14 Times Movies & TV Shows Cast Actors With Disabilities to Play Disabled Roles (2024)

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November 1, 2022 at 5:43pm EDT

Plus IconMillicent Simmonds in 'A Quiet Place'Jonny Cournoyer / © Paramount Pictures / courtesy Everett Collection.

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Hollywood is moving past its dark past of hiring white actors to play POC characters but it is still commonplace to hire non-disabled actors to play disabled characters. Able-bodied actors feigning disability is distasteful but, unfortunately, the norm. There are hundreds (maybe thousands, maybe even millions) of actors with disabilities but they are often underestimated and overlooked in favor of their able-bodied colleagues. It is not very often when movies or shows have a main character with disabilities but it is even less often that these characters are actually played by actors with disabilities — so, we wanted to highlight movies and TV shows like Sex Education, The Peanut Butter Falcon,andGame of Thronesthat did cast actors with disabilities in those roles.

Disabled people are deeply underrepresented throughout the entire entertainment industry — in front of and behind the camera. The limited opportunities available for disabled people being taken by able-bodied people causes a lack of visibility. Visibility and representation are key issues for raising awareness about those with disabilities and showing how common disabilities are in our society, and seeing only able-bodied people on-screen actively harms that cause.

Here are some movies and TV shows — new and old — that star disabled actors. The list is not extensive but it reflects an obvious change in the entertainment industry within the past few years as disabled actors are being hired to play big roles — read on to see the disabled actors leading the charge.

A version of this article was originally published on Nov 2021.

