Anthony and Christie, The Sign Language Angels

When Hollywood screenwriter and producer Christie Jenkins became friends with Anthony Natale, she tried to rent a signing video and discovered there were none accessible to the general public. She then chose to commit her entire inheritance to create this video.

Photo Scenes from How to Talk to a Person Who Can't Hear

The video stars Anthony Natale, the handsome and charming Deaf actor who played Richard Dreyfus's adult son in Mr. Holland's Opus. He took an elevator ride with Tom Cruise in Jerry Maguire and co-starred in the TV show Ellen, the USA movie His Bodyguard with Mitzi Kapture, and has done many commercials.

Original music created for this video helps you learn while Anthony and 12 friends talk conversationally with their voices and hands in 20 different fun locations and situations. Close-ups of each sign are shown twice. In a lighthearted and interesting way, you learn about the deaf and signing while being completely entertained.

Left: Anthony and host NBC commentator Beth Ruyak

Right: Anthony with video creator Christie Jenkins and actor Michael Hagerty

Left: Anthony and co-star of Malcolm & Eddie and
The Cosby Show Karen Malina White

Right: Anthony and Deaf child actor Joshua Soudakoff

Left: America's first hearing-impaired comedienne Kathy Buckley, six-time nominee for HBO's "Best Stand-up" Award!

Right: Paul Garozzo, Jeff Grunewald & Thurman Matthiesen ask Anthony how to ask girls out.

Aimee Walker

The last scene in the video is a five-minute documentary on the incredible Aimee Walker. Born deaf, blind in one eye, with no hip sockets, and unable to walk, she is now an Elite gymnast on the Olympic track (not the Special Olympics)! See her perform and communicate with her coaches and fellow gymnasts through Sign!

Fun and interesting ways to use Sign Language in your everyday life!

1. The friends and families of the 28 million deaf and hard-of-hearing in North America.
   
2. People with Autism, Cerebral Palsy, and Down Syndrome. (Sign is their first language.)
   
3. Moms whose kids have Attention Deficit Disorder or many other learning disabilities.
   
4. Senior citizens and accident/stroke survivors who've lost their voice yet can use their hands.
   
5. Animal trainers, dogs for the deaf, and zoos. (Did you know the famous gorilla Koko
   communicates in Sign? She knows 1,000 words!)
   
6. Workers can communicate across a field, office, warehouse, in front of the boss(!), or next to noisy machinery.
   
7. Students can choose ASL as their foreign language requirement (like Olympic swimmer Amy Van Dyken).
   
8. New mothers! It is now common knowledge that signing to hearing babies increases their vocabulary, gives them better conceptual skills, and helps them avoid the terrible twos. ALSO, they will be able to communicate their feelings by signing them months before they can learn to verbalize.
   
9. Emergency medical staff, firefighters, the police force . . . in high-stress situations, Sign would be an important tool.
   
10. Teenage girls find dozens of fun ways to use this silent language - in nightclubs, in front of boys, across the classroom!

Awards

How to Talk to a Person Who Can't Hear has won the following awards:

Parent's Choice Award - 2000 - recommended video - all ages

"Best Educational TV Show (PBS)"
Media Access Awards,
nominated by the California Governor's Committee for Employment of the Disabled

"First Place Talent to Anthony Natale"
Chicago U.S. International Film & Video Festival

"Third Place Creative Excellence" for the video itself
Chicago U.S. International Film & Video Festival

"Best Young Artist Award" to Aimee Walker for her segment
Los Angeles Young Artist Scholarship Awards

A team of Hollywood professionals worked on this video

This was directed by the fantastic Brady Connell. He was the on-island producer of the first Survivor, and went on to win many Emmys for The Amazing Race.

Emily Sinclair appears in this video and was also the production assistant for this video. She is now the associate producer of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition!

How to Talk to a Person Who Can't Hear was written and produced by Christie Jenkins, a popular talk show guest who is credited with starting "the women's market in publishing" by creating the best-selling book BUNS: A Woman Looks at Men's, and the subsequent five calendars. She writes scripts for television, film, and specials, and her celebrity and figure skating photographs continue to appear in TIME, People, and on book covers.

Guest actors in the video include: American Comedy Award comedienne Kathy Buckley, Karen Malina White from The Cosby Show, Michael Hagerty from Malibu Shores, and State Champion deaf gymnast Aimee Walker, who was featured in the Lifetime movie Pretty Girls in Little Boxes.

Original music was composed by Brian BecVar, who writes meditation/learning music for Deepak Chopra's seminars. His CD Once in a Life can be heard on smooth jazz stations nationwide.

Links

Check out our latest VIDEO/DVD release,
Sign & Sing: Sign Language Songs to Learn and Perform,
made specifically for choral directors, choirs, and soloists
to learn new songs with Sign Language

www.ChristieJenkins.com

www.AnthonyNatale.org

National Association of the Deaf

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Site last updated June 9, 2007