Rachel Shenton relied on a bake sale to help fund her Oscar-winning movie 'The Silent Child'.
Chris Overton and Rachel Shenton
The 30-year-old actress and her fiance Chris Overton won the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film for their movie about a deaf four-year-old girl, and Chris has revealed the unusual role their real-life mothers played in getting the project off the ground.
He explained: "My mum and Rachel's mum did a cake sale [to raise money]. They're sick of cupcakes now."
Rachel stars as a social worker in the acclaimed film and, memorably, she delivered her entire acceptance speech at the Oscars in sign language.
But the brunette beauty has admitted to being worried about signing in front of a huge global audience.
She told 'Good Morning Britain': "It's still surreal that they [Oscars] belong to us ... I didn't regret signing [my acceptance speech], but was worried I wouldn't manage to sign it all. But I managed. It was a close subject to my heart."
Rachel's father became deaf when she was just 12, after undergoing chemotherapy treatment for cancer.
After collecting her Academy Award, Rachel - who stars in the film alongside Maisie Sly, who plays the deaf little girl - explained to the audience: "I made a promise to our six-year-old lead actress that I'd sign this speech.
"My hands are shaking so I apologise...
"Our movie is about a deaf child being born into a world of silence.
"It's not exaggerated or sensationalised for the movie, this is happening, millions of children all over the world live in silence and face communication barriers and particularly access to education.
"Deafness is a silent disability, I want to say the biggest of thank you to the Academy for allowing us to put this in front of a mainstream audience."