Dawn Birley

Last updated
Dawn Jani Birley
Born
Dawn Jani Birley

(1977-11-30) 30 November 1977 (age 46)
Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada
Nationality Canadian
Occupation(s) Actress, Television anchor, educator, taekwondo practitioner
Website www.dawnjanibirley.com

Dawn Jani Birley (born 30 November 1977) is a Canadian deaf actress, television anchor, educator and a popular taekwondo practitioner. She was engaged in her sport, taekwondo in the early parts of her life before becoming a professional actor in the mid-2000s. She graduated at Gallaudet University. [1]

Contents

Birley is a host and anchor for the H3 Network Media Alliance, a Canadian medium which broadcasts in International Sign across all parts of the world. She is best known for her efforts in revealing the Deaflympic scandal about the cancellation of the 2011 Winter Deaflympics in Slovakia.

She is a fluent speaker of nine languages including five sign languages: American Sign Language, Finnish Sign Language, Swedish Sign Language, Norwegian Sign Language and International Sign.

Biography

Birley was born on 30 November 1977 to deaf parents in an all-deaf family in Regina, Saskatchewan. She started to play volleyball, basketball and softball during her childhood before becoming a taekwondo practitioner. Birley has also played volleyball, basketball and softball for the Gallaudet University.

She also served as a teacher in countries including Norway and Finland after her college career.

Sports career

Birley practiced the Korean martial art taekwondo at the age of 12. [2] She became the world junior taekwondo champion in 1992, becoming the first Canadian female athlete to achieve the feat. She represented Canada at several international taekwondo competitions including Pan American Games from 1989 to 1999. Birley was also the part of the Canadian National Taekwondo Olympic team prior to the 1996 Summer Olympics after earning a spot in the Canadian National Olympic Team for 1996 but she was not able to compete in the event due to the removal of taekwondo from that Olympic Games. [3]

In 1996, she was awarded the Deaf Sportswoman of the Year award by the ICSD. [4] [5]

She is also working as a coordinator in the development of deaf sports in several countries.

Acting career

Birley currently works as an actor with various theatre companies across the world. She spent 15 years in Finland where she was afforded more acting opportunities including a role in the world's first sign-language opera. She was also honoured as the 2015 Riksteatern's Artist of the Year from the National Swedish Touring Theatre, a prestigious acting award in Sweden for her performance in the leading role of When Winter Stars Shine Here. She also became the first deaf person to achieve this honour. [6]

She was awarded the Toronto Theatre Critics Award for Best Actress in a Play for her role as Horatio in Prince Hamlet. [7] [8]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Deaflympics</span> International sports event for deaf people

The Deaflympics, also known as Deaflympiad are a periodic series of multi-sport events sanctioned by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) at which Deaf athletes compete at an elite level. Unlike the athletes in other IOC-sanctioned events, athletes cannot be guided by sounds. The games have been organized by the Comité International des Sports des Sourds since the first event in 1924.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2009 Summer Deaflympics</span>

The 2009 Summer Deaflympics, officially known as the XXI Summer Deaflympic Games and commonly known as Taipei 2009, is an international multi-sport event that was celebrated from 5 to 15 September 2009 in Taipei, Taiwan. It is the third Summer Deaflympics to be held in the Asia-Pacific region. Judo, karate, and taekwondo have been recognized as new summer disciplines in the Deaflympics sports competition program.

Comité International des Sports des Sourds (CISS) is the apex body organizing international sports events for the deaf, particularly the Deaflympics. It is also called the International Committee of Sports for the Deaf. The organization was founded in Paris by Eugène Rubens-Alcais, who organized the first "International Silent Games" in 1924. Alcais was himself deaf and was the president of the French Deaf Sports Federation.

A number of deaf people have competed in the modern Olympic Games, with the earliest known being Carlo Orlandi, an Italian boxer who competed in the 1928 Olympics in Amsterdam.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ruth Taubert Seeger</span> American athlete

Ruth Mae Taubert Seeger was an American athlete and coach. She was the first woman to be chosen for the United States track and field team for the 1957 World Games for the Deaf.

Craig Andrew Crowley is the 8th President of the International Committee of Sports for the Deaf, served between 2009 and 2013.

Valery Nikititch Rukhledev is a Russian sports activist. He is also a 6 time gold medalist in wrestling for the Soviet Union at the Deaflympics from 1969 to 1977. He served as the president of the Comite International des Sports des Sourds from 2013 to 2018. He retired from the position as President of ICSD on 31 July 2018 after being charged on embezzlement charges in a corruption scandal, in which he was accused of embezzling $803,800 from the All-Russian Society of the Deaf. He was later replaced by Australian Rebecca Adam as ICSD President on 1 August 2018 which created further controversy in the Deaf sports world.

Donalda Kay Ammons is an American educator and author. She served as a teacher at several deaf schools in the United States. Ammons was also the former President of the Comite International des Sports des Sourds (CISS) from 2003 to 2009.

