut Butter Falcon, and Game of Thrones that did cast actors with disabilities in those roles.
Disabled people are deeply underrepresented throughout the entire entertainment industry — in front of and behind the camera. The limited opportunities available for disabled people being taken by able-bodied people cause a lack of visibility. Visibility and representation are key issues for raising awareness about those with disabilities and showing how common disabilities are in our society, and seeing only able-bodied people on-screen actively harms that cause.
Here are some movies and TV shows — new and old — that star disabled actors. The list is not extensive but it reflects an obvious change in the entertainment industry within the past few years as disabled actors are being hired to play big roles — read on to see the disabled actors leading the charge.
A version of this article was originally published on Nov 2021.
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Aria Mia Loberti in ‘All the Light We Cannot See’
Set in multiple periods around World War II, All the Light We Cannot See tells the story of Marie-Laure (Loberti), a blind French girl who flees Paris with her father (Mark Ruffalo). Seeking refuge with her uncle (Hugh Laurie), Marie-Laure participates in his resistance by transmitting forbidden radio broadcasts. In real life, Loberti suffers from a rare genetic eye condition achromatopsia, which makes her eyes color blind and overly sensitive to light.
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Lauren Potter in ‘Glee’
While Lauren Potter’s character Becky isn’t a part of the main cast of Glee, and not part of the New Directions, her character broke so many boundaries. Becky, who was a cheerleader, just happened to be Sue Sylvester’s (Jane Lynch) closest confidante and sidekick. An icon in her own right!
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James Caverly in ‘Only Murders in the Building’
While deaf actor James Caverly’s character Theo in Only Murders in the Building might not be the most loved among fans (he’s got his own actions to blame for that one), viewers have enjoyed getting to know him onscreen (especially with a dad like Nathan Lane).
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Shoshannah Stern & Josh Feldman in ‘This Close’
The touching 2019 series This Close stars deaf actors Shoshannah Stern and Josh Feldman. In the show, best friends Kate and Michael navigate the ups and downs of 20-something deaf life, from their love lives to their careers.
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Main Cast of ‘CODA’
Starring Emilia Jones, Amy Forsyth, Daniel Durant, Marlee Matlin, and Troy Kotsur, the Oscar-winning film CODA is a movie with deaf actors playing a deaf family with a struggling fishing business.
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Sarah Gordy in ‘Call the Midwife’
Sarah Gordy is an actress with Down Syndrome who plays a character named Sally Harper with the same disability in Call the Midwife, which is a show about midwives from the late 1950s to the late 1960s.
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Shaylee Mansfield in ‘Feel the Beat’
Deaf child actor Shaylee Mansfield played the deaf character Zuzu in the Netflix movie Feel the Beat, which was her second film credit after appearing in the movie Noelle. “I’m grateful to have a platform that will give not only Deaf children, but all children a chance to freely speak up, to fight for what they want, and to be fully themselves even if it is not ‘popular,’” Mansfield said to The Mighty.
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Lauren Ridloff in ‘The Walking Dead’
Ridloff is a deaf actress who starred in the Broadway version of Children of a Lesser God. After the success of this play, Ridloff was offered the role of Connie on The Walking Dead. In an interview with Good Morning America, Ridloff said, “I feel that with more representation working behind the camera, the stories that are told in television, film, and stage would become more intriguing, truthful, and thought-provoking.”
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Ridloff also recently made history in Marvel Cinematic Universe movie Eternals, in which she plays a deaf superhero.
Watch on Amazon Prime Video.
Daryl Mitchell in ‘Fear the Walking Dead’
Fear the Walking Dead is a spinoff series to The Walking Dead in which Daryl Mitchell plays Wendel. Mitchell is a wheelchair user as a result of an accident in 2000 — years after he began his acting career. Mitchell spoke to Ability Magazine about advocating for actors with disabilities, and about the lack of African Americans with disabilities present in the entertainment industry.
