16 Famous Native American Actors and Actresses Who Made It Big

It’s been a long hard slog, but Indigenous Americans are finally being heard and getting the plaudits they deserve in the world of entertainment. For decades Native American actors and actresses have been putting in the hard yards in hope of getting noticed, and it’s slowly starting to happen. 

The term Native American encompasses a large cross-section of different people living in America. You have the indigenous people of the United States (which includes Hawaii and some territories of the United States), as well as Northern Mexico and Canada.

Many of these Native American actors and actresses have worked for many years and are now finally reaping the rewards for all the hard work they have put in. Some are starring in blockbuster movies and must-watch TV series, while others are using their platform to tell indigenous stories and open their culture to others so people will be more understanding of the hardships they experience as Native Americans.

Breaking down barriers and refuting stereotypes, Native American actors and actresses are some of the best people in Hollywood. To celebrate diversity and the continued rise of Native American actors and actresses, here is a collection of some of our favorites.

16 Famous Native American Actors and Actresses Who Make It Big

1. Jason Momoa

Aquaman is out there getting it down. Hawaiian-born Jason Moma has quickly become one of the best Native American actors in the world. After stints on Baywatch: Hawaii, Stargate Atlantis, and Game of Thrones established Momoa as a TV regular, he took the big step into the world of movies when cast as Aquaman, first making a cameo in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. 

Since then he hasn’t looked back, playing the half-man half-fish in four movies (the fifth is on its way), landing a plum role in Dune, and getting the nod as the new villain in the final two Fast and Furious movies. 

Momoa often discusses his heritage in interviews and is very much on the side of conservation when it comes to his native Hawaii. Talking with Rotton Tomatoes about wanting to tell more Indigenous stories on screen, Momoa said, “There’s little to nothing but that doesn’t stop me from wanting to bring justice to a lot of stories and a lot of things people don’t know about. It’s what I find interesting, the disenfranchised and people that don’t get to tell their story.”

2. Wes Studi

Wes Studi has been working in the movie business for an impressive 50 years. Born into a Cherokee family, Studi spoke only Cherokee at home and graduated in 1964 with a vocational major in dry cleaning. He went off to Vietnam for a year and when he came back decided acting was what he wanted to pursue as a career, which is a much better option than dry cleaning. 

It turned out to be a smart decision, as Studi has gone on to have a wonderful career appearing in a wide range of movies and TV shows. Some of his best performances have come in Dances With Wolves, The Last of the Mohicans, Mystery Men, and Avatar. He also has a fair number of television credits to his name, including Penny Dreadful, The Red Road, and Reservation Dogs. 

Studi is well respected amongst his peers and became the first Native American actor to receive an Academy Honorary Award in 2019. Thoroughly deserved we say. 

3. Martin Sensmeier

Part of the new breed of indigenous actors taking the world by storm, Martin Sensmeier has both Alaskan and European-American heritage. Beginning life as a welder on an oil rig, Sensmeier quit that life to pursue acting, moving to Los Angeles and scoring his first role in the science fiction movie Beyond the Sky. 

Sensmeier is carving out a nice career for himself, having secured ongoing roles in TV shows Westworld, Yellowstone, and 1883, while also starting alongside Liam Neeson in The Ice Road. A hard worker and lover of his culture, Sensmeier is making all the right moves as he climbs the Hollywood ladder. 

4. Amber Midthunder

There was much excitement amongst action fans when the new Predator movie, Prey, dropped earlier this year. An enjoyable entry into the franchise, the star of the movie is Assiniboine Native American Amber Midthunder, who is just incredible. 

Despite acting as a child, the citizen of the Fort Peck Sioux Tribe is only now coming into her own at the age of 25. Before her big break in Prey, Midthunder put in commendable performances in movies such as Hell or High Water, The Marksman, and The Ice Road.

She also had a major role in TV shows Legion and Roswell, New Mexico, and will next be seen in the live-action Avatar: The Last Airbender, based on the anime of the same name. 

5. Rick Mora

Although he doesn’t have the filmography of his peers, Rick Mora is always compelling when on screen. The model and actor claims Apache and Yaqui descent and got his big break in the movies when cast as Jacob Black’s great great grandfather in the first movie of the Twilight Saga. This opened many doors for Mora, who began getting a lot of commercial work. 

In between modeling and making commercials, Mora has appeared in several more movies over the years, including the Western Yellowrock with Michael Biehn and the 2022 horror The Harbinger. 

6. Sacheen Littlefeather

It’s unfortunate that Sacheen Littlefeather’s career is often overshadowed by her appearance at the 1973 Academy Awards. Sent in place of Marlon Brando, who was up for Best Actor for his role in The Godfather, Littlefeather ended up taking the stage when Brando won. But instead of taking the award, she declined and then made a speech on behalf of the great actor where she explained his reason for not accepting the award being due to the “treatment of American Indians today by the film industry… and on television in movie re-runs, and also with recent happenings at Wounded Knee.”

The speech didn’t go down well and caused all sorts of commotion, but it did bring about more awareness of Native American issues and their treatment by others. The bad news was Littlefeather’s career stalled after the stunt, and many believe she was blacklisted from Hollywood.

Littlefeather continued to act, opening the Red Earth Indian Theater Company while also engaging in work as an activist, helping bring a light on the Native American community. She passed away in 2022 from cancer at the age of 75. 

