Tantoo Cardinal
CM
Honorary Doctor of Letters
A celebrated actor of First Nations and Métis descent, Tantoo Cardinal has broken barriers for onscreen representations of Indigenous peoples. She has played more than 120 roles on stage and in film and television throughout her nearly 50-year career, blazing a trail for future Indigenous artists.
Her most famous roles include those in multiple Academy Award winner Dances with Wolves and Academy Award nominee Legends of the Fall, along with her U.S. television role in Stumptown on ABC. Her latest feature film, Falls Around Her, directed by Darlene Naponse, premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2018.
She is a member of the Order of Canada and a recipient of the Governor General’s Performing Arts Award. She has received a Gemini, an ImagiNATIVE Film Festival People’s Choice Award, an Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television Lifetime Achievement Award, and many more accolades.
For her significant contribution to the growth and development of Indigenous performing arts and her
advocacy for Indigenous people and for the environment, The University of Â鶹´«Ã½ is proud to bestow
an Honorary Doctor of Letters on Tantoo Cardinal.