Actress Lily Gladstone has become the first Indigenous person to win a Golden Globe award for Best Actress, thanks to her role as Mollie Burkhart in Martin Scorsese’s, Killers of the Flower Moon. Her role in this film also received a nomination for Best Actress at the Academy Awards, which is the first time a Native American woman has achieved this. Her character in Killers of the Flower Moon is an Osage woman whose family and community members are murdered around her in a ploy to take their oil fortune. After the astounding applause died down, Gladstone opened her speech with a few words in her native Blackfeet language and proceeded to dedicate her award to “every little rez kid” who had a dream.
The film also brought forth another Indigenous person to be recognized for their talents, Mohawk and Cayuga, with the late musician Robbie Robertson, who was nominated for best original score. However, Gladstone is only the second Indigenous actress to receive recognition from the Globes. Twenty-nine years ago, Irene Bedard was nominated for her role in the television movie Lakota Woman: Siege at Wounded Knee, but did not win her category.
Photo: Engin Akyurt