Native Americans in Film
A Short FAQ

Last modified: 2010.22.20.Wed. The current version of this document is available at http://ww.thistlehaven.net/J3. Direct comments and/or questions to j3@pobox.com.

Native American ancestry:

What tribe is my favorite actor/actress associated with?
How can I find what movies my favorite actor/actress was in?
What is Darren E Burrows' ancestry?
What is Cher's ancestry?
What is the difference between Eastern and Western Cherokee?
What were the Iroquois tribes?
What organizations exist to help Native American actors/actresses and the representation of Native Americans in films?

Native American languages:

I'm trying to learn Lakota/Navajo/etc. Are there any movies with extensive dialogue in that language?
Weren't the Native American characters in the Dances with Wolves book Comanche, rather than Sioux?
How do you spell Sunkmanitu Tanka Owachi (Dances With Wolves)?

FAQ-Related:

Why are you keeping and posting this?
Why didn't you include that? How could you get that wrong?

1. What tribe is my favorite actor/actress associated with?

Aaron, Victor	Yaqui
Aguilar, George	???
Allard, Tom	Cherokee
Amos, Tori	part Cherokee per Blender, 2007.03, p84, “And How!”
Apesanakhwat	Menominee
Arcand, Nathaniel	???
Bass, Monty	Creek
Bayne, Lawrence	1/8 ???
Beach, Adam	Ojibwa
Bedard, Irene	1/2 Inuit, 1/4 Cree
Berti, Dehl	???
Biel, Jessica	part Choctaw per Blender, 2007.03, p84, “And How!”
Big Head, Jack	Euchee
Black, Ryan	Ojibway
Bomberry, Tina	Mohawk (Iroquois)
Bratt, Benjamin	Qechua (Peruvian tribe)
Burrows, Darren E	1/4 Cherokee, 1/4 Apache? (note: son of Billy Drago)
Cardinal, Lorne	???
Cardinal, Tantoo	mixed Cree and Chippewa
Chasing Horse, Nathan Lee	Sioux
Cheechoo, Shirley	Cree
Cher	1/16 Cherokee per Blender, 2007.03, p84, “And How!”; per IMDB
Chief Moon, Byron	Lakota and Blackfoot
Child, Buffalo	Cree
Cody, Iron Eyes	mixed Cree and Cherokee (or not?)
Craig, Charmaine	???
Depp, Johnny	1/4 Cherokee per Blender, 2007.03, p84, “And How!”
Drago, Billy	1/2 Chiricahua Apache
Drum, Josh	???
Farmer, Gary	Iroquois (Cayuga)
Garner, James	¼ Cherokee per Blender, 2007.03, p84, “And How!”
George, Chief Dan	Squamish Salish
Grant, Rodney	Omaha
Grant, Saginaw	Sac and Fox
Grant, Stuart Proud Eagle	Sioux (Lakota)
Greene, Graham	Iroquois (Oneida)
Greyeyes, Michael	Cree
Hendrix, Jimi	¼ Cherokee per Blender, 2007.03, p84, “And How!”
Herman, Jimmy	Modoc? Chippewa?
Hoffmann, Pato	Aymara/Quechua
Horse, Michael	yaqui-mescalero and apache-zuni)
House, Dakota	???
Jackson, Tom	1/2 cree
Pauline Johnson	Iroquois
Jones, James Earl	part Cherokee per Blender, 2007.03, p84, “And How!”
Joss, Jonathan	Comanche
Keeper, Tina	Cree
Kilmer, Val	1/8 Cherokee per Blender, 2007.03, p84, “And How!”
Kingi, Henry	??? (stuntman)
Landham, Sonny	mixed Eastern Cherokee and Seminole
Leader Charge, Doris	Lakota Sioux
Linn, Juddson Keith	Delaware
Litefoot, Gordon	Cherokee
Locklear, Heather	part Lumbee per Blender, 2007.03, p84, “And How!”
Loken, Duane	1/2 Comanche
Lombard, Karina	Lakota
Lone Hill, Jason R	Sioux
Mantooth, Randolph	Mantee or Seminole
Martin Jr., Richard	White Mountain Apache
Martinez, A	part Blackfeet
McLish, Rachel	???
Means, Russel	Oglala Lakota Sioux
Miles, Elaine	mixed Cayuse and Nez Perce
Mitchum, Robert	1/4 Blackfeet
Najera, Miguel	Otomi/Apache
Newton, Wayne	part Powhatan, part Cherokee per Blender, 2007.03, p84, “And How!”
Norris, Chuck	1/2 western Cherokee per Blender, 2007.03, p84, “And How!”
Norris, Kimberly	???
Perry, Shawn Michael	???
Phillips, Lou Diamond	mixed Mexican and Lakota? or Cherokee and Filipino?
Rainwater, Greg	Osage
Ramus, Nick	Blackfeet
Red Elk, Lois	???
Red Horse, Valerie	Cherokee and Lakota
Reese, Della	½ Cherokee per Blender, 2007.03, p84, “And How!”
Reevis, Steve	Blackfeet
Richmond, Branscombe	Aleut
Runningfox, Joseph	Pueblo
Sainte Marie, Buffy	Cree
Sampson, Tim	Creek
Sampson, Will	Creek? Seminole? Choctaw? Sac Fox?
Sandoval, Selim Running Bear	???
Schellenberg, August	Mohawk
Schweig, Eric	part Inuit (or Chippewa?)
Sellers, Larry	Osage, Cherokee and Lakota
Shanks, Don	Illinois-Cherokee
Silverheels, Jay	Mohawk (Iroquois)
Smith, Davina	Navajo
Smith, Santee	Iroquois
Spears, Michael	Sioux (Lakota)
Spittal, Shawnee (Nyudindon)	Iroquois (Cayuga)
Studi, Wes	Western Cherokee
Tarantino, Quentin	1/2 Cherokee
Thunder, Rino	Ute
Tootoosis, Gordon	Cree / Stoney
Torres, Tenya	Apache
Tousey, Sheila	Menominee
Tracey, Ray	Navajo
Trudell, John	Santee Sioux
Trujillo, Raoul	Apache
Turner, Tina	3/16 Navajo, some Cherokee
Ward, Fred	part Mi'kmaq
Westerman, Floyd Red Crow	Dakota Sioux
White Eagle, Charles	Lakota Sioux
Wirth, Billy	part Huron
Wolfchild, Sheldon Peters	???

