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
Complete Filmography

Bearing Witness Native American Voices in Hollywood
2025

Inkwo for When the Starving Return
2024
as Auntie (voice)
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
2024
as Luna
A decrepit old man discovers the true nature of his doctor's appointment and attempts to escape.

Marvel Studios Assembled: The Making of Echo
2024
as Self - Chula
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
2023
as Lizzie Q
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
2022
as Ticup
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
2022
as Ms. Hunter (voice)
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
2021
as Mrs. Grey Horns (voice)
An animated reimaging of the largest wildfire evacuation in Alberta's history, with upwards of 88,000 people forced from their homes.

Tantoo Cardinal
2021
as self
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
2020
as Juniper Fairweather
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
"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
2019
as Grandmother Ruth
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
2019
as Janace
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
2019
as Mary-Lou
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
2018
as Illanaq
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
2018
as Mary Birchbark
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
2017
as Narrator / Louisa (voice)
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
2017
as Alice Crowheart
An FBI agent teams with the town's veteran game tracker to investigate a murder that occurred on a Native American reservation.

ARQ
2016
as The Pope
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
2016
as Ada Taylor
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
2015
as Lana
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
2014
as (voice)
Abandoned cars rest silently in fields for decades, still holding secret conversations within their bodies.

Chasing Shakespeare
2014
as Older Venus
Two souls are so deeply in love with one another that they are entangled beyond life itself.

Down Here
2014
as Stella Mitchell
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
2013
as Tekahera
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
2013
as The Nurse
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
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
2010
as Gordon’s Sister
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
An exploration of the reality of returning home on the reserve to face family, community and death.

Changing Climates, Changing Times
2009
as Grace Lajoie
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
2008
as Celine
Comedy about three very different women and the complex relationship they have with their mothers.

Dear Prudence
2008
as Ruth Vigil
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
2008
as Heather
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
2008
as Auntie Apple
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
2007
as Gloria Maquinna
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
2006
as Sioux Woman
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
2006
as Aunt Shadie / Rita
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
2004
as Grand Chief Katie Blackfire
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
2004
as Irene Musket
Officers Leaphorn and Chee search for a missing anthropologist suspected of stealing artifacts from a burial site.

Dreamkeeper
2003
as Old Pawnee Woman
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
2003
as Self
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)
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
2002
as Ruth
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
2001
as Narrator (voice)
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
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
2000
as Aunt Mary
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
2000
as Singing Bird
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
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
2000
as Mary
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
1999
as Heaven Fontaine
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
1998
as Arlene Joseph
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
1998
as Violet Boucher
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
1998
as Running Second
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
1998
as Honey Moccasin
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
1997
as Nonna
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
1996
as Nellie
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
1995
as Turtle Mother
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
Real stories of five women of the Old West....
Prophecy, Milestones & Challenges
1995
as Alive
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
1994
as Pet
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
1994
as Mary's Mother
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
1994
as Dawn Rainfeather
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
1993
as Marilyn St. Claire
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
1993
as Bangor
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
1993
as Silent Tongue
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
1993
as Sister Amantha
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
1991
as Chomina's Wife
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
1991
as Vivian
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'
1990
as Herself
A documentary about the making of director Kevin Costner's Academy Award-winning directorial debut, Dances With Wolves.

Dances with Wolves
1990
as Black Shawl
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
1990
as Molly Brant
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
1988
as Sonny's Mother
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
1988
as Annie
A mediocre musician goes on the road in search of the world's greatest guitar maker

Loyalties
1987
as Rosanne Ladouceur
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
1987
as Little Doe
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
1986
as Rose (as Tantoo Martin-Cardinal)
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
1983
as Caroline (as Tantoo Martin)
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
1981
as Indian Woman (as Tantoo Martin)
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
1978
as Tantou, Indian princess (as Tantoo Martin)
A young married woman, after a kidnapping, becomes attached to an Indian.

Wildwood
N/A
as (voice)
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 ...