The Mohawk Canadian actor’s career began almost on a whim with a part on CBC’s ‘Anne With an E.’ and has skyrocketed with her now second lead in a gigantic Netflix series
Kiawentiio Tarbell attends Netflix's 'Avatar: The Last Airbender' world premiere at The Egyptian Theatre Hollywood on Feb. 15 in Los Angeles.You know that classic actor’s arc, painstakingly building from bit parts to bigger roles, withstanding rejection and despair? Yeah, that’s not Kiawentiio’s story. The Mohawk Canadian actor was cast in the first thing she auditioned for, the hit CBC/Netflix seriesWe meet via video call, and even on that flattening medium, Kiawentiio sparkles.
The audition, when it came, was veiled in secrecy – fake project and character names, disguised scenes, all via Zoom. After a month-long series of “adrenalin-pumping” chemistry reads with other actors, showrunner Albert Kim delivered the news: Yes, it was; yes, they’d been searching the world for their Katara; and yes, it was her. She and her family burst into tears.
But she doesn’t want portraying Indigenous characters to become its own kind of limit. “Those roles will always be at my root; they are what I can see myself in and relate to. That doesn’t have to be the end of what we’re capable of, though. We don’t have to just play the Indian friend, the Native guy. We can be just that doctor or teacher or lawyer, those regular roles. The days of just getting a role, and not The Native role, are still ahead of us.
She’s always had a readable face, she realizes. “I can’t hide anything; it’s all in my eyes. But to be able to be in control of that to portray someone else is so interesting. My dad told me he’s never seen me light up the way I do when I’m on a set. That’s when I knew I should stick with it.”Supinder Wraich’s new CBC series, Allegiance, explores family bonds and the badge
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