Lauren Ridloff

Lauren Ridloff (; born April 6, 1978) is a deaf American actress known for her roles in the TV series The Walking Dead and the film Eternals. She gained prominence in 2018 with a lead role in the Broadway revival of Children of a Lesser God, earning a Tony Award nomination for Best Actress in a Play. Ridloff was born in Chicago, Illinois. She attended California State University, Northridge and later earned a master's degree in education from Hunter College. She initially worked as a teacher before pursuing acting, and she was also crowned Miss Deaf America. Ridloff's acting career gained momentum when she was hired as an American Sign Language tutor for Kenny Leon, the director of Children of a Lesser God, and subsequently cast in the lead role. She then joined the ninth season of The Walking Dead and was cast as the first deaf superhero in the Marvel Cinematic Universe in the film Eternals. In addition to acting, Ridloff has received various accolades and is actively involved in projects that expand representation in the entertainment industry, such as a forthcoming romantic drama TV series produced by Ava DuVernay. Early life and education Lauren Teruel was born on April 6, 1978, in Chicago, Illinois, in the United States. She was born deaf to hearing parents, a Mexican-American father and an African-American mother. Her father Hugo was a counselor at University of Illinois at Chicago. He was also a musician, and Ridloff's mother was an artist. Ridloff grew up in the Chicago neighborhood of Hyde Park. Her parents thought their infant had a developmental delay, but by the time she was two years old, they learned that she was deaf. They learned sign language with her and enrolled her in Catholic school with hearing children. She performed well in school. When she was 13 years old, she stopped using her voice so people would stop judging her intelligence based on her vocal intelligibility. Following Catholic school, she attended the Model Secondary School for the Deaf in Washington, D.C., where she was among deaf and hard-of-hearing peers. She began exploring the arts, starting with ceramics and becoming involved with drama. In a school production of The Wiz, she played Dorothy. She was also on the cheerleading team and became one of the first deaf American cheerleaders to compete internationally.