‘Feel My Voice’ Deaf Actor Emilio Insolera Interview: Italian ‘CODA’
Global audiences have already had a chance to see Emilio Insolera in the Netflix drama Feel My Voice, about a shy teenager with a gift for singing, since it bowed on April 3. But they won’t have heard the Italian actor and film producer’s actual voice — except for two scenes where he yells — as Insolera is deaf. Relying on sign language, in Feel My Voice he plays the deaf father of a hearing daughter with a passion for singing in the Italian-language remake of La Famille Bélier, which was later adapted into CODA, the Academy Award–winning film. Being seen and heard is important for Insolera, as he can both speak and sign in four languages: Spanish, Italian, English and Japanese. So he sees great creative opportunity for film and TV directors that allow him to be heard on camera. “Imagine a film character who speaks four signed languages and four spoken languages. It would break the deaf stereotype. What stories we have to share, and what effect would such a character have on the people …