Several people have indicated that Peter Coyote is not of Native American ancestry, so he has been removed from the list.

Shania Twain's step-father, not her father, is Ojibway, so she herself is not of Native American descent.

Some have indicated that Iron Eyes Cody is not of Native American descent, though he frequently played roles that were.

2. How can I find what movies my favorite actor/actress was in?

I refer you to the (incredibly!) useful Internet Movie Database. You can search by movie title to find character and actor names, search by actor to find movie and TV credits, plus obtain great information by numerous other methods. (Can you tell I find it indispensable?)

3. What is Darren E Burrows' ancestry?

Darren Burrows played Ed on Northern Exposure. In the Northern Exposure book, he suggests that the series' publicity releases, which described him as 1/4 Cherokee, 1/4 Apache, exaggerated his ancestry, and he may be less than 1/8 Native American. But, as Karen Reichardt says, "Regardless, as Ed, he was a very good role model."

4. What is Cher's ancestry?

Several people have written me that she is about 1/4 Cherokee, which I, too, thought. I've received a couple messages, though, describing an interview in which she said that she was Armenian (or of some other Meditteranean ancestry). I haven't found the interview, but I'm still looking.

5. What is the difference between Eastern and Western Cherokee? What are the Iroquois tribes?

In 1838-39, the United States Government, to its great shame, forcefully relocated most of the Cherokee people from their homelands in the Carolinas to a reservation in Indian Territory (now Oklahoma). It did this despite great efforts on the part of the people to peacefully coexist with the newcomers -- gold had been found in their mountains. Much of the journey took place on foot, resulting in many deaths and prompting the Cherokee name of the incident, "Trail of Tears."

Some few of the Cherokee managed to remain hidden deep within the mountains. These people became the Eastern, or Carolina, Cherokee; those that survived to make homes in Oklahoma are the Western, or Oklahoma, Cherokee. You can find more information at the Eastern Cherokee Museum in Cherokee, NC, or the Western Museum in Tahlequah, OK.

The Iroquois Confederation is a group of six (previously five) tribes in upper New York that had a very sophisticated political structure by the 18th century. They are the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca and (after 1722) the Tuscarora. There is a great deal of support for the argument that the U.S. Constitution is heavilly based on the Confederation.

6. What organizations exist to help Native American actors/actresses and the representation of Native Americans in films?

I am currently aware of one, founded and directed by Sonny Skyhawk:

Native American Indians in Film
65 N Allen Ave, Suite 105
Pasadena, CA 91106

7. I'm trying to learn Lakota/Navajo/etc. Are there any movies with extensive dialogue in that language?

Huron
	Last of the Mohicans (unverified)
Lakota (Sioux)
	Dances With Wolves
	Lakota Conflict, The (extensive subtitled Lakota narration; excellent!)
	Thunderheart
Chiricahua (Apache)
	Geronimo -- An American Legend (unverified)

Films marked "(unverified)" presumably have the characters speaking that language, although I have not yet been able to find verification of that. For instance, I have been told that Last of the Mohicans did not actually use Mohican (too little known of the grammar?), but another closely-related Algonquin language instead (Delaware?).

8. Weren't the Native American characters in the Dances With Wolves book Comanche, rather than Sioux?

The Native American characters that befriended John Dunbar in Michael Blake's novel were Comanches (speaking an Uto-Aztecan language). Jim Wilson, the producer of Dances With Wolves, describes the reason for the change in the book, "Dances With Wolves, The Illustrated Story", which the next paragraph summarizes.

