7 Things You Didn’t Know About Eternals Star Lauren Ridloff
Meet Eternals‘ star Lauren Ridloff, a superhero both on and off the screen, according to a recent profile of the actress in PEOPLE.
Oscar-winner Chloé Zhao‘s Eternals put together an ensemble that consists of one of the most diverse Marvel rosters to date, and Ridloff is about to make history in the upcoming film as Makkari, a deaf superhero, which is a first for the franchise but definitely not the last (Alaqua Cox is playing Echo in the upcoming Marvel TV miniseries, Hawkeye).
Photo: PEOPLE
Joining a cast of people from all sorts of backgrounds, Ridloff brings her own uniqueness and strong sense of identity to the cast as a Black and Mexican American deaf actress.
Ridloff’s character Makkari in the film adaptation is based on the original comic book character, but with several important updates to the hero’s history. Makkari is best known for her super speed, which gives her the ability to create cyclones, defy gravity, and run on water. In the upcoming film, however, Makkari will also be deaf, giving her an advantage over the other Eternals.
Lauren Ridloff attends Marvel Studios’ “Eternals” premiere on October 18, 2021 in Los Angeles, California. Photo: Rich Fury/Getty Images
“Let’s just say Makkari would not be as fast as she is if it wasn’t for her deafness,” Ridloff told the Los Angeles Times at the Eternals world premiere in Hollywood.
Want to know more about Ridloff, Marvel Blog True Believers? Then, check out our list of seven things about the actress that you probably didn’t know! Just keep scrolling!
1. Ridloff had a supportive family growing up.
Ridloff was born into a hearing family. When she was born, her parents didn’t assume she was deaf, instead thinking she had a developmental delay. According to PEOPLE, “it wasn’t until she was the only 2-year-old who didn’t turn her head to look at an alarming fire truck that they came to the realization.”
Photo: IMDb
As with all things that society assigns the disability label, the doctors had dire predictions for Ridloff’s future, telling her parents that the deafness would limit her educational and professional goals. However, Ridloff’s family wasn’t deterred from trying to set her up for success. They sent her to a Catholic school with hearing children, taught her sign language, and later placed her in the Model Secondary School for the Deaf.
“That was an awesome, amazing experience,” Ridloff told the New York Times. “I was just like everybody else.”
2. Ridloff used to be a teacher.
After graduating from college, Ridloff pursued a teaching career. While in New York, she taught kindergarten and first grade at Public School 347, a Manhattan dual language school dedicated to bridging the gap between the deaf and hearing communities in NYC.
However, the educator’s original dream was to be a children’s book author, which is still one of her aspirations today.
Lauren Ridloff as Makkari. Photo: Marvel
“My goal growing up was to write a book,” Ridloff told The Hollywood Reporter. “That’s why I studied English and creative writing in college, and that is a big reason I started teaching. I wanted to write children’s books.” She continued, “I felt that the best way to understand how a child thinks in their mind is to be with them all day. So I started teaching because of that.”
3. Ridloff tutored her Broadway director in American Sign Language (ASL).
The groundbreaking 1979 play Children of a Lesser started another Broadway run in 2018 at Studio 54, directed by the Tony Award-winning Kenny Leon (A Raisin in the Sun, Fences). Written by Mark Medoff, the play is about the conflicted professional and romantic relationship between a Deaf student, Sarah Norman (Ridloff), and her former teacher, James Leeds (Joshua Jackson).
“It would be truly stupid of our business not to make a space for a talent like that,” Joshua Jackson, at right, said of Lauren Ridloff, on the left. Photo: Sara Krulwich/The New York Times
For the 2018 revival of Children of a Lesser God, Ridloff tutored the director in American Sign Language, and although she had no former stage experience, the job led to her being cast in the show. With little acting experience, Ridloff’s performance in the show was well received by critics, and even earned her a Tony Award nomination in 2018.
Lauren Ridloff and Joshua Jackson during the Broadway opening night performance Curtain Call for ‘Children of a Lesser God’ at Studio 54 Theatre on April 11, 2018 in New York City. Photo: Walter McBride/Getty Images
Leon told the New York Times, “If you didn’t know her résumé, you’d swear she’d been doing this her whole life.” Ridloff was nominated for a Tony Award in 2018.
4. Ridloff appeared on The Walking Dead.
Ridloff was cast as Connie in the eighth season of The Walking Dead, marking her first experience on a television show. Once again, she wowed critics, and her performance created high demand for her talent in Hollywood. Soon after TWD, she was cast in the upcoming Eternals.
The Walking Dead. Photo: AMC
“It’s just presented as who she is [in Eternals]. And in talking with her, she didn’t want the movie to have to stop to address it, because [in] The Walking Dead they had to because for the first time in nine seasons, somebody had this difference,” Marvel Studios producer Nate Moore told ComicBook.com. “These Eternals know Makkari’s deaf.”
5. Ridloff had to advocate for herself on the set of Eternals.
Ridloff never had plans to pursue acting growing up because there was a lack of representation onscreen.
She told The Hollywood Reporter, “Every once in a while, like maybe Marlee Matlin, I saw on the big screen, and then years went by, and you would see somebody appear on one episode of a TV show or another episode there.”
Marlee Matlin. Photo: USA Today
She added that theater was a “much more natural and inviting medium for deaf actors” than film because the productions are required to provide accommodations for both deaf and hearing cast members.
Lauren Ridloff, Brian Tyree Henry, Richard Madden, Lia McHugh, Angelina Jolie, Dong-seok Ma, Kumail Nanjiani at Comic-Con 2019. Photo: Getty Images
However, working alongside A-list, Hollywood actors, who “know exactly what they want,” helped the actress learn how to advocate for herself on a job.
6. Ridloff is a former Miss Deaf America.
Ridloff competed as a representative from Illinois in the National Association of the Deaf’s Miss Deaf America in 2000, and she won the entire competition!
Happy #WaybackWednesday #TWDFamily
A queen and her crown, @LaurenRidloff
Miss Deaf America (2000-2002) 👑❤️ pic.twitter.com/zY97nQnjJ7
— Ezekiel Payton (@EzekielsPayton) May 6, 2020
The actress was the first person of either African-American or Mexican-American descent to claim the title, according to PEOPLE. “There was no swimsuit competition — it was about ambassadorship, not beauty, and I did a performance of ‘The Giving Tree,’ because I love Shel Silverstein,” Ridloff told the New York Times.
7. Ridloff hopes to inspire the Deaf community.
On multiple occasions, Ridloff has also spoken about why Makkari is so important for the deaf community, and how they need a superhero who represents them.
“I didn’t dream of becoming an actor because I didn’t see enough of myself on the screen,” Ridloff told The Hollywood Reporter. “I didn’t get to dream that big, so now, with Eternals, I’m hoping that more people will be able to dream bigger. If I can do it, they can do it.”
Echo and Hawkeye. Photo: Reddit User: u/Green-Devil
The actress also hinted that more deaf representation is coming to Marvel Cinematic Universe, and as we said earlier, we bet that representation is coming in Hawkeye on Disney+. “I might be the first but I won’t be the only one for much longer,” Ridloff told Reuters. “There’s another deaf superhero coming into the MCU very soon, so this is definitely a game-changer.”
