Tantoo Cardinal

Tantoo Cardinal

1950-07-20 Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada 80 Credits

Biography

Tantoo Cardinal CM is a Canadian actress of Cree and Métis heritage. With over 130 credits in 50 years, she's received numerous awards, including the Earle Grey Award, and 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." She starred in Scorsese's "Killers of the Flower Moon," and her upcoming proje...

Known For

Filter by:

Complete Filmography

Bearing Witness Native American Voices in Hollywood

Bearing Witness Native American Voices in Hollywood

2025

8.0
Acting
Inkwo for When the Starving Return

Inkwo for When the Starving Return

2024

as Auntie (voice)

1.0
Acting

Two lifetimes from now the world hangs in the balance. Dove, a young, enigmatic, gender-shifting warrior, discovers the gifts and burdens of their Ink...

An Ode for Leviticus

An Ode for Leviticus

2024

as Luna

Acting

A decrepit old man discovers the true nature of his doctor's appointment and attempts to escape.

Marvel Studios Assembled: The Making of Echo

Marvel Studios Assembled: The Making of Echo

2024

as Self - Chula

5.9
Acting

Join us on a revealing journey behind-the-scenes of Maya Lopez’s own groundbreaking series. Witness how the production took unprecedented steps to por...

Killers of the Flower Moon

Killers of the Flower Moon

2023

as Lizzie Q

7.4
Acting

When oil is discovered in 1920s Oklahoma under Osage Nation land, the Osage people are murdered one by one—until the FBI steps in to unravel the myste...

The Last Manhunt

The Last Manhunt

2022

as Ticup

5.9
Acting

In 1909, Willie Boy and his love Carlota go on the run after he accidentally shoots her father in a confrontation gone terribly wrong. With President ...

Wendell & Wild

Wendell & Wild

2022

as Ms. Hunter (voice)

6.7
Acting

Two demon brothers enlist the aid of Kat Elliot — a tough teen with a load of guilt — to summon them to the Land of the Living. But what Kat demands i...

Back Home Again

Back Home Again

2021

as Mrs. Grey Horns (voice)

7.0
Acting

An animated reimaging of the largest wildfire evacuation in Alberta's history, with upwards of 88,000 people forced from their homes.

Tantoo Cardinal

Tantoo Cardinal

2021

as self

Acting

A moving portrait of actress Tantoo Cardinal, travelling through time and across the many roles she’s played, capturing her strength and her impact—an...

The Corruption of Divine Providence

The Corruption of Divine Providence

2020

as Juniper Fairweather

7.0
Acting

16-year-old Jeanne awakens in a pool of her own blood, her hands and feet marked with stigmata and her forehead bleeding as if from a thorny crown. Th...

Sisters Rising

2020

Executive Producer

8.0
Producing

"Sisters Rising" is the story of six Native American women fighting to restore personal and tribal sovereignty in the face of ongoing colonial violenc...

Red Snow

Red Snow

2019

as Grandmother Ruth

5.3
Acting

Red Snow is a dramatic adventure that begins when Dylan, a Gwich'in soldier from the Canadian Arctic, is caught in an ambush in Panjwayi, Afghanistan....

The Grizzlies

The Grizzlies

2019

as Janace

7.2
Acting

In a small Arctic town struggling with the highest suicide rate in North America, a group of Inuit students' lives are transformed when they are intro...

Through Black Spruce

Through Black Spruce

2019

as Mary-Lou

5.3
Acting

The disappearance of a young Cree woman in Toronto traumatizes her Northern Ontario family, and sends her twin sister on a journey south to find her.

Hold the Dark

Hold the Dark

2018

as Illanaq

5.4
Acting

In the grim Alaskan winter, a naturalist hunts for wolves blamed for killing a local boy, but he soon finds himself swept into a chilling mystery.

Falls Around Her

Falls Around Her

2018

as Mary Birchbark

7.5
Acting

A world-famous Anishinaabe musician returns to the reserve to rest and recharge — only to discover that fame (and the outside world) are not easily le...

The Great Northern Candy Drop

The Great Northern Candy Drop

2017

as Narrator / Louisa (voice)

6.0
Acting

The pilot of an arctic community's candy air-drop is confronted by a visiting government bureaucrat who disapproves of the Christmas tradition.

Wind River

Wind River

2017

as Alice Crowheart

7.4
Acting

An FBI agent teams with the town's veteran game tracker to investigate a murder that occurred on a Native American reservation.

