Robert DeMayo

{{Short description|Deaf actor and educator}}

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|image = Robert_DeMayo_et_TL_Forsberg.jpg

|caption = DeMayo (left) with TL Forsberg

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Robert DeMayo is a deaf American actor, educator, and ASL translator.{{cite web | title=Sign With Robert | website=Sign With Robert | date=2022-02-20 | url=https://signwithrobert.com/ | access-date=2022-02-20}} He is one of the subjects of See What I'm Saying: The Deaf Entertainers Documentary (2009) who the New York Times called "staggeringly talented."{{cite web | title=Home | website=See What I'm Saying | date=2010-04-09 | url=http://www.seewhatimsayingmovie.com/ | access-date=2022-02-20}}{{cite web | last=Catsoulis|first= Jeannette|title=Deaf, and Trying to Make It in Showbiz | website=The New York Times | date=2010-04-09 | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/09/movies/09see.html | access-date=2022-02-20}} He has also acted in the films Universal Signs (2008) and No Ordinary Hero: The SuperDeafy Movie (2013).

DeMayo met Hilari Scarl when he was working at the National Theatre of the Deaf which led to his being cast in See What I'm Saying.{{cite web | last=Walla|first=Clair|title=Breaking the Sound Barrier: 'See What I'm Saying' Celebrates Deaf Entertainers | website=International Documentary Association | date=2010-03-14 | url=https://www.documentary.org/online-feature/breaking-sound-barrier-see-what-im-saying-celebrates-deaf-entertainers | access-date=2022-02-20}} He created a one-man comedy show about his life called Me Hear NONE which he performed at Philadelphia's Independence Starts Here festival in 2007 and then toured with.{{cite news |last1=Siriwardane |first1=Venuri |title=Art Without Barriers |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/199508760/ |access-date=20 February 2022 |work=Philadelphia Inquirer |date=October 19, 2007}} He has worked as an ASL consultant and as a theater interpreter at Juilliard.{{cite web |last1=Rodriguez |first1=Briana |title=N.Y. Deaf Theatre's Robert DeMayo's Prep Process |url=https://www.backstage.com/magazine/article/ny-deaf-theatres-robert-demayos-prep-process-10457/ |website=Backstage |access-date=20 February 2022}}

In 2014 he was cast as the lead role in The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde at the New York Deaf Theater.{{cite web | last=Zinoman|first=Jeff|title=New York Deaf Theater Adapts 'Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde' | website=The New York Times | date=2014-11-13 | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/14/theater/new-york-deaf-theater-adapts-dr-jekyll-and-mr-hyde.html | access-date=2022-02-20}}

DeMayo has created a 30-episode 10-DVD educational series of videos about sign language and deaf culture called Sign With Robert created for classroom use. In 2017 he worked with Giphy to create a series of 2,000 animated GIFs of him performing ASL words and phrases to help others learn sign language.{{cite web | last=Dupere | first=Katie | title=Giphy launches library of more than 2,000 GIFs to teach you sign language | website=Mashable | date=2021-10-29 | url=https://mashable.com/article/giphy-american-sign-language-gifs | access-date=2022-02-20}} The GIFs have been viewed 2.4 billion times as of February 2022.{{cite web |last1=DeMayo |first1=Robert |title=Sign with Robert |url=https://giphy.com/signwithrobert |website=Giphy |access-date=20 February 2022}}