7. Zahn McClarnon

Here is another fantastic Native American actor whose face you are probably familiar with. Zahn McClarnon has been in the acting game for three decades and has received widespread acclaim for his performances in TV shows Longmire, Fargo, Westworld, and Reservation Dogs. 

McClarnon is Hunkpapa Lakota on his mother’s side and would often spend weekends with his grandparents on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation, where his mom grew up. He caught the acting bug when cast in a theatre production of Jesus Christ Superstar and has worked steadily since. Some of McClarnon’s other standout performances have come in the movies Bone Tomahawk and Doctor Sleep and the TV shows Barkskins and Dark Winds. 

8. Irena Bedard

An Alaskan native who is often cast as a Native American, Irena Bedard has been working as an actress for over 20 years. The daughter of an Inupiat Eskimo and a French Canadian/Cree, Bedard is an accomplished thespian who is always a welcome presence on screen. 

She has appeared in a wide range of movies and TV shows, including The Tree of Life, Longmire, The Mist, Westworld, and The Stand. Her most memorable role was voicing Pocahontas in the Disney adaptation of the famous story. 

9. Forrest Goodluck

Best known for his role alongside Leonardo DiCaprio in The Revenant, Forrest Goodluck is an up-and-coming Native American actor. Born in New Mexico, Goodluck has strong Native American ancestry, with his father a descent of the Navajo and his mother’s ancestry including Hidatsa, Mandan, Navajo, and Tsimshian.

In the infancy of his career, Goodluck is already making waves with his grounded performances in the drama Cherry and the TV series The Republic of Sarah. 

10. Gary Farmer

Landing his first movie role in the 80s comedy Police Academy, Gary Farmer has had an impressive career thus far. While he’s been in dozens of movies and TV shows, Farmer is also well-regarded by Native Americans for all the work he does for their community. He often speaks at universities and established the Aboriginal Voices Radio Network to give indigenous people a voice and more chances of getting their music heard.

He also has a band, Gary Farmer and the Troublemakers, and continues to appear in everything from Hollywood blockbusters to small independent films. 

11. Alyssa Wapanatâhk

Another up-and-comer, Alyssa Wapanatâhk got her big break when cast as Tiger Lily in Disney’s big-budget Peter Pan & Wendy. As anyone her age would do, she took to Instagram to share the news, with the caption reading: “This just in… SO excited for this new journey.” She’s also been cast in the live-action adaptation of Bones of Crows: The season. 

12. Raoul Trujillo

American Indian Raoul Trujillo has been in the entertainment business for over 40 years. While most recognize him from Mel Gibson’s Apocalypto, Trujillo first got his start as a soloist with the Nikolais Dance Theatre. He spent much of the 80s dancing for different theatres and is the original choreographer and co-director for the American Indian Dance Theatre.

His love of acting took over in the 90s as Trujillo began building his filmography, taking work whenever he could. This has led to some big roles for Trujillo in movies such as The New World, Riddick, Blood Father, and the two Sicario movies. He’s found a new fan base these past few years after taking the role of Che “Taza” Romero in Mayans M.C.

13. Adam Beach

Canadian Adam Beach is part of the indigenous people known as Anishinaabeg. He grew up on the Lake Manitoba/Dog Creek First Nation Reserve and had a tough childhood. Both his parents died when he was young and he spent his youth living with his grandmother for several years and then his aunt and uncle in Winnipeg. It was here when Beach found his passion for performing, finding acting a cathartic way to express himself. 

His first role came in the 1990 movie Lost in the Barrens. It wasn’t long until more roles found their way to Beach, who began building an impressive resume. The war film Windtalkers with Nicolas Cage was a major turning point in his career and led Beach to secure bigger and juicer roles. Some of his best performances have come in the films Skinwalkers (directed by Chris Eyre, a member of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes) Flags of Our Fathers, Hostiles, The Power of the Dog, and the TV shows Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Arctic Air, and The Good Doctor. 

14. Michael Horse 

Describing himself as of Yaqui descent, Michael Horse doesn’t belong to any particular tribe. He has made a career out of playing native roles in various media formats. His first movie role was that of Tonto in the movie The Legend of the Lone Ranger.  Passenger 57, The Call of the Wild,  and Twin Peaks: The Missing Pieces are also high points of his career on the big screen. 

Horse has also appeared in many television series over the years, including Twin Peaks, The Untouchables, and the recent hit Claws. He’s also done a heap of one-episode cameos in famous shows such as The X-Files, Walker, Texas Ranger, and Hell on Wheels. 

15. Branscombe Richmond

A great character actor with over 160 credits to his name, Branscombe Richmond has seen it and done it all throughout his nearly 50-year career. He made it big in the 80s starring in TV series Hawaiian Heat and Heart of the City, before the 90s gave him a second wind with Renegade, where he played Native American bounty hunter Bobby Sixkiller.

Richmond’s filmography is stacked, with the Native American always taking on different roles and putting his acting chops to test. 

16. Michael Greyeyes

Similar to Raoul Trujillo, Michael Greyeyes got his start as a dancer. He graduated from The National Ballet School in 1984 and spent much of the next ten years dancing for various production companies before dipping his toes into the world of acting. His first role was in the TV movie Geronimo, which helped him get the lead in Crazy Horse, a movie based on the life of the famous Native American. 

Geryeyes has accumulated a great CV, having worked with Terrence Malick on Brave New World, played a main role in Skinwalkers, and had big, re-occurring roles on TV shows Klondike, Fear the Walking Dead, and Rutherford Falls.