Originally, the film was to be set in Oklahoma and Texas, where the Comanches were indigenous. The desire to include the powerful scenes with the buffalo herd, however, led them to look northward. They found a large buffalo ranch near Pierre, South Dakota and modified the storyline, making the people Lakota (Sioux). They were also able to draw on the large Lakota population from the nearby reservations, including the translator/dialogue coach, Doris Leader Charge (who played Ten Bears wife, Pretty Shield, in the film) and the three boys that attempt to steal Dunbar's horse (Nathan Lee Chasing His Horse, Michael Spears and Jason R Lone Hill).

One more benefit of the change is the resulting Lakota dialogue for those interested in that language!

9. How do you spell Sunkmanitu Tanka Owachi (Dances With Wolves)?

Most Native American languages are written in the Roman alphabet with diacritics for nasalization, glottal stops, aspiration and tonality. (This can result in extremely faithful spelling-to-pronunciation, as in Navajo.)

The exceptions to this are the Central and South American branches (such as Mayan and Aztec hieroglyphs) and Cherokee. (There were other graphic systems, such as Navajo pictographs or Delaware bead belts, but these seem to denote events symbolically, rather than "spelling out" written language, though this can admittedly be an arbitrary distinction.)

The Cherokee writing system is a syllabary (each symbol stands for a consonant-vowel syllable, rather than a sound) and was developed entirely by one man, Sequoyah. (The Russian, or Cyrillic, alphabet also makes such a claim, citing St. Cyril as its inventor, but this is currently considered more legend than fact.)

Lakota (the language used in Dances With Wolves) uses the Roman alphabet with symbols for stress, nasalization, glottal stops and palatalization (using an "sh" sound, rather than an "s" sound).

Now, back to the question:

Wolves		Sunkmanitu Tanka, (pronounced shunk-MAH-knee-too TAHNG-kah)
	Dog	Sunka (SHUNK-ah)
	Coyote	Sunkmanitu (shunk-MAH-knee-too)
	Great	Tanka (TAHNG-ka)
Dances		OWachi (oh-wah-CHEE)
	Dance (verb)	Wachi (wah-CHEE)

Another easy one:

Buffalo (male)	Tatanka (ta-TAHNG-ka)
Buffalo (fem)	Pte (pteh)

Since I'm posting this on the net without a good font with diacritics (accents), the pronunciation is as close as I can transcribe without another page of description (not that I'm any more than an amateur).

10. Why are you keeping and posting this?

A couple messages have asked what my purpose is in keeping and posting a list like this. The answer is simply "interest." I bought the Dances With Wolves Illustrated Story and it mentioned the tribes of several actors and actresses, including Graham Greene, Rodney Grant and Tantoo Cardinal, all of whom I've admired. I posted a question on rec.arts.movies, asking if there was similar information about other Native American actors and actresses.

I received many helpful responses and over a dozen "me-too's" asking me to post the information if I found any more. Each time I repost the list, I get quite a few e-mail messages, so there seems to be a great deal of interest in the subject. The trouble is that there is so little information available on these actors and actresses -- at least that I can find.

So to "repay" those that were so helpful in responding to my original question and since then, I accumulate the information and occassionally repost it to help others that are interested. I do it in good spirit, and the intentions will eventually make the circle back to those that started it by helping me.

11. Why didn't you include that? How could you get that wrong?

Why didn't I include that? I am not in the movie business -- rather, just an interested spectator -- and I acculate this information one or two actors/actresses at a time, article by article. If you have information that is not on the list and feel like sharing, send it to me and I will include it.

How could I get that wrong? I try to verify everything included here. I tend to put more faith in printed articles or information that is consistent from several sources. If information comes from a single source or if sources conflict, I try to mark it with a question mark, but include it anyway -- then the reader gets to decide what confidence to put in it. If you're confident that I have some information wrong, e-mail me, and I will try to research and correct it.

If any actor or actress is uncomfortable with their name being included here, simply let me know and I will remove your name.

Thanks go to all of the people that helped provide the information in this FAQ or pointed me towards information, including:

Jim W., Jim Forsyth, Karen Lee, Judi Hardin, Daniel Brown, chahta1, Melissa, Liz Davenport, Karen Reichardt, Troy Chatburn, Lisa Harrison, Steven Perkins, Linda Roselli, Paul Nellen, Shawnee Spittal, Julian Argel, Brian Galloway, John Stellingwerff, Rob Schmidt, Wes Wildcat, Deb Goldgehn, Mike Wilson, Sahgum, Diane Kneader, Lilia Guan, JINGLEDT@aol.com, Marlene Hofstetter, Annie, Judy Tomlinson, "Kane"

and, of course, the actors and actresses, writers, directors and producers themselves.

Native Americans in Film A Short FAQ

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