Shaylee Mansfield

Shaylee Mansfield was born deaf in 2009 in Burbank, California.[1][2][3] Her parents—former actor Sheena McFeely and Manny Johnson[4]—are also deaf and run ASL Nook, a website and YouTube channel that teaches American Sign Language (ASL).[1] Mansfield has a younger sister named Ivy, who is hearing.[4][5] As of 2016, Shaylee attends a deaf school.[6]

Mansfield appeared on ASL Nook from 2013 until 2019.[3] She began signing Christmas stories on the channel at age four with The Nightmare Before Christmas. At five, she performed How the Grinch Stole Christmas!; E! said: "We can't remember the last time a holiday story made us smile so much ... mostly because [Mansfield] is so into how she tells the story. She is so expressive with her sign-language and facial expressions."[7] In 2015, she enacted Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer; HuffPost called her retelling of The Polar Express "beautiful ... like you've never seen before".[1]

At a Disney park in 2013, Mansfield met a staff member dressed as Tinker Bell who could sign. Three years later, due to this event, Disney flew the Mansfield family to Disneyland to film an "Unforgettable Stories" video.[lower-alpha 1] The family met an actor dressed as Minnie Mouse who had recently begun learning sign language. The video went viral, garnering, as of April 2016, 11 million views and becoming the second-most-watched of Disney's advertisements. Adweek highlighted its inclusivity as a major factor in its success, stating: "when we see the Mansfield family's moment, we feel that same joy in ourselves".[8] The Mansfields also appeared alongside two other predominantly deaf families in the documentary film Born This Way Presents: Deaf Out Loud,[4][9] which aired on A&E on September 12, 2018.[10] The New York Times's Margaret Lyons described it as earnest and the families featured as "incredibly compelling, thoughtful and telegenic".[9]

In 2019, Mansfield made her acting debut as Michelle, a homeless, deaf girl, in the Disney+ film Noelle.[11] Despite the film's mixed reception,[12] the role was, according to Variety, helpful to Mansfield's career.[11] In July 2019, Netflix announced Mansfield had been cast in its film Feel the Beat,[13] which received ambivalent reviews.[14] In 2021, Mansfield appeared as Peyton, the deaf daughter of Kim (Amy Smart) and Brad (Peter Facinelli), in 13 Minutes; The Hollywood Reporter said she had a "very natural screen presence".[15]

Mansfield met Delbert and Jevon Whetter, deaf consultants on animated series Madagascar: A Little Wild, at a panel for RespectAbility; following the panel, Mansfield's mother asked whether the show needed a deaf actor.[16] After having a familiarization meeting with DreamWorks, Mansfield was quickly offered a role in the series.[17] Because of the earlier relationship between Mansfiled and the Whetters, Mansfield did not go through the regular casting procedure for A Little Wild. The show's original intent to depict a boy was adjusted to a girl, who was named and modeled after Mansfield.[16][18] She was able to choose her own interpreter, which she stated enabled her to "focus on delivering [her] best performance".[16] The animators based the character's actions on her signs using a video reference.[18] Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Mansfield was required to work via Zoom. Jevon said: "We had to really slow it down to be extremely clear, and give various angles of the lines so that the animators can see where the hand shapes and hand movements should be".[16] Mansfield made a guest appearance in the episode "Gloria's Got 'Em All", which was released on streaming services Hulu and Peacock on January 13, 2022; she is credited for her signed performance in the episode alongside the voice actors, the first-such credit for a deaf actor.[18]