“I felt so lucky to be there, so lucky to occupy this space in Hollywood.
I don’t want to bite the hand that feeds me.
I don’t want to ask for too much.
Lauren Ridloff in ‘Eternals’.Sophie Mutevelian/Marvel Studios
Ridloff added, “I loved my hair and makeup person that I had on this movie.
Very sweet lady, but she didn’t know how to work with my hair.
She no idea how to do it.
And she needed a lot of support from other people in the trailer.
It took three people to do my hair.
It took six hours, and I had to do my it on my day off.
It was a process, and I bared with it.
It just didn’t even occur to me.”
“I’m like, ‘Wait, wait they flew somebody in?
They flew your barber in?'”
“He’s like, ‘Yeah of course.’
I was like, ‘You asked for that and they did it?’
‘Yeah, you should too.’
I was like, ‘Really?
This is something you’re free to do?’
I was afraid of asking too much because I already had made specific requests because I am deaf.
I thought it was too much.”
It was “a wake-up moment for me,” Ridloff said.
“I realized that I’m investing my time.
I want to deliver.
I want to act.
Ridloff is currently poised to star in a Starz romantic drama oppositeJoshua Jackson, created byAva DuVernay.
“Deaf fans are not satisfied, they need more,” Ridloff said.
“We want to see more deaf people on the screen.
Hollywood is a small place, and historically there’s only been room for one or two deaf people.
That was the mindset for so many years.
It’s important to bring more people in offscreen, behind the camera.
It’s our responsibility to tell their stories.
I know what deaf fans want is more stories that are authentic.”
To that end, Ridloff is striving to bring in deaf talent throughout the creative process.
“It is my goal to include many deaf people at every level,” she said.
“I want deaf hair-and-makeup artists.
It’s vital to me to include deaf people at every level.
I don’t know.
But that is my intention.
