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 audiological condition. In this context it is written ...

American actor, educator, and ASL 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 (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 an American theatre company founded in 1967, based in Connecticut. It is the oldest theatre company in the United States that has maintained a continuous history of domestic and international touring, as ...

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. Founded by Frank Damrosch as the Institute of Musical Art in 1905, the school later added dance and drama programs and became the Juilliard School, named aft ...

. 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 an 1886 Gothic horror 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 ...

'' 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 animated GIF files. History Beginnings and early history Giphy was founded by Alex Chung and Jace Cooke in February 2013.Al ...

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 American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, ...

West Hartford West Hartford is a town in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States, west of downtown Hartford. The town is part of the Capitol Planning Region. The population was 64,083 at the 2020 census. The town's popular downtown area is colloquiall ...

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