Color of Hockey: 10-year-old deaf player lands role on 'The Last of Us'

William Douglas has been writing The Color of Hockey blog since 2012. Douglas joined NHL.com in 2019 and writes about people of color in the sport. Today, as part of NHL.com's celebration of Black History Month, he profiles Keivonn Woodard, a deaf 10-year-old player for the Bowie Hockey Club in Maryland and an actor who appears in the HBO series "The Last of Us."

Keivonn Woodard is called "Hollywood" by teammates and coaches on the Bowie Hockey Club Under-10 team in Maryland for his effusive goal celebrations.

"I like to celebrate and I'm flashy," Keivonn said. "I watch the NHL, the Washington Capitals."

The 10-year-old forward, who is deaf, also earned the nickname for his acting chops guest-starring in "The Last of Us," an HBO hit series.

Keivonn plays Sam in the post-apocalyptic zombie fungus thriller, which is adapted from the popular "The Last of Us" video game. His big episode began streaming on HBO Max Friday night and aired on HBO's cable network Sunday evening.

"It was fun," Keivonn said through an American Sign Language interpreter about being part of the show. "When I was there (filming), I felt nervous, but when I was actually auditioning, I was fine."

Craig Mazin, the series co-creator with Neil Druckmann, said Keivonn performed like a seasoned pro despite being relatively new to acting.

"Keivonn got to experience pretty much everything a production can throw at you as an actor, and it was just water off a duck's back," Mazin said. "He was always on time, always happy, it didn't matter if it was first thing in the morning or three weeks of shooting at night. He always knew his lines ... he understood the scene, and he took direction gorgeously."

Keivonn's path to "The Last of Us" and hockey are unique. The character he portrays in the series isn't deaf in the video game. Mazin suggested the change to Druckmann, who wrote and co-directed the game.
"I wanted to show a different way of communicating and I'm also pretty committed to showing disabilities on screen to increase representation of people with disabilities," Mazin said.

But there was one problem: There aren't many deaf, Black male actors between 7 and 12 years old who are fluent in American or British sign language.

So Mazin said he tossed a Hail Mary pass and put out a casting call on Twitter. It caught the attention of friends of Keivonn and his family. They told his mother, April Jackson-Woodard, about it.

"A lot of people kept sending me this and I was, like, 'Keivonn, would you like to try out for this?'" said Jackson-Woodard, who fed lines to her son in an audition video. "And he said, 'Yeah.' He auditioned and, sure enough, he got the role two days later."

Mazin said when he saw Keivonn's audition, he knew he had his Sam.

"Sometimes when you have very limited choices you take the best of what you've got," he said. "We had limited choices, but we got an incredible actor, I mean he is amazing. Just one of those people you meet where you go, 'OK, there is such a thing as just natural talent,' and he has it."

Chris Pozerski, coach of Bowie's Under-10 team, says the same thing about Keivonn when it comes to hockey.

"He's my top goal-scorer and he's definitely one of the top three players on the team without a doubt," Pozerski said.
Keivonn became interested in hockey after he had a birthday skating party at the Bowie Ice Arena and noticed other kids playing the sport.

He told his parents he wanted to try hockey, but they were hesitant because they had never seen a Black hockey player.

Jackson-Woodard grew up playing volleyball and basketball and her husband, Dwayne Woodard, won basketball championships on teams in the Eastern Athletic Association of the Deaf.

"Dwayne at the time said, 'I really want him to play basketball and that's it,'" Jackson-Woodard said. "I told Dwayne, 'If Keivonn really wants to do it, why not?'"

Dwayne Woodard developed into a hockey fan who loved watching his son play, unfortunately for only a short while; he died of cancer on Feb. 18, 2021.

"My dad became a huge supporter and showed up every time I showed up on the ice skating rink," Keivonn said. "Every time I made a goal, he was there and that's how I got to where I am now."

Getting started playing hockey was initially frustrating for Keivonn due to the language barrier and unfamiliarity with hockey terminology, Jackson-Woodard said.

She reached out to Bowie Ice Hockey Club president Lori Jones and asked if an American Sign Language interpreter familiar with sports could be provided for games and practices.

The addition has been "a game-changer for Keivonn," Pozerski said.

"He's a very intelligent player, he is very attentive, he has to be because he's using his eyes to observe," he said. "Having that interpreter, it allows him to understand exactly what we're seeing. It's a huge difference."

Funding for the interpreter comes from a $10,000 grant the Washington Capitals and Monumental Sports & Entertainment Foundation's Capital Impact Fund awarded the Bowie club in October 2022.

"The Capital Impact Fund launched to support diversity in hockey, and when we heard about Keivonn's goal to become the first deaf Black player in the NHL, we were proud to dedicate funds in support of his journey," said Capitals senior vice president of marketing Amanda Tischler, who oversees community relations and youth hockey for the team.

The grant also helped pay for a special lighting system that the Bowie club sets up at rinks to alert Keivonn to play stoppages and shift changes.

"Before, we were having the players tap him on the shoulders or the refs, not grab him, but stop him from continuing on the play," Pozerski said. "I think it's built confidence in him because he knows he can play to the whistle now. He's not worried about playing and going too far and a chance of getting himself a penalty."

Keivonn spent three months in Calgary filming "The Last of Us" in early 2022, Mazin said.

The show gave Keivonn and his mother a list of nearby rinks if he wanted to go skating or play hockey, but there wasn't enough time until her son wrapped up shooting his scenes, his mother said.

"Keivonn's driver had a son who actually played hockey and he said, 'Hey, you can join my kid's team and play with them,'" Jackson-Woodard said. "He was just so excited to play. It was like a kid eating ice cream."

"The Last of Us" won't be the last time viewers will see Keivonn. He has a lead role in "Fractal," a science fiction short now in post-production.

The kid nicknamed "Hollywood" said doing television and movies are fine, but he still has his heart set on being a pro hockey player.

"I hope he sticks with acting," Mazin said, "but if he ends up playing in the NHL, I'll be OK with that, too."

Photos: Evan Habeeb Photography, HBO, April Jackson-Woodard, Bowie Hockey Club