American Native and First Nations Actors
by alaxwish0077 | created - 30 Dec 2012 | updated - 30 Dec 2012 | PublicAmerican Native and First Nations Actors
1. Gary Farmer
Actor | Dead Man
Gary Dale Farmer is a character actor with plenty of character. With over 100 Film and TV appearances attached to his resume, and plenty more in the pipeline, Gary has shown he can adapt easily to any genre when necessary. He was born in Ohsweken, Ontario, into the Cayuga nation and Wolf Clan, and ...
2. Adam Beach
Actor | Windtalkers
Adam Beach was born in Ashern, Manitoba, the son of Sally and Dennis Beach, and was raised on the Dog Creek First Nations Reserve, with his two brothers. A troubled childhood saw his mother killed by a drunk driver, and his alcoholic father drowned only weeks afterward. The three brothers went to ...
3. Wes Studi
Actor | The Last of the Mohicans
From small-town Oklahoma native to internationally acclaimed actor and musician, Wes Studi credits his passion and multi-faceted background for his powerful character portrayals that forever changed a Hollywood stereotype. Within a few years of his arrival in Hollywood, Studi caught the attention ...
4. Michelle Thrush
Actress | Pathfinder
Michelle Thrush is a Canadian actress and First Nations activist for Aboriginal Canadians and the other Indigenous peoples of the Americas.
Thrush, who is Cree, was born and raised in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, by parents she admits were chronic alcoholics. She recalls being called "Squaw" at Bowness...
5. Eric Schweig
Actor | The Last of the Mohicans
Eric Schweig was born on June 19, 1967 in Inuvik, Northwest Territories, Canada. He is an actor, known for The Last of the Mohicans (1992), Big Eden (2000) and Skins (2002). He was previously married to Leah ?.
6. Irene Bedard
Actress | Pocahontas
Irene Bedard (born July 22, 1967) is an Alaska Native actress enrolled in the Native Village of Koyuk who has played many American Indian characters in a variety of television shows and films. She is best known for her voice role as the title character in the Disney animated film "Pocahontas," and ...
7. Julia Jones
Actress | The Twilight Saga: Eclipse
Julia Jones is one of the entertainment industry's brightest talents.
Julia stars in a leading role on Dexter: New Blood, Showtime's record-shattering, most watched series to date. She can also be seen in Peacock's comedy series Rutherford Falls, Disney+'s hit series The Mandalorian, and HBO's ...
8. Chaske Spencer
Actor | The Twilight Saga: New Moon
Chaske Spencer stars as the co-lead opposite Emily Blunt in Hugo Blick's limited series THE ENGLISH (Amazon/BBC) in which he has been recognized for his work by the BAFTA Awards and Royal Television Society (RTS) Programme Awards with a 2023 Leading Actor nomination. On the feature side, he starred...
9. Eddie Spears
Actor | DreamKeeper
Eddie Spears was born on November 29, 1982 in Chamberlain, South Dakota, USA. He is an actor, known for DreamKeeper (2003), Hell on Wheels (2011) and Bone Tomahawk (2015).
10. Michael Spears
Actor | Into the West
Born in Chamberlain, South Dakota and residing in Montana, Spears has five brothers, one sister, and is Lakota Sioux Tribe. His first role was in the film "Dances With Wolves" as Otter. Michael went on to appear in "Skins", "Into The West", "Yellow Rock", Cyril Morin's "The Activist", and had a ...
11. Jennifer Podemski
Producer | Moccasin Flats
Actor, Writer, Producer, Director Jennifer Podemski is a director, writer, producer and actor. Born and raised in Toronto, Jennifer makes her home in Barrie, Ontario.
Of mixed Anishinaabe (First Nation) and Ashkenazi (Jewish) decent, Jennifer's professional acting career began when she was 17. Her ...
12. Amara Zaragoza
Actress | Gossip Girl
Amara Zaragoza is an actress/writer/director who loves playing music, traveling and riding horses. She is a native of Kansas who moved to Los Angeles to pursue acting after being cast off the street for her first project. One of her first acting jobs was on the longtime WB hit Smallville. That ...
13. Carrie Madariaga
Actress | Eagle Falls
Carrie Madariaga is of Basque, Luiseno, Polish and Scotch-Irish descents. Raised on the Pechanga Indian Reservation in Temecula California, where her ancestors have lived for over ten thousand years. Madariaga began began acting in San Diego ca., working with commercial Emmy award winning director ...
14. Tamara Podemski
Actress | Outer Range
Tamara Podemski is a multi-disciplinary artist born and raised in Toronto to an Ojibway mother from Treaty 4 Territory in Saskatchewan and an Ashkenazi father from Israel. She is a graduate of the Claude Watson School for the Performing Arts where she studied theatre, dance and music throughout its...
