Alaqua Cox (born February 13, 1997) is a deaf Native American actress. She landed her breakthrough role as Maya Lopez / Echo within the

Marvel Cinematic Universe The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is an American media franchise and shared universe centered on a series of superhero films produced by Marvel Studios. The films are based on characters that appear in American comic books published by ...

in the

Disney+ Disney+ is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned and operated by the Media and Entertainment Distribution division of The Walt Disney Company. The service primarily distributes films and television se ...

series '' Hawkeye'' (2021) and as the titular main protagonist in the upcoming spin-off series ''

Echo In audio signal processing and acoustics, an echo is a reflection of sound that arrives at the listener with a delay after the direct sound. The delay is directly proportional to the distance of the reflecting surface from the source and the lis ...

'' (2023).

Early life

Cox was born

Deaf Deafness has varying definitions in cultural and medical contexts. In medical contexts, the meaning of deafness is hearing loss that precludes a person from understanding spoken language, an audiological condition. In this context it is written ...

to Elena and Bill Cox. She was born and raised in the

Menominee Indian Reservation The Menominee Indian Reservation is an Indian reservation located in northeastern Wisconsin held in trust by the United States for the Menominee Tribe of Wisconsin. It is the largest Indian reservation east of the Mississippi River. In the Menomin ...

Keshena, Wisconsin Keshena ( mez, Kesīqnæh) is a census-designated place (CDP) in and the county seat of Menominee County, Wisconsin, United States. Located on the Menominee Indian Reservation, it had a population of 1,257 at the 2020 census. Keshena was named ...

, and is of the

Menominee The Menominee (; mez, omǣqnomenēwak meaning ''"Menominee People"'', also spelled Menomini, derived from the Ojibwe language word for "Wild Rice People"; known as ''Mamaceqtaw'', "the people", in the Menominee language) are a federally recog ...

and

Mohican The Mohican ( or , alternate spelling: Mahican) are an Eastern Algonquian Native American tribe that historically spoke an Algonquian language. As part of the Eastern Algonquian family of tribes, they are related to the neighboring Lenape, who ...

nation. She has three siblings: Will, Jordan, and Katie. She attended the Wisconsin School for the Deaf, where she played on the girls' basketball team from 2014 to 2015 and on the volleyball team. Cox is an

amputee Amputation is the removal of a limb by trauma, medical illness, or surgery. As a surgical measure, it is used to control pain or a disease process in the affected limb, such as malignancy or gangrene. In some cases, it is carried out on indiv ...

with a

prosthetic leg In medicine, a prosthesis (plural: prostheses; from grc, πρόσθεσις, prósthesis, addition, application, attachment), or a prosthetic implant, is an artificial device that replaces a missing body part, which may be lost through trau ...

. She has not publicly revealed how she was injured.

Career

She was cast in ''Hawkeye'' as

, her debut acting role, on December 3, 2020. Deaf activist

Nyle DiMarco Nyle DiMarco (born May 8, 1989) is an American model, actor, and deaf activist. In 2015, DiMarco was the winner of The CW's reality television series ''America's Next Top Model'' in season 22, becoming the second male winner and the first deaf w ...

and many others applauded the casting. In June 2021, Echo co-creator David W. Mack reacted to the news of the ''Echo'' television series by expressing gratitude to Cox for being a representative for deaf and indigenous youth: "I taught at the

School for the Deaf The first school for the deaf was established in France during the 18th century, in 1771 by Charles-Michel de l'Épée. L'Épée was the leader in establishing sign language for the deaf and is notable as the "father" of deaf education. He founded ...

in Africa, Asia, ndEurope, in my work for the U.S. State Department, ndthe students love Echo ndwill be happy about this." Cox was on the red carpet for Marvel's ''Hawkeye'' premiere. "It's just so crazy that I'm getting my own show after ''Hawkeye''. That was like my first acting role, ever," Cox told a reporter from ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

''. "I don't know why they're giving me this opportunity, but I'm just grateful. I'm excited for the support and being able to advocate for the Deaf community. We want to have that equality and get more people involved. I'm just so grateful for all of the opportunities I've been given." Cox told Disney's '' D23'' magazine that Jeremy Renner and Hailee Steinfeld both worked to learn some American Sign Language so that they could communicate more easily with her. "I thought it was sweet of them putting in efforts to learn basic ASL to communicate with me. It means a lot to me as a Deaf person."

Filmography

Television

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cox, Alaqua 1997 births 21st-century American actresses 21st-century Native American women 21st-century Native Americans American amputees American deaf actresses Amputee actors Living people Native American actresses Native American people from Wisconsin People from Menominee, Wisconsin Menominee people