Academy Award winning actress Marlee Matlin will sign the National Anthem in American Sign Language along side Grammy Award winning singer Billy Joel at the SUPER BOWL XLI PREGAME SHOW on CBS at Dolphin Stadium in South Florida on Sunday, February 4, the NFL announced today. This is Matlin's second time performing the National Anthem in Sign Language at the Super Bowl; she was featured in the Super Bowl XXVII pregame show in Pasadena in 1993, with Grammy Award winning singer Garth Brooks.
Matlin, who won the Academy Award for her debut film "Children of A Lesser God," is the youngest person ever to receive the award for Best Actress and was also honored with a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Drama for the same film. She has been nominated for four Emmy Awards for her work in "Seinfeld," "Picket Fences" "The Practice" and "Law and Order: SVU." For the last 7 years she starred in the NBC drama "The West Wing" and recently joined the cast of Showtime's "The L Word." Matlin also appeared in Billy Joel's music video "We Didn't Start the Fire," and performed with Joel on the PBS series, "Sesame Street."
Super Bowl XL was watched by more than 141 million viewers in the U.S. last year. It is annually the nation's highest-rated TV program and the most-watched single-day sporting event. The game will be broadcast to a potential worldwide audience of 1 billion in more than 230 countries and territories.
Matlin is among many performers who have been honored with performing the Super Bowl National Anthem including: Diana Ross, Neil Diamond, Whitney Houston, Harry Connick, Jr., Vanessa Williams, Cher, Faith Hill, Mariah Carey, Dixie Chicks, Beyonce Knowles and many more.