ARQ

ARQ

2016

as The Pope

6.1
Acting

Two old friends living in a dystopic future become trapped in a mysterious time loop — one that may have something to do with an ongoing battle betwee...

On the Farm

On the Farm

2016

as Ada Taylor

5.0
Acting

Based on a true story, a powerful study of the dysfunction and disorder in the police and criminal justice systems that allowed a wily psychopath to m...

Hope Bridge

Hope Bridge

2015

as Lana

5.3
Acting

After a high school boy learns that his father committed suicide, he begins a journey to find hope and reconciliation in the midst of his grief.

Rez Carz

Rez Carz

2014

as (voice)

Acting

Abandoned cars rest silently in fields for decades, still holding secret conversations within their bodies.

Chasing Shakespeare

Chasing Shakespeare

2014

as Older Venus

3.1
Acting

Two souls are so deeply in love with one another that they are entangled beyond life itself.

Down Here

Down Here

2014

as Stella Mitchell

5.2
Acting

When an alcoholic detective fights to find a murderer targeting street workers in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside, he struggles to escape the haunting m...

Maïna

Maïna

2013

as Tekahera

6.4
Acting

Maïna is the daughter of the Innu leader Mishtenapuu, who attends a bloody confrontation between his clan and the clan of "Men of the Land of Ice." Fo...

Eden

Eden

2013

as The Nurse

6.5
Acting

After a night out with friends, Hyun Jae accepts a late night ride home from a young fire fighter. What begins as a night of promise quickly turns int...

Shouting Secrets

2011

as June

9.0
Acting

Shouting Secrets is a hopeful and heartwarming, universal story taking place in a present day Native American family. It's a story that is at once abo...

Fathers & Sons

Fathers & Sons

2010

as Gordon’s Sister

3.5
Acting

Fathers & Sons is a comedic exploration of a group of men and their relationships with their fathers. A middle-aged Jewish man meets his father for th...

Every Emotion Costs

2010

as Aunt Marcy

Acting

An exploration of the reality of returning home on the reserve to face family, community and death.

Changing Climates, Changing Times

Changing Climates, Changing Times

2009

as Grace Lajoie

6.4
Acting

Year 2060. Climate predictions made at the beginning of the 21st century have turned out to be dramatically true: global warming of the Earth's atmosp...

Mothers & Daughters

Mothers & Daughters

2008

as Celine

1.0
Acting

Comedy about three very different women and the complex relationship they have with their mothers.

Dear Prudence

Dear Prudence

2008

as Ruth Vigil

5.7
Acting

Prudence MacIntyre, the 'New York home tips' TV show presenter, is sent on holiday, by studio boss Jeffrey Symcox, to a secluded lodge in Tassajero, W...

Mom, Dad and Her

Mom, Dad and Her

2008

as Heather

4.5
Acting

Sydney is a troubled teen heading for trouble. After being caught shoplifting and a case of alcohol poisoning, Sydney's desperate single mother sends ...

Older Than America

Older Than America

2008

as Auntie Apple

4.4
Acting

The truth of the past come to light in a series of haunting visions in this drama. The strange visions grow more vivid with each passing day, a young ...

Luna: Spirit of the Whale

Luna: Spirit of the Whale

2007

as Gloria Maquinna

6.2
Acting

When a government representative announces that he intends to reunite an orphaned orca with his pod by transporting him hundreds of miles over dry lan...

The Road to Christmas

The Road to Christmas

2006

as Sioux Woman

5.7
Acting

High-powered fashion photographer Claire Jameson finds herself stranded in middle America on the way to her dream Christmas-time wedding in Aspen. Una...

Unnatural & Accidental

Unnatural & Accidental

2006

as Aunt Shadie / Rita

4.2
Acting

Rebecca has returned home to be with her dying father. His last wish is that she track down her mother, an aboriginal woman who has long been missing....

H2O

H2O

2004

as Grand Chief Katie Blackfire

4.7
Acting

When Canada's Prime Minister drowns in what appears to be a boating accident, his son takes office and is drawn into a deceptive world of power and co...

A Thief Of Time

A Thief Of Time

2004

as Irene Musket

4.7
Acting

Officers Leaphorn and Chee search for a missing anthropologist suspected of stealing artifacts from a burial site.

Dreamkeeper

Dreamkeeper

2003

as Old Pawnee Woman

6.6
Acting

In South Dakota, in an Indian reservation, an old storyteller Indian asks his grandson Shane, who is in trouble owing money to some bad guys, to take ...

