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IMDbPro

Tantoo Cardinal

  • Actress
  • Director
  • Producer
IMDbProStarmeterTop 5,0001444
Tantoo Cardinal at an event for Until the Violence Stops (2003)
Oni: Thunder God's Tale (Italian)
Play trailer1:23
Oni: Thunder God's Tale (2022)
19 Videos
22 Photos
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.
BornJuly 20, 1950
  • More at IMDbPro
    • Contact info
    • Agent info
    • Resume
BornJuly 20, 1950
IMDbProStarmeterTop 5,0001444
  • View contact info at IMDbPro
  • Awards
    • 14 wins & 6 nominations

Photos22

Tantoo Cardinal in Three Pines (2022)
Tantoo Cardinal and Caitríona Balfe in Outlander (2014)
Tantoo Cardinal in Hold the Dark (2018)
Tantoo Cardinal in Godless (2017)
Tantoo Cardinal and Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers in On the Farm (2016)
James Cromwell, Graham Greene, Tantoo Cardinal, and Joseph Ashton in The Education of Little Tree (1997)
James Cromwell, Tantoo Cardinal, and Joseph Ashton in The Education of Little Tree (1997)
James Cromwell, Tantoo Cardinal, and Joseph Ashton in The Education of Little Tree (1997)
James Cromwell, Tantoo Cardinal, and Joseph Ashton in The Education of Little Tree (1997)
Tantoo Cardinal in The Education of Little Tree (1997)
Tantoo Cardinal as Reenie in Postmark Paradise (2000)
Tantoo Cardinal, Kevin Smith, Camryn Manheim, Adrian Martinez, Michael Ealy, Cobie Smulders, Jake Johnson, and Cole Sibus at an event for Stumptown (2019)

Known for

Elizabeth Olsen and Jeremy Renner in Wind River (2017)
Wind River
7.7
  • Alice Crowheart
  • 2017
Kevin Costner in Dances with Wolves (1990)
Dances with Wolves
8.0
  • Black Shawl
  • 1990
Shouting Secrets (2011)
Shouting Secrets
7.7
  • June
  • 2011
Brad Pitt, Anthony Hopkins, and Aidan Quinn in Legends of the Fall (1994)
Legends of the Fall
7.5
  • Pet
  • 1994

Credits

Edit
IMDbPro

Actress

  • Echo
    • Post-production
    • TV Mini Series
    • 2023
  • Lily Sacred Journey
    • Aurora
    • Pre-production
  • Wildwood
    • (voice)
    • In Production
  • The Wind of Heaven
    • Eydie
    • Pre-production
  • Leonardo DiCaprio and Lily Gladstone in Killers of the Flower Moon (2023)
    Killers of the Flower Moon
    • Lizzie Q
    • 2023
  • Alfred Molina in Three Pines (2022)
    Three Pines
    • Bea Mayer
    • TV Series
    • 2022
  • The Last Manhunt (2022)
    The Last Manhunt
    • Ticup
    • 2022
  • Oni: Thunder God's Tale (2022)
    Oni: Thunder God's Tale
    • Principal (voice)
    • TV Mini Series
    • 2022
  • Cai Puri-Evans in Spirit Rangers (2022)
    Spirit Rangers
    • Moon
    • TV Series
    • 2022
  • Keegan-Michael Key, Jordan Peele, and Lyric Ross in Wendell & Wild (2022)
    Wendell & Wild
    • Ms. Hunter (voice)
    • 2022
  • Back Home Again (2021)
    Back Home Again
    • Mrs. Grey Horns (voice)
    • Short
    • 2021
  • Corner Gas Animated (2018)
    Corner Gas Animated
    • Real Estate Agent (voice)
    • TV Series
    • 2021
  • New Amsterdam (2018)
    New Amsterdam
    • Professor Jane Munsee
    • TV Series
    • 2021
  • The Corruption of Divine Providence (2020)
    The Corruption of Divine Providence
    • Juniper Fairweather
    • 2020
  • Michael Ealy, Cobie Smulders, and Jake Johnson in Stumptown (2019)
    Stumptown
    • Sue Lynn Blackbird
    • TV Series
    • 2019–2020
  • Jason Momoa in See (2019)
    See
    • The Dreamer
    • TV Series
    • 2019
  • Red Snow (2019)
    Red Snow
    • Grandmother Ruth
    • 2019
  • Caitríona Balfe and Sam Heughan in Outlander (2014)
    Outlander
    • Adawehi
    • TV Series
    • 2018
  • Frontier (2016)
    Frontier
    • Kamenna
    • TV Series
    • 2016–2018

Director

  • Stories from the Seventh Fire (1999)
    Stories from the Seventh Fire
    • Director
    • Short
    • 1999

Producer

  • Sisters Rising (2020)
    Sisters Rising
    • executive producer
    • 2020
  • In-development projects at IMDbPro

Videos19

The Grizzlies
Clip 1:21
The Grizzlies
Cobie Smulders Leads an Acting "A-Team" in "Stumptown"
Interview 3:07
Cobie Smulders Leads an Acting "A-Team" in "Stumptown"
Official Trailer
Trailer 1:58
Official Trailer
Trailer
Trailer 1:45
Trailer
Trailer
Trailer 1:55
Trailer
Official Trailer
Trailer 1:24
Official Trailer
Eden Trailer
Trailer 2:06
Eden Trailer
Mothers&Daughters
Trailer 1:52
Mothers&Daughters
Abandoned: Angelique's Isle
Trailer 1:30
Abandoned: Angelique's Isle
Abandoned: Angelique's Isle
Trailer 2:08
Abandoned: Angelique's Isle
Smoke Signals
Trailer 1:04
Smoke Signals
Dances With Wolves: 20th Anniversary Edition
Trailer 1:31
Dances With Wolves: 20th Anniversary Edition

Personal details

Edit
  • Alternative names
    • Tantoo Martin
  • Born
    • July 20, 1950
    • Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada
  • Spouses
      John Lawlor1988 - March 2000 (divorced, 1 child)
  • Parents
    • Julia Cardinal
  • Publicity listings
    • 1 Article

Did you know

Edit
  • Trivia
    Learned Lakota for the Academy Award-winning film, Dances with Wolves (1990).
  • Quotes
    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.

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