She May Not Have Won An Oscar For Her Performance In “Killers Of The Flower Moon,” But Lily Gladstone Still Made History As The Very First Native American Woman To Be Nominated For The Academy Award For Best Actress
If you’ve been keeping up with this year’s Oscar nominations or have been reading any headlines about the hit movies of 2023, you’ve likely heard of actress Lily Gladstone.
The buzz surrounding Lily Gladstone’s promising acting career is well deserved, as aside from being extremely talented, she’s making history and opening the door for Indigenous American actors.
Lily is best known for her breakout and Oscar-nominated performance in Martin Scorsese’s 2023 film, “Killers Of The Flower Moon,” but here is a little more information about her journey to Hollywood and why it’s so important.
Lily was born in 1986 and grew up on the Blackfeet Reservation in Montana. She is of Siksikaitsitapi, also known as Blackfeet, NiMíiPuu, and European heritage. When she was around 11 years old, her family moved to Seattle in search of more opportunities.
As a little girl, Lily enjoyed performing and discovered her passion for acting when she performed as one of Cinderella’s stepsisters in the Missoula Children’s Theatre production of Cinderella. Lily received much support from her parents, who enrolled her in acting and dance classes.
She performed in several theater productions in high school and became involved with her local community theater.
Lily attended UM’s Davidson Honors College and graduated in 2008 with a BFA in acting and a minor in Native American studies.
She was the first Native American student to receive the school’s Presidential Leadership Scholarship, and she quickly earned a reputation around campus as a talented actress with an excellent work ethic, enthusiastically participating and performing in as many student productions as possible.
After college, Lily did a lot of work with the Montana Repertory Theatre, continuing to act and dipping her toe into writing and directing productions.
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She made her on-screen debut in the drama film “Jimmy P: Psychotherapy of a Plains Indian” in 2013 and was cast in several other dramatic roles in films like “Certain Women” in 2016, which earned her several awards, like the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress.
A real breakthrough moment in Lily’s career happened when she was cast as Mollie Burkhart, a prominent Osage woman in American history, in “Killers Of The Flower Moon,” which is based on the horrific murders of Osage people in Oklahoma from 1918 to 1931.
Starring alongside Leonardo DiCaprio, Lily delivered a moving and brilliant performance that led her to be the very first Native American woman to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress. Fun fact: in Lily’s high school yearbook, she was named one of two students voted “Most Likely To Win an Oscar.”
Lily was also the first Native American woman to be nominated for and win an acting Golden Globe award. Additionally, she was the first Native woman to win the Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Female Actor.
While accepting her historical Golden Globe award, Lily dedicated her win to “every little ‘rez kid,’ every little urban kid, every little Native kid who has a dream, who is seeing themselves represented and our stories told by ourselves in our own words with tremendous allies and tremendous trust with and from each other.”
While she did not win the Oscar for Best Actress, winner Emma Stone made sure to mention her tremendous performance in her acceptance speech.
Since gaining a larger platform after starring in Scorsese’s film, Lily has passionately spoken out about the importance of representation in film and allowing Native people to tell Native stories properly.
Lily has already been cast in several more film projects since her breakout role, and we cannot wait to see what she does next.
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