July 2007
 Actress,
singer, and dancer Tamara Podemski (Saulteaux)
won the Special Jury Prize for Acting at the 2007 Sundance
Film Festival, for her role as Miri Smallhill in Sterlin Harjo's
Four Sheets to the Wind. Other notable film roles include
Rox in Jorge Manzano's Johnny Greyeyes and Little Margaret
in Bruce McDonald's Dance Me Outside. Her television roles
include Deborah "Chicky" Etienne in Gil Cardinal's mini-series
Indian Summer: The Oka Crisis and Carla Slavinski in the
teen drama Ready or Not. She recently acted in New Amsterdam,
a Fox Television pilot directed by Lasses Hallstrom. Podemski
was a member of the original Canadian cast of Rent, and
has played Maureen in Rent's Broadway company. She has
participated in programs at the Banff Centre for the Arts, including
the Aboriginal Dance Project, Aboriginal Screenwriters' Workshop,
and Women in the Director's Chair. She has released five albums,
two of which were recorded in the Saulteaux language. For her
solo album, Tamara, she won Best Female Artist at the 2006
Canadian Aboriginal Music Awards, and shared the Best Songwriter
award with Karen Kosowski. She choreographed the 2007 Aboriginal
Achievement Awards and has been a lead dancer for the Aboriginal
Achievement Awards since 1995. Podemski was born and raised in
Toronto.
Screened by NMAI
Image credit:
Tamara Podemski - courtesy of the filmmaker.
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