Robert DeMayo is a

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 Audiology, audiological condition. In this context it ...

American actor, educator, and

ASL 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 Canada. ASL is a complete and organized visual language that is express ...

translator. He is one of the subjects of '' See What I'm Saying: The Deaf Entertainers Documentary'' (2009) who the New York Times called "staggeringly talented." He has also acted in the films

Universal Signs ''Universal Signs'' is a modern American Sign Language (ASL) film from 2008. Plot After the death of his fiancée’s daughter while in his care, Andrew (Anthony Natale), a Deaf artist, becomes a prisoner of his own mind. Tormented day and nigh ...

(2008) and No Ordinary Hero: The SuperDeafy Movie (2013). DeMayo met Hilari Scarl when he was working at the

National Theatre of the Deaf The National Theatre of the Deaf (NTD) is a Connecticut-based theatre company founded in 1967, and is the oldest theatre company in the United States with a continuous history of domestic and international touring, as well as producing original wor ...

which led to his being cast in ''See What I'm Saying''. He created a one-man comedy show about his life called ''Me Hear NONE'' which he performed at Philadelphia's ''Independence Starts Here'' festival in 2007 and then toured with. He has worked as an ASL consultant and as a theater interpreter at

Juilliard The Juilliard School ( ) is a private performing arts conservatory in New York City. Established in 1905, the school trains about 850 undergraduate and graduate students in dance, drama, and music. It is widely regarded as one of the most elit ...

. In 2014 he was cast as the lead role in ''

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde ''Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde'' is a 1886 Gothic novella by Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson. It follows Gabriel John Utterson, a London-based legal practitioner who investigates a series of strange occurrences between his old ...

'' at the New York Deaf Theater. DeMayo has created a 30-episode 10-DVD educational series of videos about sign language and deaf culture called ''Sign With Robert'' created for classroom use. In 2017 he worked with

Giphy Giphy ( ), styled as GIPHY, is an American online database and search engine that allows users to search for and share short looping videos with no sound that resemble animated GIF files. History Beginnings and early history Giphy was founded ...

to create a series of 2,000 animated GIFs of him performing ASL words and phrases to help others learn sign language. The GIFs have been viewed 2.4 billion times as of February 2022.

Personal life

DeMayo was born in Connecticut and currently lives in Pennsylvania. He has been deaf since birth and is a graduate of the

American School for the Deaf The American School for the Deaf (ASD), originally ''The American Asylum, At Hartford, For The Education And Instruction Of The Deaf'', is the oldest permanent school for the deaf in the United States, and the first school for children with disa ...

West Hartford West Hartford is a town in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States, west of downtown Hartford. The population was 64,083 at the 2020 census. The town's popular downtown area is colloquially known as "West Hartford Center," or simply "The C ...

References

External links

*
See What I'm Saying official website

Sign with Robert on Giphy
{{DEFAULTSORT:DeMayo, Robert American male deaf actors Living people American male film actors Deaf culture in the United States People involved with sign language Year of birth missing (living people) Deaf educators