Indigenous Actors Snag More Primetime Emmy Nods Than Ever Before

This September’s Primetime Emmy Awards will feature more Indigenous acting talent than ever before.
In a historic move Wednesday, Lily Gladstone and Kali Reis became the first Native American women to earn acting nominations from the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.
The pair not only share this groundbreaking moment ahead of the Emmys ceremony, but are now set to face off in the same category. Gladstone and Reis are both up for this season’s award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie.
Gladstone, who is of Piegan Blackfeet and Nez Perce descent, is nominated for her role in Hulu’s “Under the Bridge,” a true-crime drama set on Canada’s Vancouver Island.
Reis, who is a member of New England’s Seaconke Wampanoag Tribe and also has Cape Verdean ancestry, was recognized for her role in “True Detective: Night Country.”
On the HBO series, she plays a rural Alaskan police officer investigating the mysterious disappearance of eight researchers and how it ties back to the brutal murder of an Inupiat environmental activist.
Gladstone and Reis will have tough competition at the Emmys.
The rest of their category is stacked with Dakota Fanning (“Ripley”), Jessica Gunning (“Baby Reindeer”), Aja Naomi King (“Lessons in Chemistry”), Diane Lane (“Feud: Capote vs. the Swans”) and Nava Mau (“Baby Reindeer.”)
No matter who wins, Reis is looking forward to this year’s Primetime Emmys.
“The natives in the Indigenous community are going to be rolling deep, and that means I’m real proud of that,” she told Deadline.
But the nominations for Gladstone and Reis weren’t the only triumph for Indigenous representation ahead of the Primetime Emmys.
After years of being sidelined, critically beloved FX series “Reservation Dogs” finally got its flowers from the Television Academy.
The show’s final season collected four nominations, including a spot on the coveted Outstanding Comedy Series short list.
Oji-Cree star D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai is now the second Native American man to nab an acting nomination for the Primetime Emmys, following in the footsteps of August Schellenberg.
Schellenberg earned a nod for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie in 2007 for playing Sitting Bull in HBO’s dramatic adaptation of the historical tome “Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee.”
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Rounding things out, “Reservation Dogs” also scored in two technical categories: Outstanding Picture Editing For A Single-Camera Comedy Series, and Outstanding Cinematography For A Single-Camera Series.
For a deep dive into all the snubs and surprises from the 76th Primetime Emmy nomination announcements, take a look at HuffPost’s live blog.
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