Dawn Jani Birley (born 30 November 1977) is a Canadian deaf actress, television anchor, educator and a popular taekwondo practitioner. She was engaged with her sport, taekwondo in her early parts of the life before becoming a professional actor in the mid-2000s. She graduated at the

Gallaudet University Gallaudet University ( ) is a private federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C. for the education of the deaf and hard of hearing. It was founded in 1864 as a grammar school for both deaf and blind children. It was the first sc ...

. Birley is a host and anchor for the H3 Network Media Alliance, a Canadian medium which broadcasts in International Sign across all parts of the world. She is best known for her efforts in revealing the Deaflympic scandal about the cancellation of the

2011 Winter Deaflympics The 2011 Winter Deaflympics ( sk, Zimné Deaflympijské hry 2011) officially known as the 17th Winter Deaflympics ( sk, 17. Zimná Deaflympiáda) was originally scheduled to be held from 18 February 2011 to 26 February 2011 in Vysoké Tatry, Slo ...

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...

. She is a fluent speaker of nine languages including five sign languages:

American Sign Language American Sign Language (ASL) is a natural language that serves as the predominant sign language of Deaf communities in the United States of America and most of Anglophone Canadians, Anglophone Canada. ASL is a complete and organized visual lang ...

, Finnish Sign Language,

Swedish Sign Language Swedish Sign Language (SSL; ) is the sign language used in Sweden. It is recognized by the Swedish government as the country's official sign language, and hearing parents of deaf individuals are entitled to access state-sponsored classes that f ...

, Norwegian Sign Language and International Sign.

Biography

Birley was born on 30 November 1977 to deaf parents in an all-deaf family in

Regina, Saskatchewan Regina () is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Saskatchewan. The city is the second-largest in the province, after Saskatoon, and is a commercial centre for southern Saskatchewan. As of the 2021 C ...

. She started to play volleyball, basketball and softball during her childhood before becoming a taekwondo practitioner. Birley has also played

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

and

softball Softball is a game similar to baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Softball is played competitively at club levels, the college level, and the professional level. The game was first created in 1887 in Chicago by George Hanc ...

for the

. She also served as a teacher in countries including

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

and

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

after her college career.

Sports career

Birley practiced the Korean martial art taekwondo at the age of 12. She became the world junior taekwondo champion in 1992, becoming the first Canadian female athlete to achieve the feat. She represented

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

at several international taekwondo competitions including

Pan American Games The Pan American Games (also known colloquially as the Pan Am Games) is a continental multi-sport event in the Americas featuring summer sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The competition is held ...

from 1989 to 1999. Birley was also the part of the Canadian National Taekwondo Olympic team prior to the

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

after earning a spot in the Canadian National Olympic Team for 1996 but she was not able to compete in the event due to the removal of taekwondo from that Olympic Games. In 1996, she was awarded the Deaf Sportswoman of the Year award by the ICSD. She is also working as a coordinator in the development of deaf sports in several countries.

Acting career

Birley currently works as an actor with various theatre companies across the world. She spent 15 years in Finland where she was afforded more acting opportunities including a role in the world's first sign-language opera. She was also honoured as the 2015 Riksteatern's Artist of the Year from Riksteatern, a prestigious acting award in Sweden for her performance in the leading role of ''When Winter Stars Shine Here''. She also became the first deaf person to achieve this honour. She was awarded the Toronto Theatre Critics Award for Best Actress in a Play for her role as

Horatio Horatio is an English male given name, an Italianized form of the ancient Roman Latin '' nomen'' (name) '' Horatius'', from the Roman '' gens'' (clan) '' Horatia''. The modern Italian form is ''Orazio'', the modern Spanish form ''Horacio''. It app ...

in ''Prince Hamlet''.

References

External links

*
Profile at Sportsbiz
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Birley, Dawn 1977 births Living people Actresses from Regina, Saskatchewan Canadian stage actresses Canadian female taekwondo practitioners Deaf actresses Deaf martial artists Deaf activists Educators of the deaf Gallaudet University alumni Sportspeople from Regina, Saskatchewan Canadian expatriates in Finland Canadian deaf people Women educators