The movie industry isn’t always about fame and glamour. There are a number of Native screen actors who are just fine staying out of the limelight and manage to at least supplement their income by securing jobs as movie extras. Monday on Native America Calling in this encore presentation (no phone calls), Shawn Spruce gets tips from the pros about what it takes to be a face in the movie crowd from Sonny Skyhawk (Citizen of the Rosebud Lakota Nation), founder of American Indians in Film & Television; Ronnie Thomas (Alabama-Coushatta Tribe of Texas), tribal council treasurer of the Alabama-Coushatta Tribe of Texas; Lisa Yates (Osage); talent agent Michelle Shining Elk (Enrolled member of Colville Confederated Tribes); and casting director Angelique Midthunder.

 

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Deb Haaland faces her critics and supporters on her way to heading the U.S. Department of Interior, the Navajo Nation vaccinates nearly a third of their citizens in under a month, and the Biden Administration’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus aid package includes relief for tribes. These are some of the stories we’ll look into on the regular news roundup.

Guests:

Mary Annette Pember (Red Cliff Ojibwe) – national correspondent for Indian Country Today

Allison Herrera (Xolon Salinan) – Indigenous Affairs reporter at KOSU

Aaron Yazzie (Diné) – mechanical engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab

Mentioned on the show:

Mars 2020 Mission

Enbridge Line 3 divides Indigenous lands, people

‘Suspicious packages’ escalate pipeline tensions

‘Pipe Dream’: Enbridge escalates local tensions

 

Break 1 music: Quiero Que Me Salves (feat. Sexteto Tabala) (song) Lido Pimienta (artist) Miss Colombia (album)

Break 2 music: Meskwaki Nation Intertribal (song) Meskwaki Nation (artist) Oneida Powwow: 40th Anniversary (album)