Main Cast of ‘CODA’
Starring Emilia Jones, Amy Forsyth, Daniel Durant, Marlee Matlin, and Troy Kotsur, the Oscar-winning film CODA is a movie with deaf actors playing the powerful deaf characters of a family with a struggling fishing business.
Watch it on Apple TV.
Sarah Gordy in ‘Call the Midwife’
Sarah Gordy is an actress with Down Syndrome who plays a character named Sally Harper with the same disability in Call the Midwife, which is a show about midwives from the late 1950s to the late 1960s.
See Also
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Shaylee Mansfield in ‘Feel the Beat’
Deaf child actor Shaylee Mansfield played the deaf character Zuzu in the Netflix movie Feel the Beat,which was her second film credit after appearing in the movieNoelle.“I’m grateful to have a platform that will give not only Deaf children, but all children a chance to freely speak up, to fight for what they want, and to be fully themselves even if it is not ‘popular,’” Mansfield said to the Mighty.
Watch it on Netflix.
Lauren Ridloff in ‘The Walking Dead’
Ridloff is a deaf actress who starred in the Broadway version of Children of a Lesser God. After the success of this play, Ridloff was offered the role of Connie on The Walking Dead.In an interview with Good Morning America, Ridloff said, “I feel that with more representation working behind the camera, the stories that are told in television, film, and stage would become more intriguing, truthful, and thought-provoking.”
Ridloff also recently made history in Marvel Cinematic Universe movie Eternals, in which she plays a deaf superhero.
Watch on Amazon Prime Video.
Daryl Mitchell in ‘The Walking Dead’
Fear the Walking Dead is a spinoff series to The Walking Dead in which Daryl Mitchell plays Wendel. Mitchell is a wheelchair user as a result of an accident in 2000 — years after he began his acting career. Mitchell spoke to Ability Magazine about advocating for actors with disabilities, and about the lack of African Americans with disabilities present in the entertainment industry.
Watch on AMC.
George Robinson in ‘Sex Education’
Played by Robinson, the wheelchair-using character Isaac was introduced in the second season of the hit Netflix series Sex Education. Robinson sustained a spinal cord injury when he was a teenager, which resulted in him becoming a tetraplegic. In an interview with the Back Up Trust, Robinson spoke about representation in the acting industry and said, “The best way we’re going to get authentic stories that don’t come across as ingenuine is by having people with the right experiences playing the right roles.”
Watch on Netflix.
RJ Mitte in ‘Breaking Bad’
Although Breaking Bad came to its end almost a decade ago, the show is still hugely popular on streaming services like Netflix. In Breaking Bad, Mitte played Walter White Jr, a young man with cerebral palsy whose chemistry teacher father becomes a drug dealer. In real life and on the show, Mitte has cerebral palsy.
Watch on Netflix.
Marlee Matlin in ‘Children of a Lesser God’
This movie follows the turbulent relationship between a deaf woman and a hearing man as they struggle to communicate. Marlee Matlin is deaf and uses American Sign Language to communicate, as does her character, Sarah. Matlin was recognized for her work in this movie and won Best Actress at the 59th Academy Awards. Matlin is among the few actors with disabilities who have played lead roles, and among even fewer actors with disabilities who have received awards for their work.
Watch on Amazon Prime Video.
Kiera Allen in ‘Run’
Kiera Allen starred alongside Sarah Paulsen in the 2020 thriller Run. Allen plays Paulson’s daughter, Chloe, who is a victim of her mother’s Munchausen by Proxy disease, which has led to her mother overdosing her on unnecessary medications to make her unwell. Allen is a wheelchair user in real life and also in the movie. Kiera Allen is only the second wheelchair user to lead in a suspense movie after actress Susan Peters did so in 1948 when she starred in The Sign of the Ram.
Watch on Hulu.
Millicent Simmonds in ‘A Quiet Place’
Living in a world where making any noise at all can put you in mortal danger, Millicent Simmonds’ character was able to quickly adapt because of her hearing impairment and sign language usage. Simmonds became deaf when she was a year old and grew up using American Sign Language. While promoting A Quiet Place Part II, Simmonds did an interview with CBS Mornings and pointed out that, “Never did I think I’d become a professional actor. We don’t see that, you don’t ever see people like me on the screens… I want kids out there to see themselves represented on screen. They can be the ones to save people, they don’t have to be saved.”
Watch on Amazon Prime Video.
Zach Gottsagen in ‘The Peanut Butter Falcon’
This film follows Zach Gottsagen’s character, Zak, as he escapes his assisted living facility where he was abandoned by his family because of his Down Syndrome. Zak begins his journey to pursue his dream of becoming a professional wrestler, and, on his journey, Zak meets and befriends a man named Tyler who is also on the run. The pair become best friends as Tyler helps Zak achieve his dream.
Following the movie’s release and acclaim, Gottsagen became the first actor with Down Syndrome to present an award at the 2020 Oscars.
Watch on Amazon Prime Video.
Peter Dinklage in ‘Game of Thrones’
American actor Peter Dinklage was born with a type of dwarfism called achondroplasia. Although Peter Dinklage has starred in many different roles, he is best known for his role in HBO’s Game of Thrones series, Dinklage earned praise and awards for his portrayal of the beloved Tyrion Lannister throughout the eight seasons of the show.
Watch on HBO Max.
Ryan O’Connell in ‘Special’
This Netflix original series is written and directed by Ryan O’Connell, a gay man with cerebral palsy who also stars in the show. Based on O’Connell’s memoir I’m Special: And Other Lies We Tell Ourselves to Get Through our Twenties, the series tells the story of O’Connell’s life as he seeks more independence. Speaking to Men’s Health about the popularity of the series, he said, “There is room for stories like mine, and people want to see them. So the success really was meaningful for so many reasons, but I think it’s been really healing for me.”
Watch on Netflix.
See Also
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Madison Ferras in ‘Panic’
Maddison Ferris began her acting career on the stage as she portrayed Laura Wingfield in The Glass Menagerie(pictured here). With this role, Ferris made history as Broadway’s first lead character in a wheelchair. MaiIng the transition to the television screen, Madison starred in the Amazon original series Panic.
Watch on Amazon Prime Video.