Rachel Coleman

Rachel Coleman
Born Rachel de Azevedo
(1974-10-09) October 9, 1974
Van Nuys, California
Occupation Producer, actress, musician
Years active 2001–present
Television Signing Time!, Rachel & The Treeschoolers
Spouse(s) Aaron Coleman
Children Laura,[1] Leah Coleman, Lucy Coleman
Parent(s) Lex de Azevedo
Family Emilie Brown (sister)

Rachel de Azevedo Coleman (born October 9, 1974) is an American musician 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 and Nick Jr., She produces, directs, and stars in the series, and handles much of its operations as co-founder of Two Little Hands Productions.[2]

Biography

Rachel 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 Rachel's grandmother is Alyce King of The King Sisters. She and her father Lex de Azevedo 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, Rachel and her husband Aaron discovered that their 14-month-old daughter Leah was deaf.[6] Rachel put aside her music and began learning sign language.[2] In 2001, Rachel teamed up with her sister Emilie to create Signing Time! - a children's video series that teaches basic ASL to children of all abilities. Signing Time was inspired by Leah. From the beginning, they have found that teaching her 'hearing' peers even a few basic signs builds bonds of friendship and community that every child needs. In 2008, she was nominated for the "Outstanding Performer in a Children's Series," for the 35th Annual Daytime Entertainment Emmys.[7]

In 2013, Rachel 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.[8] As of April 2016, 9 episodes in this series have been released.[9]

Filmography

References

  1. ↑ "Laura's Story". rachelcoleman.com. Retrieved 19 April 2016.
  2. 1 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. Retrieved 16 July 2015.
  6. ↑ "Leah's Story". rachelcoleman.com. Retrieved 16 July 2015.
  7. ↑ "Daytime Emmy Nominations". Los Angeles Times. 2008-04-30.
  8. ↑ Piper, Matthew (1 August 2013). "Salt Lake mom tries to fund show 'too educational' for networks". Salt Lake Tribune. Retrieved 25 April 2016.
  9. ↑ Kieras, Julie (16 April 2016). "Learning Sign Language with Rachel and the TreeSchoolers". Happy Strong Home. Retrieved 25 April 2016.
  10. ↑ "IMDb - Rachel & the TreeSchoolers". IMDb. Retrieved 24 June 2015.
  11. ↑ "Louder Than Words: 7 Years, 14 Cameras, 1 Surprising Story". creativeCOW.net. Retrieved 19 April 2016.
  12. ↑ Hall, Andrew. "Saturday's Warrior movie reviews". Association for Morman Letters. Dawning of a Brighter Day. Retrieved 25 April 2016.


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