15. Zahn McClarnon
Actor | Into the West
Zahn Tokiya-ku McClarnon is an American actor known for his performances in the Western crime drama series Longmire, the second season of Fargo, and the second season of Westworld. In 2022 he plays the lead role in the AMC series Dark Winds. He also features in the 2021 FX on Hulu series ...
16. David Midthunder
Actor | Hostiles
David Midthunder is an enrolled tribal member at the Fort Peck Indian reservation in Montana. Midthunder graduated from Stewart Indian School in Nevada and went on to pursue a degree in Cultural Anthropology at the University of Utah. He is best known for playing the leading role of "Famous Shoes" ...
17. Tonantzin Carmelo
Actress | Into the West
Tonantzin Carmelo is a multifaceted American actress playing lead and supporting roles in movies, television series, documentaries, video games, and theater. Her break-out performance in Steven Spielberg's, Into the West, earned her several awards and nominations, including a Screen Actors Guild ...
18. Raoul Max Trujillo
Actor | Riddick
Raoul Max Trujillo, aka Raoul Maximiano Trujillo de Chauvelon, was born in Northern New Mexico. He is a mixed blood descendant of Tlaxcalan (Nahuatl), Ute, Apache, Comanche, Pueblo., French, Sephardic Jew and Andalusian Moor. After high school, he spent three years serving in the military in ...
19. Gil Birmingham
Actor | Wind River
Gil Birmingham is an American actor of Comanche ancestry, best known for his portrayal of Billy Black in the The Twilight Saga film series. Birmingham was born in San Antonio, Texas. His family moved frequently during his childhood, due to his father's career in the military. He learned to play the...
20. Tyler Christopher
Actor | General Hospital
Tyler Christopher was born on November 11, 1972 in Joliet, Illinois, USA. He was an actor, known for General Hospital (1963), Shouting Secrets (2011) and Into the West (2005). He was married to Brienne Pedigo and Eva Longoria. He died on October 31, 2023 in San Diego, California, USA.
21. Russell Means
Actor | Natural Born Killers
Russell Means was born an Oglala/Lakota Sioux Indian. He was the first national director of the American Indian Movement (AIM) in which role he became prominent during the 1973 standoff with the U.S. government at Wounded Knee. In 1987, he joined the U.S. Libertarian Party and announced his ...
22. Georgina Lightning
Actress | Older Than America
Georgina Lightning brings a long track record of creative experience in the film industry as an actor, producer, director and acting coach on such projects as: Dreamkeepers, Backroads, Johnny Greyeyes, Christmas in the Clouds, Tecumseh, the Oath and Smoke Signals among countless others. Lightning ...
23. Crystle Lightning
Actress | Trickster
Crystle Lightning, the Canadian Screen Award Winner for "Best Actress in a Drama Series" 2021, is an Indigenous Actress from the Enoch Cree Nation in Alberta. She began her career at age nine when she landed her first lead role in the feature: 3 NINJAS: Knuckle Up and has been working in the ...
24. Cody Lightning
Actor | Four Sheets to the Wind
Cody Lightning was born on August 8, 1986 in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. He is an actor and director, known for Four Sheets to the Wind (2007), Hey, Viktor! (2023) and Brick (2005).
25. Roseanne Supernault
Actress | Cold Road
Nôses Kisik-Papimohtew (Mother Walks-in-the-Sky), also known as Roseanne Supernault, is a classically trained Actress who was raised on East Prairie Métis Settlement, and also hails from the Whitefish Lake Atikameg First Nation in the Treaty 8 territory of Canada. Born in the Treaty 8 territory to ...
26. Ruben Chato Hinojosa Jr.
Art_department | Beach Bar: The Movie
Ruben Chato Hinojosa was raised in Texas and reservations, is an enrolled member of the Lipan Apache Nation Tribe of Texas,and proud heritage of the Mescalero Apache tribe. He is a Actor, Artist, Writer, Traditional American Indian Flute performer,Sculptor, and creator of Warrior Bone Knives. ...
27. Saginaw Grant
Actor | The Lone Ranger
Saginaw is the Hereditary Chief and a respected member of the Sac and Fox, Iowa and Otoe-Missouria Nations.
In 1936, Saginaw Morgan Grant was born to Sarah and Austin Grant Sr. at Pawnee Indian Hospital in Pawnee, Oklahoma. He was raised on a farm in Cushing, Oklahoma with two brothers and one ...
28. Graham Greene
Actor | The Green Mile
Graham Greene was born on June 22, 1952 in Six Nations Reserve, Ontario, Canada. He is an actor and writer, known for The Green Mile (1999), Wind River (2017) and Dances with Wolves (1990). He has been married to Hilary Blackmore since December 20, 1990. They have two children.
29. Tantoo Cardinal
Actress | Wind River
Actress Tantoo Cardinal is a Member of the Order of Canada, one of the country's highest civilian honors. The order recognizes Cardinal for her contributions to the growth and development of Aboriginal performing arts in Canada.
