L Word Guide

Jodi Lerner is a fictional character on the Showtime television network series The L Word. She is played by the American actress Marlee Matlin. Jodi is a deaf sculptor who worked in the art department and who has a relationship with the Dean of the Arts School, Bette Porter.

Jodi’s easygoing manner and independence conflicts with Bette’s driven, controlling tendencies and her need to protect people.

Marlee Matlin

Marlee Beth Matlin (born August 24, 1965) is an Academy Award-winning American actress who is profoundly deaf.

Biography

Early life

Matlin was born on 24 August 1965 in Morton Grove, Illinois, to Libby and Donald Matlin, an automobile dealer. She was raised in a Jewish familyin Morton Grove, Illinois. Matlin graduated from John Hersey High School in nearby Arlington Heights and attended Harper College.She lost all hearing in her right ear, aand 80% of hearing in her left ear at the age of eighteen months.

Career

Matlin made her stage debut at the age of seven, as Dorothy in a children’s theatre version of The Wizard of Oz, and continued to appear with the same children’s theatre group throughout her childhood.

Her film debut, 1986’s Children of a Lesser God, brought her a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Drama and an Academy Award for Best Actress (at age 21) thus making her the first and only person in acting history, man or woman, to accomplish this feat. Matlin was nominated for a Golden Globe award for her work as the lead female role in the television series Reasonable Doubts (1991–1993) and was nominated for an Emmy Award for a guest appearance in Picket Fences. She became a regular on the series during its final season.

Matlin later had recurring roles in The West Wing, and Blue’s Clues. Other television appearances include Seinfeld (”The Lip Reader”), The Outer Limits (”The Message”), ER, Desperate Housewives, CSI: NY and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. She was nominated for Primetime Emmy Awards for her guest appearances in Seinfield, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and The Practice.

In 2002, Matlin published her first novel, Deaf Child Crossing, which was loosely based on her own childhood.

In 2004, she starred in the movie What the Bleep Do We Know? as Amanda. Matlin joined the cast of The L Word for the Showtime series’ fourth and fifth seasons, playing the liberal artist Jodi Lerner, the new love interest of Jennifer Beals’s character, Bette.

In 2006, Matlin was honored at AOL’s Second Annual Chief Everything Officer Awards. She joined the cast of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition on Sunday, September 17, 2006. In the episode featuring a blind autistic boy with deaf parents, she was the guest host. She wrote and published a sequel to Deaf Child Crossing, titled Nobody’s Perfect, which was produced on stage at the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts in partnership with VSA arts in October 2007.

Also in 2006, she played a deaf parent in Desperate Housewives. She also had a recurring role as Joy Turner’s (Who made many jokes of Marlee’s deafness at her expense) public defender in My Name Is Earl and played the mother of one of the victims in an episode of CSI: NY. She starred in the Baby Einstein videos Baby’s Favorite Places: First Words-Around Town and Baby Wordsworth: First Words Around the House, both of which were designed to introduce sign language as a form of non-verbal communication.

On February 4, 2007, Matlin performed the Star Spangled Banner in American Sign Language at Super Bowl XLI in Miami, Florida. She again starred in Baby Einstein in March 2007 with My First Signs, which introduced sign language using common words such as “mommy” and “milk.” She also appeared on Hollywood Squares with Tom Bergeron as emcee. Though she could not hear and was not encouraged to use her own voice to speak, her personal interpreter Jack Jason (who also appeared with her during talk show and publicity appearances) accompanied her on the panel and she handled questions with his assistance - including offering some humorous quips (in ASL) in her own right.

In January 2008, she appeared on Nip/Tuck as a television executive.

On February 18, 2008, it was announced that Matlin would participate as a competitor in the sixth season of ABC’s Dancing with the Stars. Her dance partner is newcomer Fabian Sanchez.

Personal life

Matlin is actively involved with a number of charitable organizations, including the Children Affected by AIDS Foundation, Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, VSA arts, and the Red Cross Celebrity Cabinet.She was appointed by President Clinton in 1994 to the Corporation for National Service and served as chair of National Volunteer Week.

Matlin received an honorary doctorate of humane letters degree from Gallaudet University in 1987.In October 2007, she was appointed to the Gallaudet University Board of Trustees.

Matlin has been close friends with actress Jennifer Beals since they met in an airport in the 1980s.

Matlin married law enforcement officer Kevin Grandalski on August 29, 1993 (in Henry Winkler’s back yard). They have four children: Sara Rose, born January 19, 1996; Brandon Joseph, born September 12, 2000; Tyler Daniel, born July 18, 2002; and Isabelle Jane, born December 26, 2003.