Carole Addabbo, a native of Washington, D.C., graduated in 1974 from the Corcoran School of Art, now the Corcoran School of Arts and Design at George Washington University.

She worked in graphic arts at a grocery store group in the Washington area, but left to drive, alone, across the U.S. On the return journey from those travels, she joined a deaf arts and theater organization in Texas, where she attended the University of Texas, Austin.

After several years supporting herself washing dishes and making French crepes at a restaurant, she was advised of a summer program for promising deaf actors at the National Theatre of the Deaf, in Chester, CT, that was gaining a global reputation. She took the opportunity and that turned into a full-time acting position.

Carole made her debut in 1979 as an actress with the NTD, increasingly a ground-breaking theatrical touring company featuring both spoken and American Sign Language. She was a member for seven years and performed throughout the U.S. and around the world. The NTD was the first American arts organization to perform in South Africa following the end of apartheid and the first to tour China in cultural exchange.

She left the company to marry her spouse, who she had met in an amateur acting troupe from Philadelphia that was performing at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland and moved to New York, where she completed her BA degree and earned an MA at NYU.

She currently is in her 15th year as an adjunct professor of American Sign Language at her alma mater. During her time teaching, Carole continued acting, appearing in small parts in the TV show, “Spin City,” and the Amazon-produced film, “Wonderstruck,” starring Julianne Moore. She also wrote a children’s book, “Dina the Deaf Dinosaur.” In her spare time, she draws and paints portraits and landscapes, but many of her works focus on fingers, the voices, lips and tongues of all sign languages.