Alaqua Cox found fame by starring in the role of Echo in the 2021 MCU series Hawkeye. The world was delighted to see the return of Cox in the 2024 series Echo where she served as the main protagonist of the series.
Being challenged all her life, the journey of Alaqua Cox is nothing short of inspiration. From growing up in Wisconsin on an Indian Reservation to landing a role in the MCU, Cox’s life journey will surely continue to go upwards.
Alaqua Cox Was Born Deaf In An Indian Reservation!
Being a Native American, Alaqua Cox was born to Elena and Bill Cox. The actress was born deaf and was born and raised in the Menominee Indian Reservation in Wisconsin. The actress had three siblings raised alongside her during her early life.
Being born deaf was obviously a tough ordeal but Alaqua Cox attended the Wisconsin School for the Deaf and made it into the girls’ Basketball and Volleyball teams! Cox also has a prosthetic leg although she hasn’t publicly revealed what led to her amputation. It was when her friends told her that Marvel was looking to hire a Native American actress who was deaf that Cox realized her destiny.
Prior to her casting as Maya Lopez in Hawkeye, the actress was an Amazon warehouse worker with no dreams of acting. The actress was raised alongside her three siblings, Will, Jordan, and, Katie Cox in Wisconsin.
On Mother’s Day 2023, the actress announced that she was expecting a baby boy with her partner, and a boy was born to her in October 2023. Being a mother, the actress knows about the pain of her on-screen character Maya Lopez and she revealed that the two indeed shared some childhood traumas!
Alaqua Cox And Echo Share Childhood Traumas!
Related: “Maya Lopez is a villain”: Marvel Doesn’t Want Another Captain America With Alaqua Cox’s Echo
Being an amputee, Cox talked about how she had to go through several surgeries when she was a kid. Revealing that the pain made her as strong as a warrior, the actress revealed to Yard Barker that she co-related her pain to the pain of her on-screen character Maya Lopez losing her mother.
“I was raised with some trauma. We both have childhood trauma, of course, that we’re raised with. And it was different, of course. For example, I grew up, as you know, I am an amputee. So, I went through many different kinds of surgeries as a child.”
She further continued,
“And so, that made me a warrior, in a sense. And her, Maya, she had the death of her mother, and all these tragic events that happened in her life. So, we both have different traumatic experiences.”
Her on-screen character is portrayed to be of the Native American Cheyenne tribe while Alaqua Cox herself is also a Native American. Being proud of her culture, the actress shared to A Tribe Called Geek that it felt great to get this massive platform to represent her culture and educate the people!
“It feels amazing to get this role. Because I’m able to spread awareness in both underrepresented communities. And the audience will be able to learn more about our culture in the most authentic way”.
Alaqua Cox was seen in the iconic role of Maya Lopez in the 2021 series Hawkeye and will be seen on television screens again when Echo releases on 9 January 2024. Being an MCU series, Echo will be available to stream on Disney+ in the U.S.
