Native American Actors
by pgrass13 | created - 19 Sep 2012 | updated - 21 Apr 2022 | PublicOf note, Iron Eyes Cody claimed to be but was in fact not.
1. 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 ...
Oglala Lakota, also has Dakota ancestry.
2. Victor Aaron
Actor | Bulletproof
Victor Aaron was born on September 11, 1956 in Odessa, Texas, USA. He was an actor, known for Bulletproof (1996), Geronimo: An American Legend (1993) and Dead Man's Walk (1996). He was married to Eduvina Matta. He died on September 4, 1996 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
Yaqui
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 ...
CHerokee
4. Steve Reevis
Actor | Fargo
Steve was born and raised on the Blackfeet Reservation in Browning, Montana. Son of Curley and Lila Reevis, he is the 4th of 6 siblings. He graduated from Flandreau High School and attended Haskell Indian Junior College in Lawrence, Kansas where he received a degree in arts. After junior college, ...
Blackfoot
5. 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 ...
Saulteaux
6. 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.
Oneida
7. Ernest Tsosie III
Actor | Mile Post 398
Ernest Tsosie III was born in Arizona, USA. He is known for Mile Post 398 (2007), 5th World (2005) and Drunktown's Finest (2014).
Navajo actor
8. 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 ...
Omaha
9. Litefoot
Actor | The Indian in the Cupboard
Gary "Litefoot" Davis, an enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation, has been a notable figure in Indian Country for nearly 30 years. First recognized for his considerable achievements in music, film and television with eight award winning albums, as well as award-winning starring roles in such films ...
Cherokee and Chichimeca
10. 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 ?.
Inuit and Ojibwe
11. 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 ...
Inupiat, Yupik, Inuit, Cree and Métis
12. 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), ...
Cree and Stoney
13. Buffy Sainte-Marie
Soundtrack | An Officer and a Gentleman
Buffy Sainte-Marie was born on February 20, 1941 in Stoneham, Massachusetts, USA. She is an actress and composer, known for An Officer and a Gentleman (1982), Moulin Rouge! (2001) and Hotel Artemis (2018).
Cree
14. Jay Silverheels
Actor | The Lone Ranger
Jay Silverheels was born on Canada's Six Nation's Reserve and was one of 10 children. He was a star lacrosse player and a boxer before he entered films as a stuntman in 1938. He worked in a number of films through the 1940s before gaining notice as the Osceola brother in a Humphrey Bogart film Key ...
Iroquois
15. Frank Salsedo
Actor | Creepshow 2
Frank Salsedo was born on May 20, 1929 in Santa Rosa, California, USA. He was an actor, known for Creepshow 2 (1987), JAG (1995) and Walker, Texas Ranger (1993). He died on July 3, 2009 in Manteca, California, USA.
Wappo
16. Evan Adams
Self | 1491: The Untold Story of the Americas Before Columbus
Evan Adams is from Tla'amin Nation, near the town of Powell River, BC, Canada. He stars in the Emmy-winning TV-movie "Lost in the Barrens" (1990) and its nominated sequel "Curse of the Viking Grave" (1993). Besides numerous episodics like "The Beachcombers" and "Black Stallion", he also appears in ...
Coast Salish
17. 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 ...
Iroquois
18. John Trudell
Actor | Smoke Signals
John Trudell was born in Omaha, Nebraska, to a Santee Sioux father and Mexican Indian mother. After a stint in the Navy (and Vietnam) from 1963 to 1969, he became involved with the American Indian Movement, becoming National Chairman in 1973. He held that position until 1979; it was then that his ...
Santee Sioux
19. Chief Thundercloud
Actor | The Prairie
Victor Daniels was given the title of "Chief" in an honorary capacity and identified himself as Cherokee although his background is vague. His application for a social security number lists his birth date as April 12, 1899, and his birth-place as Arizona. Thundercloud was the eldest of nine ...
