Who Is the Sign Language Performer in “Barbie”’s ASL Version? All About Leila Hanaumi

Sign language interpreter Leila Hanaumi performs every character in ‘Barbie with ASL,’ streaming on Max

This Barbie is making a more accessible movie-watching experience.

Along with the Dec. 15 Max streaming release of Greta Gerwig’s hit Barbie came a viewing option for deaf and hard of hearing communities. And the breakout star of Barbie with ASL, sign language performer Leila Hanaumi, counts producer-star Margot Robbie among her fans.

“People keep asking me how did I prepare for my role, but I only played one role. You just played a whole film,” Robbie, 33, said to Hanaumi in a Barbie with ASL post-screening Q&A held Dec. 14, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

“It’s just a brilliant piece of acting,” raved Robbie, producer and star of the film.

Hanaumi, a mother of two based in Austin, Texas, is a communications manager for a deaf-owned marketing firm. She's gone viral for her ASL interpretations of pop songs, including an official collaboration with Tove Lo.

On her social media, Hanaumi describes herself as a “Deaf Creator, Performer, Writer, & Mompreneur.”

Related: Kidz Bop Introduces 12-Year-Old Deaf Performer Savvy in Debut of 'Sign + Dance Along' Videos

In an interview via interpreter with Austin affiliate KXAN, Hanaumi said she was raised by two deaf parents. As a child, her mother would sign movies for her to enhance her viewing experience.

“Ninety percent of deaf children are born to hearing parents and the vast majority of them don’t ever have access to sign language,” said Hanaumi. “So that leads to language deprivation from that child, it’s a huge issue in the deaf community.”

That’s why she signed on to be the interpreter for Barbie with ASL, the first Warner Bros. movie to feature it as a language option, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

After watching Gerwig’s film 50 times and working with ASL coach JAC Cook, Hanaumi filmed for three days in front of a green screen. As the film’s only interpreter, she focused on delineating between characters by “role-shifting,” she told the outlet.

“Even though I am able to understand movies with English captioning, there are still some things missing: tone, the meaning of certain complex lines. It’s never going to be fully accessible for me as a deaf person.”

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Of Cook, who performed as a sign language interpreter on an accessible version of Ant-Man streaming on Disney+, Hanaumi wrote on Instagram that she “whipped my performance into shape,” thanking the coach “for being the mentor I needed 🤟.”

“Barbie is iconic and the message was so powerful. It was critical to capture every bit of what was in the movie,” Hanaumi told KXAN.

“My hope is that the Barbie movie will set an example and a standard of what accessibility and inclusive experience looks like not just for deaf children, but for adults as well for the community at large,” she continued.

Related: Greta Gerwig Hopes Her Barbie Movie Launches a 'Bunch of Different' Barbie Movies (Exclusive)

As for which scene in Barbie was her favorite to interpret and perform, Hanaumi told The Skimm that America Ferrera’s “epic monologue” about expectations for women resonated with her.

“It exposed what it’s like being a woman living under patriarchy in such a real way. I saw so much of myself in her monologue that it permanently altered my worldview.”

Barbie, now streaming on Max, has become 2023’s biggest box office hit. Back in July when the movie first appeared in theaters, Robbie showed off her sign language skills on a red carpet for a fan.

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