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George Robinson in ‘Sex Education’
Played by Robinson, the wheelchair-using character Isaac was introduced in the second season of the hit Netflix series Sex Education. Robinson sustained a spinal cord injury when he was a teenager, which resulted in him becoming a tetraplegic. In an interview with the Back Up Trust, Robinson spoke about representation in the acting industry and said, “The best way we’re going to get authentic stories that don’t come across as ingenuine is by having people with the right experiences playing the right roles.”
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RJ Mitte in ‘Breaking Bad’
Although Breaking Bad came to its end almost a decade ago, the show is still hugely popular on streaming services like Netflix. In Breaking Bad, Mitte played Walter White Jr, a young man with cerebral palsy whose chemistry teacher father becomes a drug dealer. In real life and on the show, Mitte has cerebral palsy.
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Marlee Matlin in ‘Children of a Lesser God’
This movie follows the turbulent relationship between a deaf woman and a hearing man as they struggle to communicate. Marlee Matlin is deaf and uses American Sign Language to communicate, as does her character, Sarah. Matlin was recognized for her work in this movie and won Best Actress at the 59th Academy Awards. Matlin is among the few actors with disabilities who have played lead roles, and among even fewer actors with disabilities who have received awards for their work.
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Kiera Allen in ‘Run’
Kiera Allen starred alongside Sarah Paulsen in the 2020 thriller Run. Allen plays Paulson’s daughter, Chloe, who is a victim of her mother’s Munchausen by Proxy disease, which has led to her mother overdosing her on unnecessary medications to make her unwell. Allen is a wheelchair user in real life and also in the movie. Kiera Allen is only the second wheelchair user to lead in a suspense movie after actress Susan Peters did so in 1948 when she starred in The Sign of the Ram.
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Millicent Simmonds in ‘A Quiet Place’
Living in a world where making any noise at all can put you in mortal danger, Millicent Simmonds’ character was able to quickly adapt because of her hearing impairment and sign language usage. Simmonds became deaf when she was a year old and grew up using American Sign Language.
While promoting A Quiet Place Part II, Simmonds did an interview with CBS Mornings and pointed out that, “Never did I think I’d become a professional actor. We don’t see that, you don’t ever see people like me on the screens… I want kids out there to see themselves represented on screen. They can be the ones to save people, they don’t have to be saved.”
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Zach Gottsagen in ‘The Peanut Butter Falcon’
The Peanut Butter Falcon follows Zach Gottsagen’s character, Zak, as he escapes his assisted living facility where he was abandoned by his family because of his Down Syndrome. Zak begins his journey to pursue his dream of becoming a professional wrestler, and, on his journey, Zak meets and befriends a man named Tyler (Shia LaBeouf) who is also on the run. The pair become best friends as Tyler helps Zak achieve his dream.
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Peter Dinklage in ‘Game of Thrones’
American actor Peter Dinklage was born with a type of dwarfism called achondroplasia. Although Peter Dinklage has starred in many different roles, he is best known for his role in HBO’s Game of Thrones series, Dinklage earned praise and four Emmy awards for his portrayal of the beloved Tyrion Lannister throughout the eight seasons of the show.
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Ryan O’Connell in ‘Special’
This Netflix original series is written and directed by Ryan O’Connell, a gay man with cerebral palsy who also stars in the show. Based on O’Connell’s memoir I’m Special: And Other Lies We Tell Ourselves to Get Through Our Twenties, the series tells the story of O’Connell’s life as he seeks more independence. Speaking to Men’s Health about the popularity of the series, he said, “There is room for stories like mine, and people want to see them. So the success really was meaningful for so many reasons, but I think it’s been really healing for me.”
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Madison Ferras in ‘Panic’
Maddison Ferris began her acting career on the stage as she portrayed Laura Wingfield in The Glass Menagerie (pictured here). With this role, Ferris made history as Broadway’s first lead character in a wheelchair. Making the transition to the television screen, Madison starred in the Amazon original series Panic.