Dances with Wolves: The Creation of an Epic

Dances with Wolves: The Creation of an Epic

2003

as Self

8.3
Acting

A documentary of the making of Dances with Wolves told through interviews with cast and crew. It describes the financial and production details, scout...

How the Fiddle Flows

2002

as Narrator (voice)

Acting

How the Fiddle Flows follows Canada's great rivers west along the fur-trading route of the early Europeans. The newcomers introduced the fiddle to the...

Edge of Madness

Edge of Madness

2002

as Ruth

5.6
Acting

1851, Manitoba's Red River Valley. As winter sets in, a young woman on the edge of madness arrives exhausted at the fort, a wilderness station, claimi...

In the Light of Reverence

In the Light of Reverence

2001

as Narrator (voice)

Acting

This documentary, originally broadcast on the PBS series 'P.O.V.', explores three places considered sacred by Native Americans: Devils Tower in Wyomin...

Dodson's Journey

2001

as Waitress

4.0
Acting

A man takes his young daughter on a cross-country fly-fishing trip following the death of his father and his wife's decision to get a divorce.

The Lost Child

The Lost Child

2000

as Aunt Mary

6.0
Acting

Knowing the past changes the future. Seeking a connection to her heritage, Rebecca Hoffman sets out on a journey of discovery following the deaths of ...

The Hi-Line

The Hi-Line

2000

as Singing Bird

5.2
Acting

A con man and a young woman travel across the country, first in search of a man he knows, and then in search of a woman she knows.

Postmark Paradise

2000

as Reenie

Acting

The Dirty Shame is the only bar in the small town of Paradise, Michigan. A burnt out, chain-smoking fortyish bar maid is the only waitress at The Dirt...

Navigating the Heart

Navigating the Heart

2000

as Mary

6.4
Acting

When sophisticated New York journalist Edith Iglauer is assigned to go to British Columbia to write a frivolous piece on the fishing industry, she but...

A Stranger in the Kingdom

A Stranger in the Kingdom

1999

as Heaven Fontaine

3.2
Acting

A Vermont town in the 1950s hires a new minister based on his war record, but are shocked, when he shows up, to find that he is black.

Smoke Signals

Smoke Signals

1998

as Arlene Joseph

6.8
Acting

Young Native American man Thomas is a nerd in his reservation, wearing oversize glasses and telling everyone stories no-one wants to hear. His parents...

Heartwood

Heartwood

1998

as Violet Boucher

3.5
Acting

When a large corporation threatens to take over a small town's primary business and put half of the town's population out of work, sawmill owner Logan...

Big Bear

Big Bear

1998

as Running Second

Acting

The story of Big Bear, the real life Cree chief who campaigned for his people and their land against the Canadian government in the 1870s and 1880s.

Honey Moccasin

Honey Moccasin

1998

as Honey Moccasin

4.0
Acting

This all-Native production, by director Shelley Niro (Mohawk), is part of the Smoke Signals new wave of films that examine Native identity in the 1990...

The Education of Little Tree

The Education of Little Tree

1997

as Nonna

6.6
Acting

Little Tree is an 8-year-old Cherokee boy, who, during the time of the depression, loses his parents and starts to live with his Indian grandma and gr...

Grand Avenue

Grand Avenue

1996

as Nellie

9.0
Acting

When Mollie's boyfriend Jack dies on the reservation, she is asked to leave the reservation by her boyfriend's sister for not being one of their own, ...

Tecumseh: The Last Warrior

Tecumseh: The Last Warrior

1995

as Turtle Mother

6.0
Acting

This western began in 1812 when the settlers tried to take away more and more territories from the indians. Tecumseh, who is the leader of the Shawnee...

Nobody's Girls: Five Women of the West

1995

as Sarah Winnemucca

Acting

Real stories of five women of the Old West....

Prophecy, Milestones & Challenges

1995

as Alive

Acting

Tantoo Cardinal stars as Alive, the mother of Jack and Samantha. Her children are learning about their past and, in particular, the Treaty land Entitl...

Legends of the Fall

Legends of the Fall

1994

as Pet

7.4
Acting

In early 20th-century Montana, Col. William Ludlow lives on a ranch in the wilderness with his sons, Alfred, Tristan, and Samuel. Eventually, the unco...

