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February 2005
 For
over thirty years, Tantoo Cardinal (Métis)
has brought complex representations of Native women
to the screen. Her roles include Black Shawl in Dances with
Wolves, the 1990 winner of the Oscar for Best Picture, Arlene
Joseph in Smoke Signals, and Pet in Legends of the Fall.
She is also the associate producer and co-narrator of the children's
series Stories from the Seventh Fire. In 1998 she received
the National Aboriginal Achievement Award, established by Mohawk
conductor John Kim Bell to honor indigenous Canadians with outstanding
careers. She won the Best Actress Award at the 1993 American Indian
Film Festival in San Francisco, for her role as Bangor in the
historical drama Where the Rivers Flow North. She received
a lifetime achievement award from the Wind and Glacier Voices
Festival in 1992. In 2004 Cardinal wrote the short story There
Is a Place for the fiction anthology Our Story: Aboriginal
Voices on Canada's Past. Cardinal was born in Fort McMurray,
Alberta.
"What I find so exciting about the world of acting and film
are the possibilities, that here is someplace that can reveal
the stories that are in our communities, and reveal the beauty
and strength of the people."
Screened by NMAI
Image credits: Tantoo
Cardinal - photograph by Tim Warner
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