Lauren Ridloff (née Teruel; born April , ) is a deaf American actress
known for her role as Connie on the TV series The Walking Dead. In ,
her breakthrough role was her lead performance in the Broadway play
Children of a Lesser God, for which she was nominated several awards,
including a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play. She was
subsequently cast in The Walking Dead for its ninth season. She is
also slated to play a deaf superhero in the Marvel Cinematic Universe
superhero film Eternals, scheduled to be released in .Lauren Teruel
was born in Chicago, Illinois in the United States. She was born deaf
and to hearing parents, a Mexican-American father and an
African-American mother. Her father Hugo was a counselor at University
of Illinois at Chicago. He was also a musician, and Teruel's mother
was an artist. Teruel grew up in the Chicago community area of Hyde
Park. Her parents thought their infant had a developmental delay, but
by the time she was two years old, they learned that she was deaf.
They learned sign language for her and enrolled her in Catholic school
with hearing children. She performed well in school. When she was
years old, she stopped using her voice so people would stop judging
her intelligence based on her vocal intelligibility. Following
Catholic school, her parents sent her to the Model Secondary School
for the Deaf in Washington, DC, where she was among deaf and
hard-of-hearing peers. She began exploring the arts, starting with
ceramics and becoming involved with drama. In a school production of
The Wiz, she played Dorothy. She was also on the cheerleading team and
became one of the first deaf American cheerleaders to compete
internationally.She chose to attend California State University,
Northridge, a university with a large deaf and hard-of-hearing student
population, because of its National Center on Deafness. She majored in
English with an emphasis in creative writing. While in college, she
joined a local deaf performing group and took up hip-hop dancing.
After she graduated in May , she began working at the NCOD, where she
was involved in a program to improve post-secondary school education
for deaf and hard-of-hearing students. Later in the year, she decided
to compete in the National Association of the Deaf's Miss Deaf America
competition, have been inspired by the competition she saw two years
prior. She won the preliminary competition of Miss Deaf Illinois and
ultimately won Miss Deaf America. She was the second consecutive CSUN
graduate to win the crown, and she was also the first competitor of
either African-American or Mexican-American descent to win the
pageant. Her activities in competition included an ASL performance of
the book The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein. After winning Miss Deaf
America, she began a two-year stint of attending luncheons and
graduation ceremonies as a spokesperson for NAD.
known for her role as Connie on the TV series The Walking Dead. In ,
her breakthrough role was her lead performance in the Broadway play
Children of a Lesser God, for which she was nominated several awards,
including a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play. She was
subsequently cast in The Walking Dead for its ninth season. She is
also slated to play a deaf superhero in the Marvel Cinematic Universe
superhero film Eternals, scheduled to be released in .Lauren Teruel
was born in Chicago, Illinois in the United States. She was born deaf
and to hearing parents, a Mexican-American father and an
African-American mother. Her father Hugo was a counselor at University
of Illinois at Chicago. He was also a musician, and Teruel's mother
was an artist. Teruel grew up in the Chicago community area of Hyde
Park. Her parents thought their infant had a developmental delay, but
by the time she was two years old, they learned that she was deaf.
They learned sign language for her and enrolled her in Catholic school
with hearing children. She performed well in school. When she was
years old, she stopped using her voice so people would stop judging
her intelligence based on her vocal intelligibility. Following
Catholic school, her parents sent her to the Model Secondary School
for the Deaf in Washington, DC, where she was among deaf and
hard-of-hearing peers. She began exploring the arts, starting with
ceramics and becoming involved with drama. In a school production of
The Wiz, she played Dorothy. She was also on the cheerleading team and
became one of the first deaf American cheerleaders to compete
internationally.She chose to attend California State University,
Northridge, a university with a large deaf and hard-of-hearing student
population, because of its National Center on Deafness. She majored in
English with an emphasis in creative writing. While in college, she
joined a local deaf performing group and took up hip-hop dancing.
After she graduated in May , she began working at the NCOD, where she
was involved in a program to improve post-secondary school education
for deaf and hard-of-hearing students. Later in the year, she decided
to compete in the National Association of the Deaf's Miss Deaf America
competition, have been inspired by the competition she saw two years
prior. She won the preliminary competition of Miss Deaf Illinois and
ultimately won Miss Deaf America. She was the second consecutive CSUN
graduate to win the crown, and she was also the first competitor of
either African-American or Mexican-American descent to win the
pageant. Her activities in competition included an ASL performance of
the book The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein. After winning Miss Deaf
America, she began a two-year stint of attending luncheons and
graduation ceremonies as a spokesperson for NAD.
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