Kevin Grandalski: Marlee Matlin, Police Career, Marriage and Family

Kevin Grandalski met Marlee Matlin during a normal day at work. She was filming a TV show. He was a police officer near the set. Their first talk led to a marriage that has lasted more than three decades.

Matlin had already become a movie star, but her future husband had a career far from Hollywood. The two went on to raise four children. Their family story also shows how deaf and hearing people can share a busy home with care and respect.

Who Is Kevin Grandalski?

Kevin Grandalski is a former Burbank police officer and the husband of Oscar-winning actress Marlee Matlin. They met while she worked on the series Reasonable Doubts. The couple married in 1993 and have four children named Sarah, Brandon, Tyler, and Isabelle.

Matlin won an Academy Award for Children of a Lesser God before she met her husband. She later starred in films and TV series such as CODA, The West Wing, and Switched at Birth. Her public life has often brought attention to her family, but her husband had his own line of work before their paths crossed.

How They First Met

In the early 1990s, Matlin was making the TV police drama Reasonable Doubts with Mark Harmon. She played a deaf prosecutor who worked with a hearing police detective. The show gave her a major lead role on network television.

Kevin Grandalski worked with the Burbank Police Department. Officers helped with traffic near the filming site. His duty placed him close to the production, where Matlin got to know him.

In the PBS documentary Marlee Matlin: Not Alone Anymore, she recalls meeting him on her first day of filming. She asked him questions about police work. At the start, it was just a simple talk. That small moment later grew into a relationship.

The story has a lovely contrast. Matlin was acting in a drama about police and the law. The man she would marry worked in real law enforcement. Their meeting was not an event planned for movie stars. It happened because both were doing their jobs.

His Career Outside Hollywood

Before his marriage became known to fans, Kevin Grandalski worked as a police officer in Burbank, California. Police work brought him near the set of Reasonable Doubts. It also gave him a career quite unlike Matlin’s life in film and TV.

His public story has focused more on his marriage and family than on his police assignments. Later accounts describe him as a former or retired officer. The work he did at the time of their first meeting is part of the couple’s own story.

This contrast helps explain why he is often seen beside Matlin in family stories rather than in lists of movie roles. He was not one of her co-stars. Their bond began with two people from different jobs who had a chance to meet.

A Wedding at a Friend’S Home

Kevin Grandalski and Marlee Matlin married on August 29, 1993. Their wedding took place at the California home of Henry Winkler and his wife, Stacey.

The site of their wedding had deep meaning for Matlin. Winkler had known her since she was young. As she grew into a film star, he became a close friend and mentor. She even lived with the Winklers for about two years during a hard time in her life.

Their home was a place where she had found care and support. It made sense that she chose it for such a personal day. Her wedding was not just held in a famous actor’s backyard. It was held at a home that had already played a large role in her life.

In a past interview with Arizona Jewish Life, Matlin said a rabbi and a priest took part in the wedding. She is Jewish, while her husband grew up in a different faith. They chose a ceremony that made room for both backgrounds.

Their Four Children

Kevin Grandalski and Matlin are the parents of four children. Their first child, Sarah, was born in 1996. Brandon was born in 2000, Tyler in 2002, and Isabelle in 2003.

The PBS American Masters biography of Matlin lists the children’s names and birth dates. It also records the date and place of the couple’s wedding. The family grew over a span of several years after the two married.

Their children became part of a home where one parent is deaf and the other can hear. Matlin has shared stories about how that worked in daily life. In a CBS News interview, she said that her husband and all four of their children are hearing.

When Matlin missed something in a family talk, she would ask what had been said. Someone would tell her. That detail may sound small, but it shows how a family can help each person stay part of the talk.

Each home finds its own habits. For this family, speaking and signing were part of the wider ways people could connect. The goal was not for every person to be the same. It was for people to stay close and understand one another.

How They Shared Two Faith Traditions

The couple also brought two faith backgrounds into their family. Matlin spoke about this in her Arizona Jewish Life interview. She said the family marked holidays from both traditions and let the children make their own choices about religion as they got older.

The wedding had already shown that mix, with a rabbi and a priest both taking part. As the children grew, the family made space for customs linked to each parent’s life.

That part of their story is easy to miss when all the talk is about an Oscar or a famous TV role. But it matters when looking at the home they built. Their children grew up with more than one set of family traditions around them.

A New Generation in the Family

Their eldest daughter, Sarah, later became a mother. That made Matlin a grandmother. In a 2025 AARP interview, Matlin spoke with joy about her granddaughter, Brooklyn, and said the little girl was learning to sign.

The news offered a fresh look at the family. Sign language was now part of the bond with a new generation. Matlin spoke about seeing her granddaughter on video calls and wishing she could reach through the screen to hold her.

Kevin Grandalski is part of this new stage of family life as a grandfather. The years of raising young children have given way to grown kids and a new child in the wider family.

For Matlin, those ties clearly matter. She has talked about feeling proud as her children follow their own paths. She has also shared how much she enjoys being a grandmother and seeing her family grow.

What Matlin Says About Their Marriage

More than 30 years after their wedding, Matlin has still spoken with warmth about her husband. When AARP asked about what helps a marriage last, she pointed to mutual respect and a good sense of humor.

Her answer sounds a lot like their first meeting. A simple talk on a workday began the story. Then came a wedding, four children, new jobs, and many changes over time.

No one line can explain every long marriage. Still, her words tell us what she values in her own. Respect gives each person room to be themselves. Humor can help a couple get through long days and keep a bond alive.

Matlin also said she hoped to spend an upcoming birthday with her husband, children, and granddaughter. She cared more about being with family than about a large party. That wish says a lot about how her priorities have grown with time.

A Family Beside a Major Acting Career

Matlin became a star with her first major movie role. She later worked across film, television, and public life while also speaking up for better access for deaf people.

Reasonable Doubts was important to her career, but it also shaped her personal life. That was the show that brought her into contact with Kevin Grandalski. Long after it ended, the bond that began during filming has stayed part of her life.

Her later work in CODA brought fresh attention to deaf actors and families. In 2025, the documentary Marlee Matlin: Not Alone Anymore looked back at her work, close friends, and family. It also included her own account of meeting her husband.

Kevin Grandalski never needed a screen career to have a place in that story. His work was outside Hollywood, while hers was in front of the camera. Their marriage joined two very different daily lives.

Kevin Grandalski Today

Kevin Grandalski is known as Matlin’s longtime husband, a former police officer, and the father of their four adult children. Their marriage began in 1993 and has lasted more than three decades.

Matlin’s recent interviews show the joy she finds in time with family. She talks about her children, her granddaughter, and the people she most wants around her. That gives fans a picture of the home life that sits alongside her well-known work.

For readers who first came across his name through a film or TV show, the story starts with that chance meeting on Reasonable Doubts. A police officer and an actress began with a small talk at work. Years later, their family spans three generations.

To explore another family story linked to a well-known performer, read about Ian Alexander Sr. and his connection to Regina King.