Sean Berdy is the perfect example of Hollywood’s effort to increase diversity and improve inclusivity. Berdy is the heartthrob who plays the role of Sam in Netflix’s new teen drama The Society. The apocalyptic theme in The Society brings out the worst in some of the characters in the show, but Sam – a deaf and gay teenager – takes the moral high ground even in the face of adversity.

Before appearing in The Society, Sean played the role of Emmett Bledsoe in 103 episodes of Switched at Birth. This piece will look at Sean’s early life, his career, his mental health issues, his activism, and his relationships.

He was born deaf and he considers American Sign Language as his first language

Sean Berdy was born on 3rd June 1993 in Boca Raton, Florida. He was born deaf, and the first language he learned to speak was American Sign Language. Sean is now able to sign and speak English at the same time, but it doesn’t come easy to him. He told Bustle:

“People, I think, don’t realize. They just say, wow… you’re signing and talking, it’s touching. But the fact is [that] doing both languages at the same time is extremely difficult. It’s like having two separate parts of your brain working at the same time.”

Apart from being deaf, Sean was also born an entertainer. He used to put in shows for family and friends at home. At the age of 11, he landed a role in the film Sandlot 2. Sean was also a skilled magician, and he won the top prize for young magicians at the World Deaf Magician’s festival. However, his main focus was acting, and he landed roles in The Bondage, The Deaf Family, and The Legend of the Mountain Man. Sean talked to The TV Addict about his acting inspirations:

“It’s funny that I never really had any deaf inspiration. I’ve always admired Marlee Matlin, and what a great woman, what a great heart, what a wonderful actress. I’ve always looked up to her. As a person, she is inspiring. But, as a kid performing, I looked up over to performers who inspired me like Jim Carrey, oddly enough. His is one of the big inspirations in my young life, and he still is.”

He is impressed with increased ASL representation in Hollywood

Sean is happy with the steps Hollywood is taking to ensure that American Sign Language is visible in Hollywood. He is happy with movies such as Shape of Water and A Quiet Place since they incorporated sign language in different ways. It was a learning experience for most of his The Society co-stars when they arrived on set, and Sean was impressed with the dedication they showed in learning ASL. He told Time:

“I admire Gideon [Adlon, who plays Becca] so much. She showed up cold and impressed me with how motivated she was to learn the language. Basically for each episode, she had a week-and-a-half or two weeks max to learn her lines in sign language believably. That’s a lot of pressure – and she nailed it every time.”

Increased ASL representation in Hollywood has also reflected in the outside world. People watching ASL visible shows are willing to learn sign language. Sean told American Profile:

“It’s nice that people are learning. You can go to a restaurant, a bakery, or whatever, and people say, ‘Thank you.’ They want to do some sign language. I will say, ‘Where did you learn that?’ They say, ‘From the show.’ I think that is so cool. It has had a wonderful impact.”

He took a step back from acting to focus on his mental health

In 2018, Sean took a break from acting to focus on his mental health. He wrote on Instagram that he had been struggling with bipolar disorder since he was 11 and that he was tired of hiding it. Sean wrote:

“I may look like the happiest and silliest man on earth, but that is an artist’s art of hiding. I have been hiding for so long and I’m done with it.”

Sean got back to acting when he accepted his role in The Society. He loved the script and the message in it, and he decided to give it a shot. Thankfully for him, he found a supportive cast and crew. He told Time:

“My struggle has been up and down. It’s a situation where I live day to day. But with a daily focus and working with such a great cast and crew who supports me, they understand that some days aren’t the best for me and they’re there for me.”

He believes that teens have a big role to play in activism

One of the reasons why Sean took up his role in The Society was because the issues in the show reflected the issues that are facing society right now. He didn’t have many parallels with his character, but he saw the message portrayed by the writers as important. He told Time:

“The Society in the show is actually heavily based on the politics of today. We have this gun violence epidemic, we have domestic violence increasing. We have social justice and the hate for socialism. I think the creators tried to include a lot of those issues to bring the story to life.”

The Society is primarily a teen show, but Sean doesn’t feel out of place with the rest of the cast. He is a bit older than most of his castmates, but they get along quite well. Sean believes that teens can play a major role in activism on issues such as gun violence and climate change. He continued:

“For young people, this world is just getting crazier and crazier. It’s very hard for me emotionally, personally, to see things that are happening the world right now. I hope this show speaks for itself and illuminates what’s happening and helps the audience see we need to take care of some issues. I think that young people can inspire the world by sharing the message of love.”