Michelle Thrush (born February 6, 1967) is a Canadian actress and First Nations activist for Aboriginal Canadians and the other Indigenous peoples of the Americas. She is best known for her leading role as Gail Stoney in Blackstone , for which she won the Gemini Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Continuing Leading Dramatic Role in 2011, [1] and her recurring roles as Sylvie LeBret in North of 60 and Deanna Martin in Arctic Air .
Thrush starred in the Palme d'Or and César award-nominated film Jimmy P: Psychotherapy of a Plains Indian .
Thrush, who is Cree, was born and raised in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, [1] by parents who were chronic alcoholics. [2] She recalls being called "Squaw" at Bowness High School and bullied because of her parents' illness. In grade nine she changed schools and attended Calgary's Plains Indian Cultural Survival School, where she felt accepted for the first time. Commenting on her experience at that school, she stated: "There were other Native students there, and I learned so many wonderful things about myself, about my culture, about my language, about drumming and singing. They filled in a lot of the voids that my soul was just begging for." [3]
Her childhood hardships affected her profoundly. Though she acted in her first film at 17, it did not occur to her it could be a career. She planned to become a social worker and help children. She met Gordon Tootoosis, a First Nations actor, who told her: "If [acting] is what your heart wants, you need to follow it and be true." At this point her parents were sober. With no other ties to Calgary, at age 20 she moved to Vancouver and found an agent. [3]
Thrush has had a prolific career since its beginning in the 1980s. She began her acting career in film while attending high school. She got her first theatre job when she moved to Vancouver at age 20. She had a small part in the play The Ecstasy of Rita Joe. [2] She portrayed numerous recurring and guest roles in the television series Madison , Northern Exposure , North of 60 , Highlander , Forever Knight , Nothing Too Good for a Cowboy , Moccasin Flats and Mixed Blessings .
She has starred in many notable films throughout her career, particularly in films that deal with issues about Indigenous peoples of the Americas, ranging from Canadian Aboriginals to Native Americans/American Indians (U.S.). These include Isaac Littlefeathers , Unnatural & Accidental , Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee , Skins , Dead Man , Dreamkeeper and Jimmy P: Psychotherapy of a Plains Indian.
In 2011, Thrush wrote the one-woman play Find Your Own Inner Elder. [4] She has performed the show, most often under the title Inner Elder, across Canada. It premiered at One Yellow Rabbit's High Performance Rodeo in Calgary in 2018 and has since been performed with Nightwood Theatre and Native Earth Performing Arts in Toronto (2019). [5] [6] Inner Elder is a structured monologue which recounts Thrush's personal life and experiences. [7]
Her daughter, Imajyn Cardinal, is also an actress. [8]
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1993 | Madison | Charlene | Recurring Role: 4 episodes |
1993–1997 | North of 60 | Sylvie LeBret | Recurring role: 10 episodes |
1994 | Northern Exposure | Pilot | Episode: "Shofar, So Good" |
1994 | Highlander | Sara Lightfoot/Little Deer | Recurring: 2 episodes, two separate roles |
1995 | Children of the Dust | Rainbow woman | TV miniseries |
1995 | Forever Knight | Marian Blackwing | Episode: "Blackwing" |
1997 | Unwed Father | Holly | Made-for-TV movie |
1997 | Viper | Grey Hawk | Episode: "Wilderness Run" |
1998 | Ebenezer | Ghost of Christmas Past | Made-for-TV movie |
1998 | The Crow: Stairway to Heaven | Jane Cogo | Episode: "Before I Wake" |
1999 | Nothing Too Good for a Cowboy | Esther's Sister | Episode: "Sex Lies and Narrow Escapes" |
2000 | North of 60:Trial by Fire | Sylvia LeBret | Made-for-TV movie |
2003 | Dreamkeeper | Morning House | Made-for-TV movie |
2003–2005 | Moccasin Flats | Laura | Recurring role: 14 episodes |
