• Deanne Bray is an actress born on 14 May 1971, in Los Angeles, California, USA
• She has a net worth of over $5 million
• Bray was born deaf and was taught to speak and write English
• She gained fame for her role in the show “Heroes”, and in the show "Sue Thomas: F.B. Eye"
• She is an advocate for deaf children and deafness and is active on social media
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Who is Deanne Bray?
Deanne Bray was born on 14 May 1971, in Los Angeles, California, USA, and is an actress, probably best known for her work in the show “Heroes”, in which she played the recurring character Emma Coolidge. She also portrayed the titular character in “Sue Thomas: F.B. Eye.”
The Wealth of Deanne Bray
How rich is Deanne Bray? As of late-2019, sources inform us of a net worth that is over $5 million, earned through a successful career in acting. She has the distinction of being able to find success in the entertainment industry despite being deaf.
Early Life and Education
Deanne was born deaf, but at a young age was still taught how to speak and write English despite this impediment. She learned American Sign Language as well, and went through numerous programs to help strengthen her skills in language. She spent most of her youth in Southern California and later spent a few years in Seattle, attending Washington State School while living with her mother as her parents divorced. She then returned to California, and was raised primarily by his father as her mother didn’t bother to learn sign language.
While growing up, she became inspired to pursue a career as an actress, after discovering the presence of a deaf dancing group called Prism West. This was during the time she was enrolled at the California State University, Northridge where she was studying for a degree in Biology. The university is located in Los Angeles and is known for having the largest undergraduate population in the California State University system. It has over 130 degree programs, and is also the home of the National Center on Deafness.
Acting Beginnings and Rise to Prominence
Bray made her film debut in the independent film “What Do Women Want” in which she played the character Sharon, then had a string of guest appearances in shows such as “The Pretender”, “Ellen”, “Diagnosis: Murder”, and “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation”. In 2002, her fame started to increase significantly when she was given a role in “Sue Thomas: F.B.Eye”. The Canadian show premiered on the PAX Network, and was one of the highest rated shows for its entire run of three seasons.
However, PAX decided to stop efforts towards original programming leading to the abrupt end of the show. Following her run there, she then had a role in “Last Mountain”, which is another independent film, then returned to making guest appearances. In 2006, she appeared in “Rescue Me” which is an FX show that follows the story of a firefighter living in New York City. She also worked on several episodes of “The L Word”, an American and Canadian collaboration following a group of friends, the majority of whom are lesbian. The show originated with Ilene Chaiken, who is also credited as the creator.
Recent Endeavors
In 2008, Deanne worked on the television movie entitled “Sweet Nothing in My Ear”, which aired on CBS and is based on the 1998 film of the same name. The story follows two parents as they decide whether or not they should give an implant to their child to allow him to hear again. The following year, she gained one of her most notable roles playing Emma Coolidge in the television show “Heroes”. The show aired on NBC, and tells the story of people who discover that they have similar superhuman abilities to heroes in comic books.
Seasons of the show revolve upon a larger encompassing narrative, and was primarily filmed in Los Angeles – during its first two seasons the show ranked among the top programs, and also won numerous awards. After a three year break, Deanne returned to television with a guest appearance in “2 Broke Girls”. A few of her latest projects include guest roles in “Grey’s Anatomy” and “Switched at Birth”, the latter a show that revolves around two teenagers who were switched at birth, and as a result had to live in different environments. In 2017, she also had a guest role in the series “Veep”.
Personal Life and Social Media
For her personal life, it is known that Bray is married to Troy Kotsur, who is also deaf and an actor. He is known for his work in various stage productions such as “The Elephant Man”, and “Twelfth Night”. They have a child together who isn’t deaf, but nonetheless Deanne is an advocate for improving the lot of deaf children through early childhood education. She is a spokesperson for the Language Equality and Acquisition for Deaf Kids – LEAD-K. She’s also completed a master’s degree in Sign Language Education, and worked on a program which aims to help pregnant deaf women.
Similar to numerous actors, she is active online through accounts on social media. She has an account on Facebook with over 16,000 followers – she doesn’t post often, but when she does, she focuses on promoting advocacies to help with deafness or hearing loss; she often participates in events that support those with hearing conditions. Another account she has is on Facebook on which she has around 5,000 followers. However, she has not been active on the site since early-2019.