Arguably the most widely recognized Native Actress of her generation, ...
30. Floyd 'Red Crow' Westerman
Actor | Dances with Wolves
Floyd 'Red Crow' Westerman was born on August 17, 1936 in Lake Traverse Indian Reservation, Roberts County, South Dakota, USA. He was an actor and director, known for Dances with Wolves (1990), Hidalgo (2004) and Dharma & Greg (1997). He was married to Rosie. He died on December 13, 2007 in Los...
31. Rodney A. Grant
Actor | Dances with Wolves
Native American actor, Rodney Arnold Grant was born the 9th of March, 1959. After his biological parents abandoned him, his grandparents raised him from 6 months of age, up until 1982. Rodney has five adult children: three daughters from his ex-wife, all of which were raised by their mother, and ...
32. Geraldine Keams
Actress | Reservation Dogs
Geraldine Keams was born in Arizona, USA. She is an actress, known for Reservation Dogs (2021), Rutherford Falls (2021) and Dark Winds (2022).
33. Tatanka Means
Actor | Killers of the Flower Moon
Tatanka Means was born on February 19, 1985 in Rapid City, South Dakota, USA. He is an actor, known for Killers of the Flower Moon (2023), Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials (2015) and The Host (2013).
34. Alex Rice
Actress | The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1
Alexandria Rice is biologically a Mohawk Aboriginal Canadian through her parents. She continues to be an active and proud member of the Kahnawake First Nation throughout her career. Though Rice was born in Quebec, she spend the majority of her childhood in Brooklyn, New York among a community of ...
35. Kiowa Gordon
Actor | Dark Winds
Kiowa Gordon was born on March 25, 1990 in Berlin, Germany as Kiowa Joseph Gordon. Moved to the States shortly after to live on the Hualapai Indian Reservation in Peach Springs, AZ and moved around quite a bit growing up until settling down in Phoenix, AZ where he landed the role of Embry Call in ...
36. Shauna Baker
Actress | Rutherford Falls
Canadian born, Shauna Baker was raised by her Dené Grandmother on a reservation in northern Canada. Shauna was extensively involved in business before her entertainment career began. Despite her success in the corporate world, she instinctively knew she was not following her dreams. Shauna started ...
37. Shannon Baker
Actress | CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
Shannon Baker, an Indigenous Actor from the Stellat'en First Nation reserve is Dakelh Dene. Shannon was raised by her Grandmother on her reserve in Northern B.C., Canada. Shannon is an actor, producer, writer and TV host. Shannon's television experiences include TV shows such as: "CSI: CRIME SCENE ...
38. Kendra Mylnechuk
Actress | 2 Days in New York
Kendra Mylnechuk is known for Two Days in New York (2012), The Blacklist (2013) and We Burn Like This (2021).
39. Brianna Womick
Stunts | SEAL Team
Brianna Womick is an actress, stunt performer, & dancer. She has been performing from the time she was 3 years old on stage, on camera, & in front of live audiences in venues all over the country. Brianna is one of the most intense & humble actresses you will ever meet.
Brianna is Native American, ...
40. Shyla Lefner
Actress | Woo
Shyla Lefner is an actress and writer, known for Woo (1998), A Starbucks Story (2005) and Whatever It Takes (2000). She is married to David Wayne Lefner.
41. Alan Tafoya
Actor | MacGruber
Alan Tafoya is known for MacGruber (2010), The Apprehension of the Apache Kid and Browncoat Rebels and Unspeakable (2002).
42. Derrick Williams
Actor | Scumbag
Derrick Williams is known for Scumbag (2017), Zola Jumped In (2014) and Eagle Falls (2012).
43. Will Sampson
Actor | One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
A Native American actor of the Creek Nation, Sampson's "big break" came from his memorable role in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) opposite Jack Nicholson. He was also starred opposite Clint Eastwood in the western The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976). He had supporting roles in Orca (1977), The ...
44. Sheldon Peters Wolfchild
Actor | Dances with Wolves
Born in 1946 in Minnesota, Sheldon grew up on the Lower Sioux Indian Reservation being the youngest of eight children. He attended the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico and the Ray-Vogue School of Design in Chicago, Illinois from 1965 to 1969. Drafted into the military in ...
45. Gordon Tootoosis
Actor | Legends of the Fall
A Canadian actor of Cree and Stoney descent, Gordon Tootosis made his film debut in the western film Alien Thunder (1974) with Donald Sutherland and Chief Dan George. Tootoosis provided memorable performances in television and movies, including the role of 'One Stab' in Legends of the Fall (1994), ...
46. Andrea Menard
Actress | Blackstone
Andrea Menard was born on January 5, 1971 in Flin Flon, Manitoba, Canada. She is an actress and writer, known for Blackstone (2009), Rabbit Fall (2006) and The Velvet Devil (2006).
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