2007 | Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee | Four Robes | HBO Made-for-TV movie |
2008–2010 | Mixed Blessings | Kate | Recurring role: 15 episodes |
2011–2015 | Blackstone | Gail Stonee | Main cast |
2012 | The Horses of McBride | Rhonda | Made-for-TV movie |
2012–2014 | Arctic Air | Deanna Martin | Recurring role: 8 episodes |
2014 | Fargo | Sue Roundtree | 1 episode |
2017-2019 | Tin Star | Jaclyn Letendre | Recurring role |
2018 | This Blows | Driver | |
2019 | Molly of Denali | Shyatsoo/Aunt Merna (voice) | |
2020 | Tribal | Jackie Woodburn | |
2023 | Little Bird | TV series |
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1984 | Isaac Littlefeathers | Sally Littlefeathers | First media role |
1986 | The Wake | N/A | |
1991 | The Dark Wind | Shirley Topaha | |
1991 | The Legend of Kootenai Brown | Olivia D'Lonais | |
1995 | Dead Man | Nobody's Girlfriend | First major film role |
2002 | Skins | Stella | |
2005 | Fugitives Run | N/A | |
2006 | Unnatural & Accidental | Pink Girl | |
2007 | Pathfinder | Indian Mother | |
2013 | Jimmy P: Psychotherapy of a Plains Indian | Gayle Picard | |
2019 | Red Snow | Big Fran | |
2022 | Prey | Aruka | |
2022 | Bones of Crows | January Spears | |
2024 | The Birds Who Fear Death | Marilyn |
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
2018 | Inner Elder | Herself | One-woman play [2] |
Year | Award | Category | Work | Result | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
2011 | Gemini Award | Best Actress in a Drama series | Blackstone | Won | [9] |
2011 | Leo Awards | Best Lead Performance by a Female in a Dramatic Series | Blackstone | Nominated | [10] |
2013 | Leo Awards | Best Guest Performance by a Female in a Dramatic Series | Arctic Air | Won | [11] |
2014 | Canadian Screen Award | Shaw Media Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Continuing Leading Dramatic Role | Blackstone | Nominated | [12] |
Alisen Down is a Canadian film and television actress. She is known for her roles as Miranda Feigelsteen in the paranormal drama series Mysterious Ways (2000—2002) and as Olivia Kirschner in the Syfy series 12 Monkeys (2015—2018).
Helen Shaver is a Canadian actress and film and television director. After appearing in a number of Canadian movies, she received a Canadian Screen Award for Best Actress for her performance in the romantic drama In Praise of Older Women (1978). She later appeared in the films The Amityville Horror (1979), The Osterman Weekend (1983), Desert Hearts (1985), The Color of Money (1986), The Believers (1987), The Craft (1996),Tremors 2: Aftershocks (1996) and Down River (2013). She received another Canadian Screen Award for Best Actress nomination for the 1986 drama film Lost!, and won a Best Supporting Actress for We All Fall Down (2000). Shaver also starred in some short-lived television series, including United States (1980) and Jessica Novak (1981), and from 1996 to 1999 starred in the Showtime horror series, Poltergeist: The Legacy, for which she received a Saturn Award for Best Actress on Television nomination.
Rose Marie "Tantoo" Cardinal CM is a Canadian actress. Of Cree and Métis heritage, in 2009 she was made a member of the Order of Canada "for her contributions to the growth and development of Aboriginal performing arts in Canada, as a screen and stage actress, and as a founding member of the Saskatchewan Native Theatre Company."
Gordon Tootoosis, was a First Nations actor of Cree and Stoney descent. Tootoosis was a descendant of Yellow Mud Blanket, brother of the famous Cree leader Pîhtokahanapiwiyin. He was acclaimed for his commitment to preserving his culture and to telling his people's stories. He once said, "Leadership is about submission to duty, not elevation to power." He served as a founding member of the board of directors of the Saskatchewan Native Theatre Company. Tootoosis offered encouragement, support and training to aspiring Aboriginal actors. He served as a leading Cree activist both as a social worker and as a band chief. In Open Season and Boog and Elliot's Midnight Bun Run, Tootoosis was the voice of Sheriff Gordy.
