Tantoo Cardinal
Birthday:
20 July 1950, Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada
Birth Name:
Rose Marie Cardinal
Actress Tantoo Cardinal, a Member of the Order of Canada, one of the country's highest civilian honors. The Order of Canada 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; Tantoo has appeared in numerous plays, ...
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Actress Tantoo Cardinal, a Member of the Order of Canada, one of the country's highest civilian honors. The Order of Canada 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; Tantoo has appeared in numerous plays, television programs, and films, including Legends of the Fall, Dances With Wolves, Black Robe, Loyalties, Luna, Spirit of the Whale, Unnatural & Accidental, Marie-Anne, Sioux City, Silent Tongue, Mother's & Daughter's and Smoke Signals. Recent work includes the films Eden, Maina, Shouting Secrets and From Above.Her stirring performance in Loyalties earned her a Genie nomination, American Indian Film Festival Best Actress Award, the People's choice Award at the Toronto Film Festival, plus Best Actress Awards at International Film Festivals in Zimbabwe and Portugal.Cardinal was just honored with the 2015 ACTRA Award of Excellence, other honors include Best Actress - Elizabeth Sterling Award in Theatre for All My Relations, First Americans in the Arts Totem Award for her portrayal of the character Katrina in Widows at the Forum Stage in Los Angeles. She won the American Indian Film Festival's Best Actress Award as well as the first Rudy Martin Award for Outstanding Achievement by a Native American in Film for Where the Rivers Flow North, a Gemini Award for North of 60 and a Leo Award for Blackstone.Her television credits include recurring roles on the series: Blackstone, The Killing, Arctic Air, Strange Empire,The Guard, North of 60, Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman, The Lightening Field, Street Legal, The Campbell's, Gunsmoke, Tom Stone, Myth Quest, Lonesome Dove and Renegade Press.com. MOW's include Full Flood, The Englishman's Boy, Dreamkeeper and the PBS documentary Nobody's Girls.For her contributions to the Native Artistic community, Cardinal won the Eagle Spirit Award. She has also been honored with the MacLeans' magazine Honor Roll as Actress of the Year, the Outstanding Achievement Award from the Toronto Women in Film and Television, an International Women in Film Award for her lasting contribution to the arts, and induction to the CBC/Playback Hall of Fame. Show less «
We had no TV where I grew up in my community in northern Canada, and the only images of native people that I was exposed to were my family a...Show more »
We had no TV where I grew up in my community in northern Canada, and the only images of native people that I was exposed to were my family and my relatives; these were wonderful and strong individuals whom I looked up to. It was only when I moved to Edmonton in Alberta in 1965, that I saw a different kind of image that was prevalent in Canadian society at that time, a negative image of native peoples as having no fixed address, and of being somehow 'lesser than.' Acting for me was a way to redress this imbalance; acting allows me to present a different kind of truth, to bring some light back into the stories of our history. Show less «
Life in the business is also highly challenging. Sometimes you are dissatisfied, it's difficult sometimes. You're always thinking of how it ...Show more »
Life in the business is also highly challenging. Sometimes you are dissatisfied, it's difficult sometimes. You're always thinking of how it could be better. It's a 20-legged race, you don't work alone. There are so many others working to tell the same story. We as Indian artists don't have the luxury of being individuals. We represent ages and ages. The work of an artist is a highly responsible one." Show less «
I got into acting through my political involvement, through a sense of justice. I wanted to see things change, to offset some of the lies th...Show more »
I got into acting through my political involvement, through a sense of justice. I wanted to see things change, to offset some of the lies that have been told about us throughout history. The attitude of the public back in the '60s was so backward and ill-informed. By the time I found out about our history and how we were treated, I was in a rage. It was really a time of darkness and great frustration. There was an incredible wall we had to get through." ...[The] Canadian Content Rule, which came into existence in the mid 1960s, was the beginning to opening doors and minds. It resulted in producers actually casting real Native people to play Native roles. Show less «
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