Photo: BAFTA/Shutterstock
Meet Lauren Ridloff, a superhero both on and off the screen.
The 43-year-old actress is set to make history as the star of Marvel’s upcoming filmEternals, in which she’s cast as Makkari – the franchise’s first-ever deaf superhero.
Makkari is predominantly known for superhuman strength and super speed, which gives her the ability to create cyclones, defy gravity and run on water. Ridloff’s character in the Marvel Studios adaptation is similar to that of the original comic, but with an added element of uniqueness.
Sophie Mutevelian/Marvel
In the forthcoming film, Makkari will also be deaf, giving her an advantage over her fellow defenders. “Let’s just say Makkari would not be as fast as she is if it wasn’t for her deafness,” Ridloff told theLos Angeles Timesat theEternalsworld premiere.
The film’s cast also includesGemma Chan,Richard Madden,Kumail Nanjiani, Lia McHugh, Brian Tyree Henry,Barry Keoghan, Don Lee, Harish Patel,Kit Harington,Salma HayekandAngelina Jolie. Oscar winnerChloé Zhaois the director.
Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty
“I hope it just starts to normalize what should have been there in the first place,” Jolie recently toldReuters. “I hope people watch these films in years to come and we don’t even think about it as being diverse, it just becomes what’s normal and what’s right, and what’s appropriate representation of the world we live in.”
Keep scrolling for more about Ridloff’s unexpected start to acting, her successful run on Broadway, lessons learned on the set ofEternals, and more.
Lauren was raised in a supportive family.
Growing up in Chicago, Ridloff was born into a hearing family. Her father is of Mexican descent and her mother is Black. Her parents made it a point to instill a strong sense of identity in her at a young age.
Her parents didn’t assume she was deaf when she was first born, thinking she might just have a developmental delay. It wasn’t until she was the only 2-year-old who didn’t turn her head to look at an alarming fire truck that they came to the realization.
Walter McBride/Getty
When doctors said that the deafness would limit Ridloff’s educational and professional goals, her parents thought otherwise – and set her up for success. They sent her to a Catholic school with hearing children, taught her sign language, and later placed her in theModel Secondary School for the Deaf.
“That was an awesome, amazing experience,” Ridloff told theNew York Times. “I was just like everybody else.”
Lauren was a teacher before she became an actress.
After she graduated from Hunter College in New York, Ridloff pursued a teaching career — having always had a passion for English and writing. Prior to her teaching pursuits, the educator’s original dream was to be a children’s book author (a continued aspiration).
“My goal growing up was to write a book,” she toldThe Hollywood Reporter. “That’s why I studied English and creative writing in college, and that is a big reason I started teaching. I wanted to write children’s books.” She continued, “I felt that the best way to understand how a child thinks in their mind is to be with them all day. So I started teaching because of that.”
While in New York, she taught kindergarten and first grade at Public School 347, a Manhattan school for children who are deaf, hard of hearing or born to deaf parents.
Lauren tutored her Broadway director in American Sign Language (ASL).
It wasn’t just the students at Public School 347 who learned from Ridloff. She tutored the director of Broadway’sChildren of a Lesser God(a story about the relationship between a deaf student and her former teacher) in ASL. That job unintentionally led to her being cast as the star of the show.
Only ever having dabbled in community theater and some film work for friends, Ridloff’s stint on Broadway left critics mesmerized. Director Kenny Leon told theNew York Times, “If you didn’t know her résumé, you’d swear she’d been doing this her whole life.” Ridloff was nominated for a Tony Award in 2018.
Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for Tony Awards Productions
The actress' performance left a huge impact on the deaf community as well. Her costar, Joshua Jackson,said"She’s brilliant, and it would be truly stupid of our business not to make a space for a talent like that."
Gene Page/AMC
Her character inEternalswill be presented much differently than Connie inThe Walking Dead, in terms of deafness. The difference? There will be no learning curve for the supporting characters inEternals.
“It’s just presented as who she is. And in talking with her, she didn’t want the movie to have to stop to address it, because [in]The Walking Deadthey had to because for the first time in nine seasons, somebody had this difference,” Marvel Studios producer Nate Moore toldComicBook.com. “These Eternals know Makkari’s deaf.”
Lauren learned to advocate for herself on theEternalsset.
A big reason why Ridloff never had plans to pursue acting growing up was because she never saw people like herself on screen — but theater was different.
She explained how theater was a “much more natural and inviting medium for deaf actors” because the production came equipped with staff and a complete toolbox ready to support its deaf and hearing cast members.
courtesy of Marvel Studios
She developed a close relationship with her castmates and applied the lessons learned to herself. She toldThe Hollywood Reporter: “Theyallhave their own needs, and they have their own specific requests. At the end of the day, it seemed very similar to what I was going through. The common shared goal for all of us is that we want to be able to deliver.”
Lauren is a former Miss Deaf America.
She was the second person from her college to win, but the first person of either African-American or Mexican-American descent to claim the title. “There was no swimsuit competition — it was about ambassadorship, not beauty, and I dida performance of ‘The Giving Tree,‘because I love Shel Silverstein,” Ridloff toldtheNew York Times.
Lauren hopes to inspire the Deaf community to dream big.
The actress shared why her character Makkari is so important for the deaf community, and how they need a superhero who represents them.
“I didn’t dream of becoming an actor because I didn’t see enough of myself on the screen,” Ritloff toldThe Hollywood Reporter. “I didn’t get to dream that big, so now, with Eternals,I’m hoping that more people will be able to dream bigger. If I can do it, they can do it.”
She also hinted that this is just the beginning of deaf representation in the Marvel Universe. “I might be the first but I won’t be the only one for much longer,” Ridloff toldReuters. “There’s another deaf superhero coming into the MCU very soon, so this is definitely a game-changer.”
Marvel
Eternalshits theaters Nov. 5.
source: people.com
