Please Rewind Talent Wall

Bob Hiltermann

Bob Hiltermann’s career refuses to stay inside any one part of the performing arts. A German-born deaf actor, musician, writer, director and educator, he has worked across film, television, theatre and music while helping create more space for deaf performers and audiences. Born in Wiesbaden, West Germany, on August 1, 1952, Hiltermann was the second youngest of eleven children. His family moved to Calgary, Alberta, in 1957. He lost his hearing after contracting spinal meningitis at four, though his deafness was not diagnosed until he was ten. Music nevertheless became an early passion, particularly drumming. After high school, he attended Gallaudet College, now Gallaudet University, where he learned American Sign Language and met Ed Chevy and Steve Longo. Together they formed the all-deaf rock band Beethoven’s Nightmare, which later performed at festivals around the world. Hiltermann made his film debut as Orin Dennis in Children of a Lesser God in 1986. He later reunited with Marlee Matlin for the television movie Bridge to Silence. His screen work also includes appearances in All My Children, Cold Case, Hawaii Five-0, The Blacklist and Sirens, along with The Hammer, Through Deaf Eyes and See What I’m Saying: The Deaf Entertainers Documentary. He also served as an ASL consultant on Children of a Lesser God, working with William Hurt, and on A Lot Like Love with Ashton Kutcher. His influence extends well beyond acting. Hiltermann co-founded the musical theatre troupe MUSIGN in 1980, established the Theatre of the Deaf at Los Angeles’ Fountain Theatre in 1989, and co-founded Deaf West Theatre with Ed Waterstreet the following year. In 2017, he wrote and directed the short film This is Ed!!, which received 24 awards at international film festivals. He has also written screenplays, performed onstage in The Black Drum, taught English to deaf students and ASL to hearing students, and worked as a star and executive producer of the educational series Shut Up and Sign. It is a wide-ranging body of work, connected by performance, language and a determination to make communication central to the story.