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Name: Deanne Bray
Hometown: Bray was born in Canoga Park, Calif. She lived in Seattle, Wash., for a few years with her mom, but most of her life Bray spent in southern California with dad.
Family: Bray is married to Troy Kotsur who is also deaf. He is also an actor and a great one in a lot of people's opinion! Deanne and Troy have worked in several productions for the last 12 years (starting in 1995). The couple has been married since 2001. Bray said, "My husband has been supportive with anything I do with my teaching and acting career." Bray continued by describing how other people were instrumental in her life. Her mother was her teacher and helped her develop academic skills. Her father showed her the world and taught her different cultures and how to reach out to all kinds of people. According to Bray, "Most of my friends from the Deaf community, along with my hearing family, shaped me into who I am today."
How Deaf is She?: Culturally, she is a fluent signer. She was born deaf and has been exposed to ASL since the age of 2.5 with Lil Skinner as her first Deaf teacher. Deanne has been exposed to the world of sound at age 2 with a hearing aid. Deanne calls herself bilingual: ASL and Spoken/written English. She also mentioned how she always have been a proud member of the Deaf community. Thanks to her neighbor, a Deaf family, who lived 2 blocks down the street, for being role models. They subtly led her to find her identity as a Deaf individual. She often hung out with them and naturally developed American Sign Language while growing up from age 4 to 12.
Scientific Point of View: she has a 86 dB hearing loss in her left ear and is profoundly deaf in her right ear. She wears one hearing aid in her left ear. Without her hearing aid, she cannot hear people's voices and prefers not to even try reading lips. With her hearing aid on, she can hear many sounds which helps her read lips quite well. She was was trained to hear with her left ear and to read lips (trained to be hard of hearing). At age 6 to 9, Deanne also read a book aloud everyday after school for 20-30 minutes with her step mother listening while preparing dinner to make sure her pronunciation is correct.
Employment: Bray first became involved with acting as a young adult when she was discovered performing with a dance group, called, "Prism West." Among her acting credits are guest appearances on "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," "Ellen" and "Diagnosis Murder," and more.
She starred in a PAX series "Sue Thomas: F.B.Eye" for 3 seasons. Before Sue Thomas: FBeye, Bray taught deaf and hard of hearing high school students during the school year and taught dhh in elementary in the summer for 4 years. She is pursuing for her masters in education.
Deanne co-produced an educational/documentary dvd, "You're Pregnant: What to Expect," that is all in American Sign Language and Voiceover for almost 3 years and got the dvds released on December 1, 2007.
At last, when her daughter, Kyra, was born, she decided to be a full time mom. She did some odd jobs but for short periods at a time. Kyra had traveled everywhere with her.
Hobbies: Bray enjoys reading, reading with deaf children, as well as going to Deaf community functions, like interacting with deaf senior citizens and listening to their stories.
Favorite Quotes: "It takes a village to raise a child." An African preverb
"If you judge people, you have no time to love them." Mother Theresa
My bestfriend brings out the best in me." Henry Ford
"What is a friend? A single soul in two bodies" Aristotle
"Every wish is like a prayer with God..." Elizabeth Barrett Browning 1806-1861
Greatest Accomplishment In Life: As a teacher, Bray said, it has always been rewarding to guide students to become independent learners. She explained that she also considered that the Sue Thomas series to be a teaching assignment for the hearing/Deaf community in a lot of ways. It was her biggest classroom. Her work with veteran deaf actresses at Deaf West Theatre in California and National Theatre of the Deaf (NTD) in Connecticut has been a rich experience which she believed that helped her grow into the kind of actress she became today.
Role models: Phyllis Frelich, Linda Bove and Freda Norman are the veteran deaf actresses Bray said she respects. Her family members are people she considers role models. Sue Thomas, the FBI agent who inspired the PAX series, is someone she described as a "spiritual mentor who has a bold relationship with God."
Finding her identity
Deanne Bray said she has never in her life been sad or embarrassed that she has hearing loss. Still, dealing with people who feel sorry for her because she is deaf has been a challenge. Bray credited her parents for being open to the idea of taking her to deaf events and exposing her to Deaf culture as a child, so she was able to find her identity at a young age.
Some members of the Deaf community (not knowing her background, seeing her speak and wearing a hearing aid) question whether she embraces Deaf culture, and people with hearing question why others who are deaf do not speak as fluent as Bray. She resolves the conflict for herself by recognizing, "I have the worst in both worlds, and I have the best in both worlds."
Growing as an actress
Most of Bray's growth in acting with Deaf West Theatre has been through American Sign Language since 1991. In year 2000, the artistic director, Ed Waterstreet, encouraged her to audition for a role where she could use spoken English. Bray hired a voice coach to help her say her lines fluently. She learned to find areas in the script of where to naturally breathe and how to deliver her lines emotionally through her voice. "I gained confidence after doing the role, Gerri, with Phyllis Frelich as my mother in 'Road to Revolution,'" Bray said. "Doing this broadened my abilities in what I can do in my acting career." She emphasized that "speaking do not lead to success" since there are many actresses who are Deaf and choose not to speak and yet are successful. It's a positive discovery for Deanne to be focusing on her skills and not being afraid or ashamed to use it.
In the new PAX series, "Sue Thomas: F.B.Eye," Bray appreciates that her character, the FBI's first female special investigative assistant who was deaf, Sue Thomas, embraces both hearing and Deaf cultures. She explained, "Sue Thomas is a deaf individual who is a good advocate for herself and knows her needs and yet can work in a hearing environment." Bray continued: "She is a person who lives her life to the fullest. I find her a phenomenal human being."
Appreciating people's differences
Bray tries to constantly remind and teach the writers, crew and cast what it is like to work with someone who is deaf. "I am hoping and encouraging that other deaf and hard of hearing characters will be in the show every now and then, so the hearing viewers will understand that there are different kinds of deaf individuals," she said. Some read lips, some choose to speak verbally and some do neither and prefer to sign ASL, but Bray pointed out that people who are deaf and hard of hearing have different backgrounds.
She may be acting in Sue Thomas's story, but according to Bray, the dramatic show depicts many areas where she feels she can relate to Sue. "This series focuses more on what the deaf individual CAN do, rather than cannot do," she said. "I am a proud member of the Deaf community. I am learning every day from the character and the real Sue Thomas how to reach out and open my heart more to the hearing community."
By Bethany Broadwell
iCan News Service, staff writer
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