The first time Charles Graves tried on a Santa suit, a magical feeling came over him.
“I felt it flowing through me,” he says. “A tingle throughout my entire body.”
With or without the red hat and coat, the 54-year-old New Braunfels resident looks the part. A mane of white hair flows from his head, and he sports a fluffy beard of the same color year-round. A pair of tiny round spectacles frames his eyes, which crinkle when he smiles.
But unlike typical interpretations of the jolly old elf, Graves’ work as a professional Santa imagines a different possibility: What if Santa Claus were deaf?
Graves, who is deaf, plays Santa Claus at holiday events around the country. He asks children, both deaf and hearing, what they want for Christmas using American Sign Language, and an ASL interpreter voices the conversations for hearing kids and family members.
“I see thousands of children every Christmas season, but they only get to see me once, so I try to make every interaction as special as the last,” says Graves, who requested to write his responses to Texas Highways over email.
But breaking into the world of professional Santas hasn’t been easy. A new documentary named Deaf Santa Claus chronicles Graves’ journey—from finding the funds to pay for Santa school and a custom-made suit to trying to connect with holiday programmers who have never worked with a deaf Santa. Alongside films like The Piano, Lesson, The Last Showgirl, Nightbitch, and The Room Next Door, the documentary will premiere at the Austin Film Festival on Oct. 26.
Co-director of the film Anthony Mowl first met Graves in 2021 at a holiday event organized by the Texas School for the Deaf. Mowl, who is deaf, was taking his daughter, who is also deaf, to meet Santa. As he watched Graves with his long, white beard and red Santa suit smiling and signing with children, Mowl was blown away by his authenticity.
“He instantly took my daughter’s and my heart away,” Mowl says over Zoom. “It was just a memory I’ll never forget.”
At the time, Graves was just volunteering at a handful of events. He never set out to be Santa Claus, but when he grew out his beard in 2019, his resemblance to the Christmas character was uncanny. A local charity asked him to play the role, and he quickly fell in love with the gig. But Mowl, who works in marketing and video production in Austin, thought Graves should have a bigger reach. The two teamed up to build the Deaf Santa Claus brand.
Mowl also wanted to share Graves’ story, so in early 2022, he connected with Los Angeles-based filmmaker Ben Shelton, whose credits include directing Netflix’s Candy Jar and the TV series Impress Me. After Mowl showed him photos and videos of Graves, Shelton was hooked.
“Charles Graves is the reason why this movie came together,” Shelton says. “He is a beautiful person inside and out. When you meet this guy, he’s got charisma exuding out of him in all areas.”
For the last 25 years, Graves has worked as a night residential educator at the Texas School for the Deaf, supervising students who live on campus. His wife, Kari, who is also deaf, is a graphic designer and accompanies Graves at holiday events as Mrs. Claus. The couple met in college at the Southwest Collegiate Institute for the Deaf in West Texas and have a daughter, Kalei, a recent graduate of New Braunfels High School.
These days, Graves is surrounded by people who sign, but life wasn’t always like this. He grew up as the only Deaf person in his family and often felt left out of key moments—like visiting Saint Nick.
“My first memory of meeting Santa Claus wasn’t a positive one, and that sticks with me to this day,” he says. “When we meet with Deaf children, we’re helping to create core memories for not just the child, but for their siblings and parents who can see their Deaf children in their natural state. Kids are able to ask the important questions in ASL, like ‘What’s your favorite cookie?’ and that means more than you realize to a 6- or 7-year-old.”
Getting him into the big chair at malls, hotels, and city events, though, hasn’t been easy. Event organizers are often inclined to promote programs with Graves as “Deaf only,” but Mowl says it’s important for Deaf people to have representation in all settings. And when hearing kids meet Graves, they don’t question whether or not he’s the real deal.
“I’ve seen him meet hundreds of hearing kids,” Mowl says. “It’s always, ‘Santa Claus is deaf.’ They take him for who he is.”
When event organizers do open up their chairs for him, Graves says, it can be life-changing.
“If we’re able to show kids that the most magical man in the world, even he can be deaf,” he says, “then there’s no telling what they will imagine for themselves.”