Academy Award Winning Actress Marlee Matlin to Speak at Jewish Federations Annual Fundraiser

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WHO:    Academy Award winning actress Marlee Matlins will speak at Voices, an annual dinner sponsored by the Womens Division of the Jewish Federation of Greater Hartford. Her heartfelt and inspirational story is one of overcoming personal challenges and turning them into successes. She has always resisted putting limitations on herself, both professionally and personally.

WHAT:    Ms. Matlin received worldwide critical acclaim for her motion picture debut in Children of a Lesser God, a performance the film community recognized in 1987 with its highest honor - the Academy Award for Best Actress. At age 21, she became the youngest recipient of the Best Actress Oscar and one of only four actresses to receive that honor for a film debut. In addition to the Oscar, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association honored Marlee with the 1986 Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Drama.

Marlee has appeared in a dozen more films, as well as starring and guest-starring in a number of television shows, including Spin City, ER, Gideon's Crossing, Judging Amy, and The West Wing. She was twice nominated for a Golden Globe Award as Best Actress in a Dramatic Television Series as well as the People's Choice Awards for her performance in the NBC series Reasonable Doubts, opposite Mark Harmon. She's also been nominated for a number of Emmy awards for her guest performances on NBC's Seinfeld, CBS's Picket Fences, and ABC's The Practice. In addition, Marlee has ventured into children's television on Nickelodeon's Blues Clues, in which she teaches sign language and has a recurring role as "Marlee the librarian.

In addition, Marlees childrens novel, Deaf Child Crossing, was published by Simon and Schuster in 2002.

WHY:   With over four hundred people from the Greater Hartford community in attendance, this special evening will raise significant dollars for the Jewish Federation of Greater Hartford Womens Campaign. These dollars help to make a difference in the lives of Jews everywhere.

WHEN: Thursday, May 8, 2003 at 5:30 p.m.

WHERE: Emanuel Synagogue, West Hartford, Conn.

HOW:     Pictures and bios are available upon request. Contact Jeffrey Berman at
(860) 231-6448 or jberman@jewishhartford.org