
When she won the role, she moved to New York City with her mother and her younger siblings to film Wonderstruck. When open casting for the film began, her former drama teacher shared the news with her, and she auditioned for a role in the film. She had read the deaf-themed juvenile novel Wonderstruck when it was published in 2011. Simmonds was 12 years old when she first acted in the film Wonderstruck, released in 2017.

Her favorite film to date is The Truman Show (1998). With it, she listens to Father John Misty and Red Hot Chili Peppers. She has performed at the Utah Shakespeare Festival in Cedar City, Utah, and her primary film experience before Wonderstruck was a deaf student's short, "Color the World". After completing sixth grade, she mainstreamed at the Mueller Park Junior High School in the fall of 2015. Her first play was in A Midsummer Night's Dream as Puck. When Simmonds was three years old, she started attending the Jean Massieu School of the Deaf, where she participated in its drama club.

Simmonds's mother also encouraged her to read books extensively. Simmonds said without her family using ASL, "I wouldn't have a relationship with my own family, I wouldn't have communication." Her mother learned American Sign Language and taught the family so they could communicate with her. Prior to turning 12 months old, Simmonds lost her hearing due to a medication overdose. She has four siblings two older and two younger than her. Simmonds grew up in Bountiful, Utah in the United States.
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Read more: New movie ‘Wonderstruck’ shines spotlight on deaf culture She then went onto achieving a Tony Award for “Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play”, for her appearance on Broadway in “Children of a Lesser God”. In 2017, Ridloff performed in “Wonderstruck” as Pearl, the Maid. Also, “Sign Gene,” a film about a deaf agent.

Lauren has appeared in various films, namely “If You Could Hear My Own Tune”, a story about deafness and music. Later she moved to Brooklyn, to settle with her husband, and then along came their two deaf sons. Alongside this, in 2000, she was crowned Miss Deaf America.Īfter graduating with a degree in creative writing at the University of Illinois, Lauren went onto teaching in Washington D.C. She attended Gallaudet University high school where she performed in the school production of “The Wiz.”. A love for filmīorn deaf, Ridloff grew up in Chicago with a love of reading, theatre, and film. The use of American Sign Language and a deaf actress is a perfect opportunity for the show to raise awareness of deafness and to show how deaf actors and actresses can perform as well as their hearing peers.

Her character is deaf and uses American Sign Language (ASL) to communicate”, according to Entertainment Weekly. Her character is depicted as “a seasoned survivor deft at using her senses to read people, situations, and trouble. #thewalkingdeadĪ post shared by Lauren Ridloff on at 2:37pm PDT
