Rachel Coleman

Rachel de Azevedo Coleman (born October 9, 1974) is an American producer and actress. With her sister Emilie de Azevedo Brown, she created the Signing Time! video series to teach children basic American Sign Language (ASL), which was broadcast on public television. She produces, directs, and stars in the series, and handles much of its operations as co-founder of Two Little Hands Productions.[2]

Rachel Coleman
Coleman in 2012
Born
Rachel de Azevedo

(1974-10-09) October 9, 1974
Van Nuys, California
OccupationProducer, actress
Years active2001–present
TelevisionSigning Time!, Rachel & The Treeschoolers
Spouse(s)Aaron Coleman
Children3[1]
Parent(s)Lex de Azevedo
FamilyEmilie Brown (sister)

Biography

Coleman was born on October 9, 1974 to Lex and Linda de Azevedo as the fifth of nine children.[3] Her father Lex de Azevedo is an American Mormon composer known primarily for his film scores. Lex's mother, and her grandmother is Alyce King of The King Sisters. Coleman and her father won a Pearl Award in 2007 for songs they had done for children.[4]

As Rachel De Azevedo she has been credited in several episodes of Touched by an Angel.[5] Before moving out of the Los Angeles area, she performed with the band "We the Living" and appeared in the made-for-TV movie "Spring Fling".

In 1998, Coleman and her husband Aaron discovered that their 14-month-old daughter Leah was deaf.[6] She began learning sign language.[2] In 2001, together with her sister, she created Signing Time! - a children's video series that teaches basic ASL to children of all abilities. In 2008, she was nominated for the "Outstanding Performer in a Children's Series," for the 35th Annual Daytime Entertainment Emmys.[7] Her work with Signing Time led her to create the Signing Time Foundation for the promotion of accessible communication for all children. [8]

In 2013, she began a campaign to crowd-fund a new children's series, Rachel & the TreeSchoolers, after it was turned down by networks for being too educational for television.[9] As of April 2016, nine episodes in this series have been released.[10]

In 2018, Rachel Coleman became the executive director of the American Society for Deaf Children.[11]

Filmography
  • Signing Time! Series 1 - (13 volumes)
  • Signing Time! Series 2 - (13 volumes)
  • Baby Signing Time - (4 volumes)
  • Practice Time! - (2 volumes)
  • Potty Time! - (1 volume)
  • Rachel & the TreeSchoolers - (9 volumes)
  • Signing Time Christmas Collection - (1 volume)
  • Signing Time Sentences - (3 volumes)
  • Signing Time Nursery Rhymes - (1 volume)
  • Sign It! American Sign Language Made Easy - (20 lessons)
  • Louder Than Words[12]
  • Saturday's Warrior (2016 version) - Producer[13]

References
  1. "Laura's Story". rachelcoleman.com. Retrieved 19 April 2016.
  2. "Our Story". signingtime.com. Retrieved 24 April 2016.
  3. "The Evolution of Rachel Coleman". rachelcoleman.com. Retrieved 21 April 2016.
  4. "Women shine at 2007 Pearls Award". Deseret Morning News. October 1, 2007. Retrieved 2009-06-30.
  5. "Someone To Watch Over Me". archive.is. Archived from the original on 25 January 2013. Retrieved 16 July 2015.CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  6. "Leah's Story". rachelcoleman.com. Retrieved 16 July 2015.
  7. "Daytime Emmy Nominations". Los Angeles Times. 2008-04-30.
  8. "Meet Your "Sign It ASL" Instructors". Retrieved 5 February 2021.
  9. Piper, Matthew (1 August 2013). "Salt Lake mom tries to fund show 'too educational' for networks". Salt Lake Tribune. Retrieved 25 April 2016.
  10. Kieras, Julie (16 April 2016). "Learning Sign Language with Rachel and the TreeSchoolers". Happy Strong Home. Retrieved 25 April 2016.
  11. "American Society For Deaf Children Announces Signing Time's Rachel Coleman As Executive Director". PR Newswire. 8 February 2018. Retrieved 18 May 2018.
  12. "Louder Than Words: 7 Years, 14 Cameras, 1 Surprising Story". creativeCOW.net. Retrieved 19 April 2016.
  13. Hall, Andrew. "Saturday's Warrior movie reviews". Association for Morman Letters. Dawning of a Brighter Day. Retrieved 25 April 2016.


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.