Shi Ce is a Chinese deaf female table tennis player. She has represented China at the Deaflympics four times from 2005 to 2017. Shi Ce has been regarded as one of the finest athletes to have represented China at the Deaflympics, having won 14 medals at the event since making her debut in the 2005 Summer Deaflympics.

Dawn Marie Moncrieffe is a Canadian female deaf former track and field athlete. She has competed at the Deaflympics representing Canada in 1985, 1993 and in 2001. She had won a total of 4 medals in her Deaflympic career which spanned from 1985 to 2001.

Cecilia Helena Ferm is a Swedish deaf female basketball player. She has represented both national and deaf basketball teams. Ferm has participated at the Deaflympics on 5 occasions since making her debut in the 1993 Summer Deaflympics.

Beryl Atieno Wamira is a Kenyan female deaf track and field athlete. She competed in the 2013 Summer Deaflympics and in the 2017 Summer Deaflympics representing Kenya. She has won a total of 3 medals in her Deaflympic career including a Junior deaf world record breaking gold medal in the women's 200m event during the 2013 Summer Deaflympics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tereza Kmochová</span> Czech deaf alpine skier

Tereza Kmochová is a Czech deaf female alpine skier. She has represented Czech Republic in Winter Deaflympics, Winter Universiade and in the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships. She generally competes in the women's combined, slalom, giant slalom, Super-G events at international alpine skiing competitions. She is considered one of the finest deaflympic alpine skiers to have competed at the Deaflympics and also regarded as a finest athlete to have represented Czech Republic at the Deaflympics with a record haul of 10 medals including 7 gold medals. In the 2015 Winter Deaflympics she created history after winning gold medals in all five events such as giant slalom, super combined, slalom, downhill and Super-G.

Peggy de Villiers is a South African deaf swimmer. She represented South Africa at the Deaflympics in 2009 and 2013. She made her Deaflympic debut at the 2009 Summer Deaflympics and claimed 4 medals including a gold medal in the 50m backstroke event with a world record breaking timing of 31.11 for deaf swimming at that time. She currently holds the deaf world swimming records in the women's 50m butterfly and women's 100m butterfly categories. She completed her undergraduated swimming career with the University of West Florida as a member of the college team.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trude Raad</span> Norwegian deaf track and field athlete

Trude Raad is a deaf Norwegian track and field athlete. She generally competes in the discus throw and hammer throw events at the International competitions. Trude has represented Norway at the Deaflympics in 2009, 2013 and 2017 and has won 4 gold medals in her Deaflympic career. She was also a champion in the women's hammer throw event at the Deaflympics on 3 consecutive occasions. She broke her own deaf world record in the women's hammer throw at the 2017 Summer Deaflympics with a distance of 66.35m, the previous best was 65.03m

Margareta Trnková-Hanne also known as Margareta Hanne is a former Czech deaf female track and field athlete and tennis player. She has represented Czech Republic at the Deaflympics in tennis and athletics sporting events.

Alexandra Polivanchuk is a Swedish female deaf swimmer who is also the twin sister of Anna Polivanchuk. She has represented Sweden at the Deaflympics in 2005, 2009 and 2013. She currently holds the deaf world swimming records in 50m and 100m butterfly events. She graduated and has been training the sport of swimming at the Gallaudet University.

Anna Polivanchuk is a Swedish female deaf swimmer and also the twin sister of Alexandra Polivanchuk. She competed at the Deaflympics in 2005 and 2009. She currently holds the deaf world swimming record in the women's 400m freestyle event which was set by her in 2006. She also graduated and continued her swimming career with the Gallaudet University.

Ronda Jo Miller is a retired American professional deaf female basketball and volleyball player. She is one of the few deaf women basketball players to have tried out for WNBA. Miller is the first deaf woman to make an attempt to play in the WNBA league in 2005. However, she did not make the team.

References

  1. ↑ "Dawn Jani Birley". www.dawnjanibirley.com. Retrieved 2017-11-15.
  2. ↑ "TaekwondoData". TaekwondoData. Retrieved 2017-11-15.
  3. ↑ "dawn-birley-was- gallaudet-national-champion-athlete". Deafdigest. Retrieved 2017-11-15.
  4. ↑ "Championships | ICSD". www.ciss.org. Retrieved 2017-11-15.
  5. ↑ "Athletes | Deaflympics". www.deaflympics.com. Retrieved 2017-11-15.
  6. ↑ "Dawn Jani Birley, '99, earns top acting honor in Sweden". www.gallaudet.edu. Retrieved 2017-11-15.
  7. ↑ "Intermission | Ravi Jain chats with Dawn Jani Birley". Intermission. 2017-04-19. Retrieved 2017-11-15.
  8. ↑ "Deaf actor a unique narrator in accessible production of 'Prince Hamlet' - NEWS 1130". NEWS 1130. 2017-04-19. Retrieved 2017-11-15.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.