Lily Gladstone has impressed the global audience with her iconic portrayal in Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon. Her role of Mollie Burkhart is based on a real-life Osage woman, whose family members lost their lives over oil reserves rights in the oil-rich Oklahoma region.
Her stellar performance helped her bag numerous accolades including an Oscar nomination and a Golden Globes. But long before setting Hollywood ablaze with her acting skills, she had the most noble job in the Blackfeet reservation.
Lily Gladstone Taught Acting During Her Post Grad Years in Blackfeet Reservation
Having grown up on the Blackfeet Reservation in Montana, her hometown and heritage are deeply engraved in her heart. She is of Piegan Blackfeet, Nez Perce, and European heritage, which exposed her to both the worlds.
Before making a buzz in the glamourous world, she studied drama as a major and minored in Native American studies at the University of Montana. There, she became interested in Augusto Boal’s Theatre of the Oppressed which aimed to “erase the lines between actor and audience, leveling the playing field and allowing all to commune over social and political truths” via Variety.
While pursuing her post-graduation, she offered acting workshops and camps to the reservation children and college students. Explaining her work, she stated to the outlet,
“We would talk about the issues that affected us in our daily lives, and pull out key words: colonization, assimilation, family, home.”
As the issues were put forward, she would then provide a word to her students, asking them to strike a pose to express it in their own way. She called the exercise a “sculpture garden.”
She recalled a sculpture garden session when students ducked “into fetal positions, covering their mouths, stiffening their fingers into scissors made for chopping off long hair” when the word ‘assimilation’ was assigned. She takes immense pride in her heritage as well as the recognition she received at the 96th Annual Academy Awards nominations.
Lily Gladstone Went Emotional on Getting an Oscar Nod for Her Work in Killers of the Flower Moon
The 37-year-old actress felt beyond grateful once her name was announced as one of the Oscar nominees in the Best Actress category. In an interview with EW, she addressed the same while talking about her viral high school yearbook photo where she was named most likely to win the award.
She revealed,
“That was the best feeling to get to be in a film like that, and to just hear rumors that I was at least on a long list for it, that felt beyond anything I could have dreamt.”
Whereas, in Today‘s interview, she revealed how that achievement felt surreal as she was new in the studio world.
“I’ve been acting for a long time. I’m new to the studio world, (but) I’ve been in theater and indies for a long time. … I was completely expecting my life would be in small black box theater, would be in independent film, would be in the classroom, teaching students about social justice and history using the art of acting.”
Killers of the Flower Moon revolves around a series of murders of Osage members after oil is discovered in the Oklahoma region. She plays the role of Mollie Burkhart who marries Leonardo DiCaprio’s character, Ernest Burkhart. The movie grossed over $156 million worldwide via The Numbers.
Killers of the Flower Moon is available on Apple TV+.
