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Top 10 Famous Deaf People
A list of famous deaf people, as well as notable people with some level of deafness. The top ten list includes deaf individuals from without history, some of whom are famous because of moving forward the cause of those with hearing loss, and others who became notable for their advocacy for people with hearing impairment. The list includes a number of significant historical figures, as well as important cultural figures and inventors.
10. Halle Berry:
Halle Berry is an academy award winning actress and fashion model, best known for her performance in Monster’s Ball. But you might not know that she is partially deaf. Halle has revealed that she was once in an abusive relationship in which her boyfriend hit her — and she lost 80% of her hearing in one of her ears. Halle admits she made some bad choices of partners in the past. She says, “I want women to stand up and break the silence and get rid of the shame and the fear and find a way to stand up for themselves.” Divorced from baseball player David Justice and musician Eric Benét, Berry has a daughter by model Gabriel Aubry, and a son with her current husband, actor Olivier Martinez.
9. Pete Townshend:
The Who guitarist made it know to the public that he lost all the hearing in one ear when Keith Moon blew up his drum set during a concert in the 1960s and damaged the other ear blasting playbacks in the studio. If, as one study reported, 72% of teens reported temporary hearing loss after just one three-hour concert, you can imagine the havoc nearly 50 years of music has had on Townshend’s hearing. Townshend is also a contributor and author of newspaper and magazine articles, book reviews, essays, books, and scripts, as well as collaborating as a lyricist (and composer) for many other musical acts. Townshend was ranked No. 3 in Dave Marsh’s list of Best Guitarists in The New Book of Rock Lists, No. 10 in Gibson.com’s list of the top 50 guitarist.
8. Christy Smith:
Christy Smith was the first deaf contestant on the CBS reality television series Survivor: The Amazon and co-founder of Discovering Deaf Worlds. Christy Smith was born premature, weighing less than 2 pounds (0.91 kg). As a baby, she pulled out her air tube and ended up losing 90 percent of her hearing. She came in 6th on the Survivor series and was part of the jury who voted for the winner: Jenna Morasca. What an inspiration!
7. Betty Miller:
Betty G. Miller is both a professional visual artist, and a professional counselor working in the field of alcohol and drug abuse with deaf and hard of hearing people. She holds an Ed.D. in art education from Penn State University; and is a certified alcohol and drug counselor (C.A.D.C., a certification formerly known as C.A.C., clinical alcohol counselor).
6. Michelle Banks:
Michelle Banks is an African American black actress who lost her hearing at age one from spinal meningitis. She is the founder of Onyx Theatre Company, which was the first deaf theatre company for African Americans. She is a volunteer with National Black Deaf Advocates (NBDA), and she has served as a Board member in New York City for several years. In 2002 she appeared in her first television role, a character she suggested, on Soul Food. She has since appeared on other television shows including Girlfriends andStrong Medicine. Banks toured the U.S. in a one-woman show titled “Reflections of a Black Deaf Woman” as well as appearing in the film Malcolm X.
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