CHerokee (possibly)
20. Robert Beltran
Actor | Star Trek: Voyager
Robert Adame Beltran was born in Bakersfield, California. He is the seventh of ten children, of Mexican-Native American ancestry, though Robert describes his heritage as Latindio. After finishing high school, he attended Fresno State College, where he graduated with a degree in theater arts. ...
21. 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, ...
Métis
22. Austin St. John
Actor | Mighty Morphin Power Rangers
Austin St. John was born on September 17, 1974, in Roswell, New Mexico, to his parents Steve and Sharon Geiger, becoming brother to Stephen. Austin has been practicing martial arts since he was five and now holds a second-degree black belt in Tae-Kwon Do, a first-degree black belt in Judo, and he ...
Largely a mutt though
23. 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 ...
Muscogee (Creek)
24. Johnny Depp
Actor | Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
John Christopher "Johnny" Depp II was born on June 9, 1963 in Owensboro, Kentucky, to Betty Sue Palmer (née Wells), a waitress, and John Christopher Depp, a civil engineer. He was raised in Florida. He dropped out of school when he was 15, and fronted a series of music-garage bands, including one ...
Not fully but I think he is part, if I am wrong I will remove him. (Edit: I was considering removing him from the list but then I read this and so it appears he at least does genuinely care)http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2012/10/26/johnny-depp-donates-25000-scholarship-funds-navajo-nation-142422 Although that amount pays for about 1 person.
25. Cree Summer
Actress | Atlantis: The Lost Empire
Cree Summer Francks is a Canadian-American voice actress and singer from Los Angeles, California. She is the daughter of Canadian actor and singer Don Francks. She is most well-known for voicing Kida from Atlantis: The Lost Empire, Tiff Crust and Queen Vexus (when Eartha Kitt is unavailable) from ...
Part Cree, part African American
26. Eartha Kitt
Actress | The Emperor's New Groove
An out-of-wedlock child, Eartha Kitt was born in the cotton fields of South Carolina. Kitt's mother was a sharecropper of African-American and Cherokee Native American descent. Her father's identity is unknown. Given away by her mother, she arrived in Harlem at age nine. At 15, she quit high school...
Part Cherokee
27. Chief Dan George
Actor | Little Big Man
Actor, author, and musician Chief Dan George was born in present-day North Vancouver as Geswanouth Slahoot (later anglicized as 'Dan Slaholt'), the son of a tribal chief on Burrard Indian Reserve Nº. 3. He is the only Aboriginal actor in Canadian history to date with the right to use the title "...
Coast Salish
28. 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...
Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate Sioux
29. 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).
Lakota
30. 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 ...
Lakota
31. Benjamin Bratt
Actor | Miss Congeniality
The middle of five children, Bratt hails from a close-knit family. His mother, an indigenous Quechua Peruvian from Lima, moved to the U.S. at age 14. He grew up in San Francisco. He is known for his roles in the films Traffic (2000), Miss Congeniality (2000), and Despicable Me 2 (2013). He is ...
Quechua His parents participated in the occupation of Alcatraz when he was a child.
32. Will Rogers
Actor | Steamboat Round the Bend
World-famous, widely popular American humorist of the vaudeville stage and of silent and sound films, Will Rogers graduated from military school, but his first real job was in the livestock business in Argentina, of all places. He transported pack animals across the South Atlantic from Buenos Aires...
CHerokee
33. James Earl Jones
Actor | Rogue One
Widely regarded as the one of greatest stage and screen actors both in his native USA and internationally, James Earl Jones was born on January 17, 1931 in Arkabutla, Mississippi. At an early age, he started to take dramatic lessons to calm himself down. It appeared to work as he has since starred ...
While mostly African American , he is also of mixed ancestry including native american
34. Lou Diamond Phillips
Actor | Courage Under Fire
Louis Diamond Phillips is an American actor and film director. His breakthrough came when he starred as Ritchie Valens in the biographical drama film La Bamba (1987). For Stand and Deliver (1988), Phillips was nominated for a Golden Globe Award and won an Independent Spirit Award. Phillips made his...
