Not only are the two actors that played Maya Lopez/Echo in the third episode of Hawkeye both first-time actors, but it also turns out they’re related. Monday, Alaqua Cox—the actor behind the present-day Echo—shared a social media post revealing Young Echo, played by Darnell Besaw, is actually her cousin.
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Cox then attached two more behind-the-scenes pictures of herself and besaw hugging on the set of the Marvel Studios shows. The initial social media posting claims that Besaw isn’t Deaf and had to learn Americal Sign Language (ASL) for her role in the series.
“We out here representing our Menominee tribe,” Cox posted alongside the pictures.
In an interview that surfaced ahead of the release of the show, Cox praised her costars Jeremy Renner and Hailee Steinfeld for also learning ASL so that they could communicate with Cox on set.
“It was such an honor to work with them both. I think they are spectacular actors, and I have learned a lot from watching them work behind the scenes… I remember meeting Jeremy on my first day of work on-set; I was a nervous wreck, as this was my very first acting job. He then complimented me in American Sign Language (ASL), which comforted me,” Cox said in the magazine. “Hailee also spelled out her name to me in ASL at the studio where we were doing our stunt training sessions. I thought it was sweet of them putting in efforts to learn basic ASL to communicate with me. It means a lot to me as a Deaf person.”
The first three episodes of Hawkeye are now streaming on Disney+.
What other characters do you hope to see pop up in Hawkeye? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section or by hitting our writer @AdamBarnhardt up on Twitter to chat all things MCU!
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