Bowie Hockey Club forward honored for role in HBO’s ‘The Last of Us’
William Douglas has been writing The Color of Hockey blog since 2012. Douglas joined NHL.com in 2019 and writes about people of color in the sport. Today, he profiles Keivonn Woodard, a 10-year-old deaf player from the Bowie Hockey Club in Bowie, Maryland, who was nominated for a 2023 Emmy Award for his role in the HBO hit “The Last of Us.” The award in his category will be presented in Los Angeles on Saturday.
Keivonn Woodard was just another player at the American Hearing Impaired Hockey Association camp in Chicago in June.
Well, almost.
“The kids at the camp were, like, ‘He’s an actor, he’s on TV, but, he’s just like me,’” AHIHA president Kevin Delaney said.
Keivonn, a 10-year-old hockey player and novice actor from Maryland, has gotten a lot of double-takes and accolades since his appearance in the HBO hit series “The Last of Us.”
The forward for the Bowie Hockey Club in Bowie, Maryland, is poised to gain even more attention if he wins a 2023 Emmy Award in the best guest actor in a drama series category for playing Sam Burrell in the postapocalyptic zombie fungus thriller adapted from the popular “The Last of Us” video game.
The other nominees are “The Last of Us” co-stars Murray Bartlett, Lamar Johnson and Nick Offerman; and James Cromwell and Ariyan Moayed for the HBO series “Succession.” “The Last of Us” actors are among 24 Emmy nominations for the show.
Keivonn, nicknamed “Hollywood” by his Bowie teammates and coaches for his enthusiastic goal celebrations, made history as the youngest person to be nominated in the guest actor category.
He said receiving an Emmy would be a milestone that draws attention to the deaf community. About 70 million people worldwide are deaf, according to the World Federation of the Deaf.
He said winning the award would also be a nice tribute to his father, Dwayne Woodard, an Eastern Athletic Association of the Deaf championship basketball player who died of cancer on Feb. 18, 2021.
“I would feel that it’s just a big accomplishment,” Keivonn said. “I mean it would be big-time, especially making history.”
Delaney said Keivonn just being considered for the award has had an impact in the deaf and hard of hearing hockey community.
“It gives kids his age something to strive for themselves,” said Delaney, who is the deaf/hard of hearing representative in USA Hockey’s disabled hockey disciplines.
“For the deaf hockey community, it gives a little bit more awareness to deaf hockey. People think it’s something different than regular hockey. No, deaf kids play hearing hockey.”
Keivonn landed the “The Last of Us” role after he and his mother, April Jackson-Woodard, sent an audition video to the show’s creators, who changed the Sam Burrell character from hearing in the video game to deaf in the series to highlight people with disabilities.
But they had to find a Black male actor between 7 and 12 years old who was fluent in American of British sign language. So series co-creator Craig Mazin put out a casting call on Twitter, the social media platform now called X, which caught the attention of friends of the Woodard family.
Keivonn’s life has been a whirlwind since the series and the Emmy nomination.
His performance in the series led Subaru of America to cast and star him in a 30-second television commercial titled “A Beautiful Silence” that first aired in August. It features a father and son signing as they drive and tour through Yosemite National Park.
The Critics Choice Association presented Keivonn with its Rising Star Award at its “Celebration of Cinema & Television: Honoring Black, Latino and AAPI Achievements” event on Dec. 4 for his role in “The Last of Us.”
Keivonn also has a lead role in “Fractal,” a science fiction short that was in post-production before the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists strike, which was settled in November.
News
9-year-old girl deadlifts 165 pounds — 3 times her body weight — in wild video-thaoo
She put the “her” in “Hercules.” Nine-year-old Indian weightlifter Arshia Goswami proved that powerful things can come in small packages after she deadlifted a back-breaking 165 pounds,…
Hero mom saves 17-day-old baby in cardiac arrest by performing CPR: ‘He was blue’-thaoo
Lucy Robin woke up to find her 17-day-old blue, freezing cold and not breathing — instantly assuming the worst. Lucy Robin / SWNS A mom saved her baby’s…
Guinness crowns toddler the youngest-ever male artist — and his paintings are selling fast-thaoo
A toddler from Ghana has become the world’s youngest artist, according to Guinness World Records. Ace-Liam Nana Sam Ankrah, who was 1 year and 152 days old when…
Boy, 5, who was born without left hand ‘glowing’ after receiving ‘Iron Man’ bionic arm-thaoo
A Long Island boy born without a left hand achieved superhero status his week. Jordan Marotta, 5, became the youngest-ever recipient of a top-of-the-line bionic arm, decked out —…
This 100-year-old great-grandma was a top welder during WW2 — and now she keeps fit with a crazy workout-thaoo
In the wake of the 80th anniversary of D-Day, a local woman who was part of the war effort is calling attention to the oft-forgotten young gals…
Sean “Diddy” Combs Revealed to Be Among Investors in Elon Musk’s X Launch-thaoo
The company was ordered by a court to publicly share a list of its investors in a lawsuit seeking payment for arbitration-related expenses. Sean “Diddy” Combs;…
End of content
No more pages to load