Lakota Woman: Siege at Wounded Knee

Lakota Woman: Siege at Wounded Knee

1994

as Mary's Mother

5.0
Acting

Mary Crow Dog, daughter of a desperately poor Indian family in South Dakota, is swept up in the protests of the 1960s and becomes sensitized to the in...

Sioux City

Sioux City

1994

as Dawn Rainfeather

5.1
Acting

A young Lakota Sioux, adopted by a wealthy Jewish couple in Beverly Hills, gets in touch with his cultural roots and solves a mystery in this thriller...

Spirit Rider

Spirit Rider

1993

as Marilyn St. Claire

6.0
Acting

Jesse Threebears is a troubled Native-American teen who has been tossed from one foster home to the next since his mother died when he was an infant. ...

Where the Rivers Flow North

Where the Rivers Flow North

1993

as Bangor

6.2
Acting

Sleeper with a top notch cast in the story of a lone wolf logger who fights developers, bankers and the modern world to maintain his way of life.

Silent Tongue

Silent Tongue

1993

as Silent Tongue

4.6
Acting

Mad with grief after the death of his Kiowa wife, Roe awaits death under a tree with her body beside him. She begins to haunt him because he won't bur...

Mustard Bath

Mustard Bath

1993

as Sister Amantha

Acting

Matthew, a young medical student from Toronto, Ontario, returns to his birthplace in Guyana on receiving a letter from his mother three months after h...

Black Robe

Black Robe

1991

as Chomina's Wife

6.5
Acting

Missionary Father LaForgue travels to the New World in hopes of converting Algonquin Indians to Catholicism. Accepted, though warily, by the Indians, ...

The Lightning Incident

The Lightning Incident

1991

as Vivian

4.0
Acting

McKeon's baby is kidnapped by a devil-worshipping cult and she uses her new-found psychic abilities to track them down.

The Making of 'Dances with Wolves'

The Making of 'Dances with Wolves'

1990

as Herself

6.5
Acting

A documentary about the making of director Kevin Costner's Academy Award-winning directorial debut, Dances With Wolves.

Dances with Wolves

Dances with Wolves

1990

as Black Shawl

7.8
Acting

Wounded Civil War soldier John Dunbar tries to commit suicide—and becomes a hero instead. As a reward, he's assigned to his dream post, a remote junct...

Divided Loyalties

Divided Loyalties

1990

as Molly Brant

Acting

Story of Joseph Brant, chief of the Mohawks, and the events that led to the birth of Canada as a nation. During the time of the American Revolution, w...

War Party

War Party

1988

as Sonny's Mother

6.2
Acting

One hundred years after the Battle of Milk River, both sides agree to reenact it. The cavalry are supposed to shoot blanks & the Indians weren't s...

Candy Mountain

Candy Mountain

1988

as Annie

5.7
Acting

A mediocre musician goes on the road in search of the world's greatest guitar maker

Loyalties

Loyalties

1987

as Rosanne Ladouceur

5.0
Acting

Lily and her three youngest children join her husband David Sutton, a doctor in an isolated northern Alberta town. Their eleven-year-old son arrives l...

Gunsmoke: Return to Dodge

Gunsmoke: Return to Dodge

1987

as Little Doe

6.4
Acting

Will Mannon, "product of the Devil's loins", is released from a frontier prison and promptly goes in search of the people who put him there around twe...

Places Not Our Own

Places Not Our Own

1986

as Rose (as Tantoo Martin-Cardinal)

5.0
Acting

By 1929, Canada's west, which had been home to generations of Métis, was taken over by the railroads and new settlers. The Métis became a forgotten pe...

Running Brave

Running Brave

1983

as Caroline (as Tantoo Martin)

3.9
Acting

The story of Billy Mills the American Indian that came from obscurity, to win the 10,000 meter long distance foot race in the Tokyo Olympics.

Death Hunt

Death Hunt

1981

as Indian Woman (as Tantoo Martin)

6.6
Acting

Yukon Territory, Canada, November 1931. Albert Johnson, a trapper who lives alone in the mountains, buys a dog almost dead after a brutal dogfight, a ...

Marie Ann

Marie Ann

1978

as Tantou, Indian princess (as Tantoo Martin)

Acting

A young married woman, after a kidnapping, becomes attached to an Indian.

Wildwood

Wildwood

N/A

as (voice)

Acting

Set beyond Portland’s city limits, in Wildwood. You’re not supposed to go there. You’re not even supposed to know it exists. But Prue McKeel is about ...