Troy Kotsur’s Historic Oscar Win for ‘CODA’ Is Only the Beginning: ‘It’s Saved My Life, My Career’

variety.com:

Troy Kotsur is operating on one hour of sleep, but he’s still smiling ear to ear. It’s Monday, the morning after he became the second deaf performer in Academy history to win an acting award at the Oscars (after his “CODA” co-star Marlee Matlin, who took home best actress in 1987 for “Children of a Lesser God”).

His turn as the lusty fisherman Frank Rossi in “CODA” became a favorite of this awards season, and so did appearances from the affable 53-year-old performer, a working Los Angeles stage actor who until recently was not a known entity in Hollywood.As Kotsur thinks about what his Oscar win will mean to him, he starts to cry. “I was so tired of financially struggling for so many years,” he says through an interpreter. “Now, receiving these awards — it’s saved my life, my career, my family.

I’ve taken so many risks, and without these nominations and awards, I don’t know what would have happened.” He ponders a different life, one where he hadn’t been cast in “CODA.” “I’d be working at a fast-food restaurant or as a grocery bagger.” Going into the 94th Academy Awards, the big question of the night was which movie would become the first streaming release to win best picture: “CODA,” from Apple Original Films, or “The Power of the Dog,” from Netflix, which led all movies, with 12 nominations. “It has been so rewarding to share this life-affirming, vibrant story, which reminds us of the power of film to bring the world together,” says Zack Van Amburg, Apple’s head of worldwide video.

Despite the historic win, most of the talk of the Oscars has centered on Will Smith’s slapping presenter Chris Rock in the middle of the ceremony following a joke about his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith.