and welcome back friends between Bells and baker machado in new york.
Our next guest has sagged for a model to author
in his new memoir called Death Utopia?
The book takes readers on a journey of what it's
like living as a death man in a hearing world.
So joining us to discuss is deaf advocate and producer
Nyle DiMarco and of course his interpreter, Gray van Pelt, also joining us as well.
Gentlemen, I'm so excited to have both of you here, Niles,
so happy to have you here as well.
So,
let's talk about your journey for you in particular from writing this book and
reflecting on a lot of really big parts of your life as well.
Absolutely,
it's been incredible. This is a really intimate look in my life,
you know, coming into the entertainment industry about 78 years ago,
I've always felt like audiences think that they know me well,
but there are so many other stories that really make
me who I am and I'm excited to share those
def Utopia is really a love letter
to sign language and to a culture
and you go through so much detail of your family,
which is also incredibly interesting for a lot of our viewers
who don't know you are the fourth generation of your family,
who is deaf.
You talked about the struggles that your family went through,
like your mom giving birth to you and your brother Nico,
um to the doctor who wasn't,
who didn't understand sign language and how she was starting to trying to
communicate with him about what was happening with the pregnancy at the time.
Was there any challenges that you went through bringing awareness
about the deaf community that you faced in this book here
definitely.
I mean it's always a challenge explaining that we do in
fact have a community but also that our culture exists.
You know, the struggles today aren't new by any means,
these are things that have been going on for
generations and generations making up centuries of oppression,
so to be able to put all of that in one book, to be honest with you is a really tall task,
but I'm hoping that I've done that the death and
hearing impaired community is having an incredible moment right now,
your short docuseries audible nominated for an Oscar,
which congratulations on that, which is amazing.
We saw coda which I still have tears you know after watching that movie as well,
you have Troy Kasser winning the Oscar as well.
What does it mean for the deaf and hearing impaired community right
now to get so much recognition in Hollywood in this moment.
I think truly this is a watershed moment for us
and people are showing their interest in our stories in
our culture and our language and they're thirsty for more.
You can see that we are definitely here and we're gonna deafen
up what was your reaction when you saw a film like coda?
Well
the first time I, I had a chance to watch and I realized it was the first deaf ensemble,
an entirely deaf family that really represents my culture.
I mean of course they had a coda in the family, which I don't, but
to really be able to see that sort of representation from my own experience, right,
authentically portrayed in sign language on the screen
was the first time I've ever seen one.
I mean unfortunately so many hearing actors have taken roles that I've seen
over the years and the sign language sucks and I couldn't really relate,
but Cody was completely different.
Um, we know Hollywood is really bad when it comes to hiring
uh communities of color, other other groups, disproportionate groups as well,
especially when it comes to the deaf community,
you hire a lot of people who are deaf on your team and a lot of your projects as well.
Do you think that this is a moment that Hollywood starts to hire more deaf writers,
more deaf producers, more deaf producer group crew people,
all of that stuff at this moment.
Absolutely, absolutely.
My challenge to Hollywood has always been to provide representation, right?
We're not seeing enough of it on screen, but even more importantly,
we need it behind the camera.
Right.
When Hollywood writes a script and says it's good to go,
it's important that they have defies looking at it.
And deaf producers behind the screen. And deaf directors
personally, in my own experience as an actor,
I've had to play a lot of different hats where
I find myself not only working to hone my craft,
but teaching another actor sign language running
through the translations on my own.
Oftentimes working with writers to make edits so that it
is more authentic and really that's not my job,
right, I should be there to hold my craft and provide a performance, but
I definitely realize now it takes a village to make incredible content.
That's what we're doing.
I'm glad and I'm glad you mentioned that
because that segues perfectly into my next question,
which is
deaf you, which is available for everybody to watch audible,
which is available for everyone to watch.
You're sort of on this hit streak when it comes to producing content,
is this something you want to do more of?
Absolutely, absolutely,
I'm thrilled to be able to produce more and
I'm so looking forward to reframing how the deaf
community has been seen because like I said for
so many years it's been done really incorrectly,
but
we have other upcoming projects that I'm thrilled about,
like a film that we're working on about deaf president now,
which was an incredible protest at
the world's only deaf university in Washington Dc,
which happened after 124 years of hearing paternalism at an all deaf university
of course and I feel like there's so many stories
that none of us have ever heard of before,
that I feel like you're uncovering and allowing
to sort of explain these stories to people.
Absolutely.
You don't
so many of the stories from the deaf community
help shift the narrative and help change the world,
you know, not just in storytelling but also to make us a better place.
And that's what I'm trying to do here.
I'm very blessed to have this platform and I want
to take as much advantage of it as I can.
I'm gonna spend my time in Hollywood wisely pulling
people in from my own community has been great.
I after Cota I was so touched and moved by koda.
I've been trying to learn a sl ever since I watched that.
So thank you um for for continuing to spread the word on all of this interpreter.
Gray Van Pelt of course you as well.
We love you Gray and deaf advocate and producer Nyle DiMarco, his new memoir,
deaf Utopia, available now anywhere you're buying your books