Christina Jean Keeper is a Cree actress, film producer and former politician from Canada.
Maria Campbell is a Métis author, playwright, broadcaster, filmmaker, and Elder. Campbell is a fluent speaker of four languages: Cree, Michif, Western Ojibwa, and English. Four of her published works have been published in eight countries and translated into four other languages. Campbell has had great influence in her community as she is very politically involved in activism and social movements. Campbell is well known for being the author of Halfbreed, a memoir describing her own experiences as a Métis woman in society and the difficulties she has faced, which are commonly faced by many other women both within and outside of her community.
Nightwood Theatre is Canada's oldest professional women's theatre and is based in Toronto. It was founded in 1979 by Cynthia Grant, Kim Renders, Mary Vingoe, and Maureen White and was originally a collective. Though it was not the founders' original intention, Nightwood Theatre has become known for producing feminist works. Some of Nightwood's most famous productions include This is For You, Anna (1983) and Good Night Desdemona (1988). Nightwood hosts several annual events including FemCab, the Hysteria Festival, and Groundswell Festival which features readings from participants of Nightwood's Write from the Hip playwright development program.
Chelah Horsdal is a Canadian actress. She is known for her regular roles in the television series Hell on Wheels, When Calls the Heart, and The Man in the High Castle, recurring roles on Stargate SG-1, Level Up, Arrow, and Star Trek: Discovery, and for her roles in the films Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem and Rise of the Planet of the Apes.
Shirley Cheechoo is a Canadian Cree actress, writer, producer, director, and visual artist, best known for her solo-voice or monodrama play Path With No Moccasins, as well as her work with De-Ba-Jeh-Mu-Jig theatre group. Her first break came in 1985 when she was cast on the CBC's first nations TV series Spirit Bay, and later, in 1997, she found a role on the CBC's TV series The Rez.
Hélène Joy is an Australian actress, who is best known for her work in television series Durham County and Murdoch Mysteries.
Nathaniel Arcand is a Canadian actor. He is known for his first major role in the Canadian drama series North of 60, in which for three seasons he played William MacNeil, smart-mouthed and cocky, a troubled, misunderstood teen. In 1997, he was nominated for a Gemini Award in the category "Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Supporting Role in a Dramatic Series" for the North of 60 episode "Traces and Tracks."
Georgina Lightning is a First Nations film director, screenwriter, and actress.
Alison Dyan Liebert is a Canadian actress, director, model and producer. She was a recipient of a Canadian Screen Award for work in the wartime series Bomb Girls.
Carmen Moore is a Canadian actress known for her work in television.
Monique Mojica is a playwright, director, & actor based out of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. She was born in New York City, but came to Canada as founding member of Native Earth Performing Arts.
Michelle St. John is an actress, singer, producer and director who has been involved in creative projects in theatre, film, television and music since the 1980s. Her directorial debut, Colonization Road, is a 2016 feature-length documentary that premiered at imagineNATIVE Film and Media Arts Festival.
Eugene Brave Rock is a Canadian Blackfoot actor and stuntman. He is from the Blood Tribe of Siksikasiitapiisahkoi, or Blackfoot Country. Brave Rock started as an actor, before being trained as a stuntman; he later appeared in various minor television roles before landing his first major film role as Chief in Wonder Woman.
Maggie Black Kettle was a Canadian community leader in the Siksika Nation. She taught traditional crafts, dance, and the Blackfoot language in Calgary. She was a storyteller, and appeared in film and television programs in her later years.
Little Bird is a Canadian drama television series, which premiered on Crave and APTN lumi on May 26, 2023. Created by Jennifer Podemski and Hannah Moscovitch with the participation of Jeremy Podeswa as an executive producer, the series centres on a First Nations woman who was adopted into a Jewish family during the Sixties Scoop, as she attempts to reconnect with her birth family and heritage.
Imajyn Cardinal is a Cree actress from Calgary, Alberta, Canada. She is most noted for her leading role in the 2015 film The Saver, for which she won the award for Best Actress at the 2016 American Indian Film Festival and was nominated for the Chlotrudis Award for Best Actress in 2017.