Russell Harvard

Russell Harvard was born April 16, 1981 in Pasadena, Texas to Kay and Henry Harvard. Russell and his brother, Renny, were born deaf. When the boys were old enough to start school, the family moved to Austin, Texas so they could attend the Texas School for the Deaf (TSD). Russell attended TSD from kindergarten through the twelfth grade and graduated in 1999 always being evolved in his favorite arts of music and acting. After graduation, he enrolled at Gallaudet University, a deaf college, in Washington D.C. where also played in performances of Shakespeare's "Much Ado About Nothing" and Tennessee Williams's "A Streetcar Named Desire". He had left and returned to the university several times when one of life's distractions beckons him to try other things. One of those distractions was moving to Alaska with his mother and working in a deaf school. He returned to Gallaudet, graduated in 2008 while also went on as a theater teacher and director of plays at Texas School for the Deaf. Praised stage productions like Nina Raine's "Tribes", William Shakespeare's "King Lear" (as the Duke of Cornwall) with Glenda Jackson in the title role and Aaron Sorkin's adaptation of Harper Lee's "To Kill a Mockingbird" (as Link Deas and Boo Radley) express, among others, his excellent theater work in a wide range of wonderful roles vividly inspired by his exquisite acting subtlety. His applauded performances in "King Lear" and "To Kill a Mockingbird" also marked an historic milestone for deaf actors on Broadway in roles who are not defined by their deafness. His sublime qualities of profoundness, charisma and insights as one of the best actors of his generation are also expressed through his superb screen work of memorable tour-de-force interpretations in film and TV masterpieces such as Paul Thomas Anderson's There Will Be Blood (2007), Oren Kaplan's The Hammer (2010) and Noah Hawley's Fargo (2014).