Alaqua Cox was cast in Marvel's 'Hawkeye,' her debut acting role, in 2020. Her use of American Sign Language (ASL) caught the attention of fans, who then became curious to know whether the actress, who now has a show of her own, was actually deaf or not.
The Disney+ series 'Echo' released on January 9 and highlights her character of Maya Lopez. “In 'Hawkeye,' Maya was a villain. And while she’s our protagonist in 'Echo,' we wanted to embrace those darker sides and flaws within the character who is on an extremely emotional journey trying to navigate the pent-up anger inside her," said director Sydney Freeland in a press release for the show.
Cox left her home in Wisconsin, so that she could join the cast of 'Hawkeye.' “When I jumped into the Marvel world, it was a big transition for me, but I was so grateful for the opportunity and journey,” the actress said, who found out about the show 'Echo' while filming for the Jeremy Renner-led 'Hawkeye.'
In an interview previously, she said it was "sweet" of Renner and Hailee Steinfeld to learn basic ASL so as to communicate more easily with her.
“I felt so overwhelmed and shocked because it was a lead role in my second project which seemed kind of crazy. I remember telling my family and it just meant so much because it gives Indigenous people a leading character and real representation in an authentic way. It feels amazing to be able to have the opportunity inspire and empower a future generation of people," she revealed.
Now, answering if she's deaf in real life: yes! But it doesn't end there. She's also the first Indigenous lead in a Marvel series and also uses a prosthetic leg, while passionately performing her own stunts.
Stunt coordinator Mark Scizak revealed that he "had to pump the brakes sometimes because she never held back. In designing the fights, we incorporated the fact that she can do bigger blocks with her prosthetic leg since she wouldn’t feel pain there. She also used it as leverage, holding her leg back to get as much power out of her kicks as possible."
Cox went on to say she found it "fun" to do her own stunts and it was her "favourite thing" while filming. “Our stunt team had such great bubbly personalities and were so enjoyable to work with. In pre-production, I would do stunt training five days a week because I had so many stunts to do on this show. I had to learn so many different jabs, punches and kicks. It’s been a fun journey.”
Cox is truly an inspiration. “I wanted to show people that amputees and people with disabilities can do anything,” Cox said in the press release of the show, adding, “Although I am deaf and an amputee, I was able to do a lot of my fighting and stunts and it was important to me to show my prosthetic leg and not try to hide it under clothes."
She concluded by saying that her character "Maya Lopez is a badass, and I wanted people with disabilities to have someone that they could look up to and see within themselves.”