Part CHerokee
35. Chuck Norris
Actor | Walker, Texas Ranger
Chuck Norris is familiar to fans worldwide as the star of action films such as The Hitman (1991), The Delta Force (1986) and Delta Force 2: The Colombian Connection (1990). He also starred in Missing in Action (1984) and its sequels, Firewalker (1986) and Sidekicks (1992). He was an executive ...
Part Cherokee
36. Charlyne Yi
Actress | This Is 40
Californian Charlyne Yi has many strings to her bow as an actress, comedian, writer, musician and artist. She grew up in the Inland Empire in California. After attending the University of California, Riverside, she left and began a career as a comedian. Her innovative routine includes jokes, music,...
Mix of a lot of things including Native American
37. Sacheen Littlefeather
Actress | The Trial of Billy Jack
Sacheen Littlefeather was born on November 14, 1946 in Salinas, California, USA. She was an actress, known for The Trial of Billy Jack (1974), Johnny Firecloud (1975) and Winterhawk (1975). She was married to Charles Koshiway Johnston. She died on October 2, 2022 in Novato, California, USA.
Apache, Yaqui and Pueblo (as well as White)
38. Jonathan Joss
Actor | Abduction of the Fourth Kind
Jonathan Joss was born on December 22, 1965 in San Antonio, Texas, USA. He is an actor and producer, known for Abduction of the Fourth Kind (2022), The Magnificent Seven (2016) and True Grit (2010).
Comanche and Apache
39. Acquanetta
Actress | Captive Wild Woman
Born as Mildred Davenport, Acquanetta was a movie actress of genre motion pictures. She was nicknamed the "Venezualan Volcano" by Universal Studios, although she doesn't appear to have been from that country. At one point, when asked for paperwork related to her birth, she said she was half Arapaho...
Arapaho (possibly, unknown for certain)
40. G.K. Bowes
Actress | Street Fighter V
G.K. Bowes was born in Tahiti, French Polynesia. She is known for Street Fighter V (2016), Raya and the Last Dragon (2021) and Monte Carlo (2011). She has been married to Bowe Kurowski since March 31, 2001.
Part Native American (among other things)
41. Yvonne Delarosa
Actress | Longmire
Latina and Native American actress, Yvonne DeLaRosa first hit Hollywood radar when famed comedy director, Betty Thomas cast her as the series lead in the 20th Century Fox pilot "Senor White" opposite comedian Ron White, beating out every star name in Hollywood. Not bad for one of her first ...
42. Sheri Foster
Actress | U Turn
Sheri Foster is known for U Turn (1997), Shouting Secrets (2011) and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (2015).
CHerokee
43. 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 ...
Choctaw and Chickasaw
44. 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).
Navajo
45. Claudia McNeil
Actress | A Raisin in the Sun
Claudia McNeil was born on August 13, 1917 in Baltimore, Maryland, USA. She was an actress, known for A Raisin in the Sun (1961), Black Girl (1972) and The DuPont Show of the Month (1957). She was married to Herman McCoy and Henry Smith. She died on November 25, 1993 in Englewood, New Jersey, USA.
Part Apache
46. Elaine Miles
Actress | Northern Exposure
Elaine Miles was born on April 7, 1960 in Pendleton, Oregon, USA. She is an actress, known for Northern Exposure (1990), Smoke Signals (1998) and Wyvern (2009).
Cayuse and Nez Perce
47. Heather Rae
Producer | Frozen River
Heather Rae was born on October 1, 1966 in Venice, California, USA. She is a producer and director, known for Frozen River (2008), Tallulah (2016) and Bull (2019). She has been married to Russell Friedenberg since July 1999. They have three children.
Part CHerokee
48. Red Wing
Actress | The Squaw Man
Red Wing was born on February 13, 1884 on the Winnebago Reservation, Nebraska, USA as Lillian St. Cyr. Her parents were Julia De Cora (Winnebago) and Mitchell St. Cyr (French Canadian and Sauk). She was graduated in 1902 from the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania. Red Wing was an ...
