Marlee Matlin received worldwide critical acclaim for her film debut in Paramount Pictures' “Children of a Lesser God,” for which she received the Academy Award for Best Actress. At 21, she became the youngest recipient of the Best Actress Oscar and one of only four actresses to receive the honor for her film debut.  In addition to the Oscar, Marlee received the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Drama.

While filming her second movie “Walker” in Nicaragua, Marlee took time to visit both hearing, deaf and hard of hearing children, and has continued to do throughout her travels both in the U.S. and abroad. Marlee has starred in numerous features, including, “The Player,” “Hear No Evil,” in the AIDS drama “It's My Party,” and most recently in the independent feature hit, “What the Bleep Do We Know.” On television, Marlee made her debut starring opposite Lee Remick in CBS' “Bridge to Silence,” a film that marked her first speaking role. Marlee starred in her own NBC series “Reasonable Doubts” opposite Mark Harmon and in the Emmy Award winning “Picket Fences” on CBS.

Marlee was twice nominated for a Golden Globe Award as Best Actress, and has been nominated for four Emmy awards for her guest turns on “Seinfeld,” “Picket Fences,” “The Practice” and “Law and Order: SVU.” She was executive producer for “Eddie's Million Dollar Cook Off” for the Disney Channel; she guest starred in ABC's “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” and “Desperate Housewives,” and CBS' “CSI: NY” and NBC's “My Name is Earl.”  In 2007, she joined the cast of the Showtime series, “The L Word.”  In 2008, Marlee made her dancing debut on ABC’s “Dancing With the Stars.”

Marlee currently serves as national spokesperson for The American Red Cross and, in 1992, was instrumental in getting legislation passed in Congress in support of Closed Captioning. She also serves on the boards of a number of charitable organizations, including The Children Affected by AIDS Foundation and Easter Seals, as well as a number of others which primarily benefit children.  Simon and Schuster recently published the sequels to Marlee's novel for children, Deaf Child Crossing, entitled Nobody's Perfect and Leading Ladies, and will publish her autobiography in 2009.

Marlee is married to law enforcement officer Kevin Grandalski and they have four children, Sarah, 12, Brandon, 8, Tyler, 6 and Isabelle, 4.  For her work as mother and actress, AOL recently chose her as “Chief Everything Officer” and was presented the Mother and Shaker Award from Redbook Magazine.