“Midland Woman’s Dream Comes True as She is Cast in Oscar-Nominated Film by Canadian Director Sarah Polley”
Shayla Brown was born a performer.
“That was the only thing I really loved. I was never a math or science kid.”
Before graduating high school, the 19-year-old Midland woman landed a role on the Apple TV series,See ‘She says it was the start of her career.
“It was surreal to see myself on screen and hear my voice because I never really imagined it for me,” says Brown.
It would be the beginning of Brown’s fame.
The blind-born actress auditioned for a leading role in Canadian director Sarah Polley’s film.women talk.’
“For the first time in my life, I’ve been asked to audition professionally for a character that wasn’t explicitly written as blind,” she says.
Although she didn’t get the lead role, Polley loved her so much that she created a new character for her in the film.
“I was blown away that someone wanted me so badly that they bothered to write something for me. I’m so used to people thinking of me as a blind actor. Sarah was the first person to look at me and see an actor who happens to be blind,” says Brown.
The film is inspired by real events that took place in a remote and isolated Mennonite community in Bolivia.
The film screened at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival and officially released in Canada last month.
Shayla Brown, 19, from Midland, Ontario, walks the red carpet at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival. (supplied)
Now he’s been nominated for two Oscars: Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay.
“women talk was the last Best Picture nomination to be announced, so I sat there like it wasn’t going to happen. And then it was Women Talking and I screamed so loud I probably woke everyone up,” Brown says.
“We saw it eight times. I still need Kleenex to check it out. I don’t know if it’s because she’s in it or because it’s sad. I’m just absolutely thrilled that she’s doing what she wants to do,” says Shayla’s mom, Tammy Braun.
Shayla says she hopes she can inspire others to follow their dreams and not let anything get in their way.
“I want to represent my community of blindness authentically, but I also don’t want that to be who I am.”
The Oscars will take place in Los Angeles on March 12th.
Shayla and her mother are planning a screening of the film here at home and are hoping the film will be shown at the theater in Midland.
As for the future, Shayla says she plans to continue auditioning for films and hopes to get accepted into a theater school.
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