Native American characters have been depicted in the movies since the dawn of Hollywood, but in 2024 an actual Native American actor has finally been nominated for an Academy Award.Lily Gladstone (Blackfeet/Nimiipuu) has been a frontrunner all season for her performance in Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon, and on Tuesday morning she officially became a best actress Oscar nominee.
Her predecessors in the category include Whale Rider’s Keisha Castle-Hughes (who is Maori) in 2004 and Roma’s Yalitza Aparicio (who is Native Mexican) in 2019, while other Indigenous nominated actors include Graham Greene (who is First Nations), nominated for best supporting actor in 1991 for Dances With Wolves, but Gladstone is the first Native American acting nominee.With 1983 best song winner Buffy Sainte-Marie’s ancestry now in dispute, Gladstone could also now be tied for the first Native American Oscar nominee in any category.
(Sainte-Marie was raised by…