Winnebago
49. James Young Deer
Director | Lieutenant Daring RN and the Water Rats
James Young Deer was born on April 1, 1876 in Washington, District of Columbia, USA. He was a director and actor, known for Lieutenant Daring RN and the Water Rats (1924), Tragedies of the Osage Hills (1926) and The Stranger (1920). He was married to Helen Gilchrist, Anomine Paige and Red Wing. He ...
Winnebago and Nanticoke
50. Salli Richardson-Whitfield
Actress | Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid
Salli Richardson-Whitfield is a 30-year industry veteran. She has been featured in 20+ major motion pictures and has starred opposite a number of Hollywood's top actors, including Samuel L. Jackson in 'The Great White Hype', Denzel Washington in 'Antwone Fisher', and Will Smith in 'I Am Legend'. On...
Mixed including Native American
51. Mary Alice Nelson Archambaud
Actress | The Silent Enemy
Mary Alice Nelson Archambaud was born on November 17, 1903 in Indian Island, Maine, USA. She was an actress, known for The Silent Enemy (1930). She died on February 21, 1977 in Indian Island, Maine, USA.
Penobscot
52. Sheila Tousey
Actress | Ravenous
Born in Keshena, Wisconsin, Tousey is a Menominee and Stockbridge-Munsee Native American, raised on both the Menominee and Stockbridge-Munsee reservations. A professional dancer and actress, Tousey began doing pow wows as a small child but did not perform on stage until she attended the University ...
Menominee and Stockbridge-Munsee
53. Misty Upham
Actress | August: Osage County
Misty Anne Upham, born in Kallispell, Montana, grew up in south Seattle, the fourth of five children. She began her career at the age of thirteen when she joined a community theater group, Red Eagle Soaring. What began as a summer workshop soon turned into a full-time job. By the age of fourteen ...
Blackfeet
54. Kim Winona
Actress | Brave Eagle
Kim Winona was enrolled as Constance M. Marlow in the Santee Sioux tribe of Nebraska and spent her childhood on the Rosebud Indian Reservation in South Dakota. When she was 17, she and her parents moved to Spokane, Wash. where she met her husband who was also of Indian extraction. At this time she ...
Sioux
55. Sterlin Harjo
Writer | Reservation Dogs
Sterlin Harjo is known for Reservation Dogs (2021), Barking Water (2009) and Osiyo, Voices of the Cherokee People (2015).
Seminole-Muscogee
56. Apesanahkwat
Actor | Wind River
Apesanahkwat is an enrolled member of the Menominee Tribe of Wisconsin. He has been elected tribal chairman of his tribe 8 times, which is unprecedented.
Apesanahkwat served in the US marine corps, and is a Vietnam combat veteran as well. Apesanahkwat is widely considered by his peers to be one of ...
Menominee
57. 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 ...
Sauk and Otoe-Missouria
58. Chris Eyre
Director | Smoke Signals
Chris Eyre was born in 1969 in Portland, Oregon, USA. He is known for Smoke Signals (1998), Dark Winds (2022) and Skins (2002).
59. Sherman Alexie
Writer | The Business of Fancydancing
Alexie is a Spokane/Coeur d'Alene Indian born and raised in the Spokane Indian Reservation in Wellpinit, Washington. His father held various jobs, including truck driver and logger and his mother was a social worker. Alexie was born hydrocephalic and underwent a brain operation at the age of 6 ...
60. Jim Boyd
Soundtrack | Smoke Signals
Jim Boyd was born in 1956 in Edwards Air Force Base, California, USA. He was an actor, known for Smoke Signals (1998) and The Business of Fancydancing (2002). He was married to Shelly. He died on June 21, 2016 in Washington, USA.
61. Pat Hogan
Actor | The Nebraskan
Thurman Lee Haas was born on 3 February, 1920 in central Oklahoma on the Pottawatomie Indian Reservation (home of the Kickapoo Tribe). His parents were Reuben Claude Haas and the former Ann Maud Waldrip. His father was a farmer who later became involved in tribal governments in Oklahoma and the ...
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