URBANA – The News-Gazette checked in with actress Marlee Matlin, who was the youngest winner of the Academy Award for best actress for "Children of a Lesser God" in 1986. More recently, you've seen her on "The L Word" on Showtime, NBC's "The West Wing" and the TV movie "Sweet Nothing in My Ear." She also performed in season six of ABC's "Dancing with the Stars."

You can catch Matlin at "An Evening with Marlee Matlin" on the University of Illinois campus next week. The talk is scheduled for 8 p.m. Wednesday in the Illini Rooms at the Illini Union. Admission is free, and the doors open at 7:30 that evening. It's sponsored by the Illini Union Board and LGBT Resource Center.

Matlin will discuss her newest book, "I'll Scream Later," which is available at the Illini Union during the event or at the Illini Union Bookstore at Wright and Daniel streets in Champaign.

NG: What message are you trying to get across with "I'll Scream Later"? Are these the same topics you'll address in "An Evening with Marlee Matlin"?

MM: In "I'll Scream Later" I wanted to get across that I, like a lot of people who are deaf and hard of hearing, are more than just people who can't hear. So many people wrote me e-mails and letters telling me I was an inspiration for being able to make it (in) Hollywood despite being unable to hear or that I was an inspiration dancing without hearing the music in "Dancing with the Stars."

In writing my book I wanted people to know that I had other struggles in my life and that by writing about them I could inspire people in many other ways.

I also wanted to get across to people who struggle with addiction, sexual abuse, domestic violence that it's OK to tell the truth, reach out and get help.

My story was for so long about keeping silent. I realized only after healing myself that silence should be the last thing the world ever hears from me. So I wanted to write a book to inspire and motivate while telling the world that none of us are perfect and that we should not hold ourselves up to a standard that would be impossible to meet. We each deserve to be listened to and heard and that's what I hope to share in my talk.

NG: As a deaf actress, what obstacles have you encountered?

MM: Most of the obstacles I face in Hollywood have to do with attitudes rather than physical barriers. Hollywood has been very accommodating in terms of providing interpreters and other means to allow me full communicative access.

But there are still barriers when it comes to ideas about allowing a deaf character to be part of a story that might not have had a deaf character in the first place.

Fortunately, I have a team behind me that works every day to change those notions and come up with creative solutions for producers and studios to make it easy to incorporate a character that communicates in the way that I communicate.

NG: You've done a wide variety of projects, from movies to television to "Dancing with the Stars." What's next for you?

MM: I finally have had the chance to breathe and take a break with my family as I had been working for the last three years nonstop, from "The L Word," to "Sweet Nothing In My Ear" for Hallmark Hall of Fame to "Dancing with the Stars" the show to the national tour (of "Dancing with the Stars") to writing and promoting my autobiography.

Now I'm in development, as they say in Hollywood. I have a comedy in the works with the actor Mario Cantone ("Sex in the City") and Carol Leifer, who wrote my Emmy-nominated performance in "Seinfeld."

And I have a few feature scripts I'm looking at, stuff I'm passionate about. I love having this little breather!

NG: And speaking of "Dancing with the Stars," what was that like?

MM: Amazing, scary, challenging, fun and exciting. Performing live in front of 22 million viewers in clothing the size of a postage stamp is about as much as I could've gone outside my comfort zone as possible ... and I loved it.

What other chance would I have had to dance to music in Hollywood? I felt like Ginger Rogers, doing it all backward and in heels.

NG: You're originally from the Chicago area. Do you come back to Illinois often?

MM: As much as I can. I am a Chicago gal. That's how I identify myself. I follow Chicago news, root for Chicago sports teams and consider it my home. I may live in California but my heart is in Chicago and so are a lot of my friends, too. I miss it a lot but I do admit, I don't miss the snow!