If you’re disabled or different from what general society deems normal, it’s fine. There will always be people who won’t accept you, but there are others you can find who will. You’re never alone.
The teenage deaf girl Millicent Simmonds again took the spotlight and caught people’s attention as she played the deaf role of Regan Abott in the box office hit movie A Quiet Place.
Recently, a lot of people has been talking about this teenage child star named Millicent Simmonds as she played the role of Regan Abott in the movie A Quiet Place. Millicent Simmonds’ name has been all over the internet! A lot of people praised on how good she act despite her hearing impairment. Even the Hollywood actors praise her.
So who really is this Millicent Simmonds?
Millie, as what her friends and family call her, is the third of the youngest child of the couple Emily and Dustin Simmonds who lives in Bountiful, Utah. The Utah native lost her hearing accidentally when she was still a 12 months old baby that was caused by a medication overdose. Since the incident happened, a deaf mentor was brought into their house. Her mother, Emily Simmonds has to learn American Sign Language for the reason that she would also be able to teach Millie’s other siblings and it would not be hard for them to communicate with Millie as of her disability. Millicent Simmonds converses to other people with the help of her interpreter, Lynette Taylor. Millie’s family also tried implanting her a Cochlear but unfortunately, the procedure didn’t really make any major effect on her hearing problem.
We don’t want to be left out. We want to laugh when everyone else is laughing. We want to be included.
Millicent Simmonds says during in one of her interviews
When she turned 3 years old, she started on going to Jean Massieu School of the Deaf up until now. It was in this school where she first performed as Puck in A Midsummer Night’s together with the other kids, which are older than her, in their school’s drama club. It was also her drama teacher who first discovered her talent in acting. In fact, her school drama teacher was the one who asked permission from her mother and have Millicent Simmonds join the drama club. She had gone to other schools to perform mainly Shakespeare and other comedic roles. She was also able to perform during the Utah Shakespeare Festival in Cedar City. It was last 2015 when she also went to Mueller Park Junior High School and performed. Although she loves to act, Millie didn’t really picture herself as a professional actress and thought of becoming a cop or a fireman instead.
I loved to perform.
Millicent Simmonds says during in one of her interviews
Her career in Hollywood started when she auditioned for the film Wonderstruck. When her drama teacher heard that director Todd Haynes from the film Wonderstruck announces that they were looking for a teenage deaf girl as one of their cast, her drama teacher then immediately told Millie’s mother and let Millie auditioned for the role. She got the spot and beat a hundred other kids.
I love to act and would love to keep doing it for as long as I can. I still love entertaining people with stories.
Millicent Simmonds says during in one of her interviews
She felt scared at first that the people she would work with in the movie Wonderstruck might feel sorry for her or judge her because of her disability. However, it was the total opposite. People on set loved her, especially with her acting skills. On how she projected to the camera and made her character in the movie more realistic. She even taught the people on set she worked on with signs. One of them was Julianne Moore who she said was very good at it.
I never felt offended as a deaf person.
Millicent Simmonds says during in one of her interviews
After her breakthrough with the movie Wonderstruck, she was given another project. The movie A Quiet Place was released recently this year on April 6. People even loved Millie more after they have watched the movie.
She played as Regan in the movie A Quiet Place. The story revolves of the family who struggles to survive from an invasion of aliens. She wanted to let people see her character’s disability as an advantage to the family. She was untouchable with the aliens in the movie because of the hearing aid device designed and created by her father. Her costars in this movie were Noah Jupe as Marcus Abott and the real life couple; John Krasinski and Emily Blunt who played the role as Lee and Evelyn Abott.
I love my character, Regan. She is very complex, and has so many emotions. I didn’t know if anyone would be able to relate to my character because I felt like a lot of people don’t really understand what it’s like to be deaf.
Millicent Simmonds says during in one of her interviews
She also wanted to let people know that it is okay to study ASL because it is one way of helping one another. She has known a lot of parents of deaf kids that do not learn ASL which makes the deaf kid frustrated because they cannot communicate well. The tendency of this makes the kid to force lip read instead. She encourages everyone specially parents since it is very easy and fun to learn.
I think it was important to show a hearing family that all signed with their deaf family member because many families that have deaf kids never learn the language.
Millicent Simmonds says during in one of her interviews
She was nominated several times to several ceremonies like Critics’ Choice Movie Award for Best Young Performer, Florida Film Circle’s Pauline Kael Breakout Award, Seattle Film Critics Society Award for Best Youth Performance, Washington D.C Area Film Critics Association Award for Best Youth Performance, and Women Film Critics Circle Award for Best Young Actress.
If it weren’t for her disability, she would not be where she is today. The good thing about that is, she didn’t look at her disability as a hindrance but an opportunity. She became one of the advocate for the deaf community and inspired a lot of people with her story.
Other fun facts about Millicent Simmonds:
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Her favorite food is Chinese food.
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She loves kickboxing.
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She loves to read.
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Her favorite movie is Paper Moon.
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She got a motorcycle in one of her birthdays.
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She wants to study philosophy. It fascinates her.
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New York is her favorite city.
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Her scariest film aside from the movie A Quiet Place is Get Out.
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She plays Call of Duty.
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She prefers Xbox.
There’s a lot more to me than just being deaf.