North of 60 actor enjoys the Canadian scene

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Michael Horse freely admits he is not very calculating about pursuing

an acting career but looking at this list of film and television

credits, one would think the complete opposite. His career, which he

refers to as "an experiment bizarre booking", has seen the 46-year-old

actor playing a diversity of roles ranging from Tonto to the sultry

deputy sheriff in Twin Peaks. More recently, audiences have come to

know him as the complex psychologist on North of 60.

The actor says that this latest role is a real challenge and he is just

as unsure as the audience in figuring out whether his character is a

good guy or a bad guy.

"I've played a lot of characters that I've loved but I don't get this

kind of an opportunity to play a character who is a human being very

often. He's not worrying about losing his culture or that his loan

cloth doesn't fit. This role has thrown me as an actor since I haven't

decided if I like or trust him either," Horse said during an interview

at his Los Angeles home.

Horse, who is Yaqui/Zuni/Mescalero Apache, hadn't had much exposure to

the Canadian scene before North of 560. He sees Canada as having a more

progressive attitude towards contemporary native productions than

compared to America. The actor feels this is due to Canadian

productions having greater legitimate Native input into the projects.

This is especially noticeable in theater.

One of the greatest benefits of this kind of native community

involvement and support results in actors having more vehicles for

gaining experience and exposure. Horse finds the current Hollywood

method of casting based on the right physical "Indian Look" as

detrimental and says if Native actors are to break past the

stereotypical roles and participate in the mainstream, they have to be

able to deliver the goods.

"Canadian projects are so good. We're like cartoon figures in the

States. We get Geronimo, the dysfunctional family and Pocahontas. I

love the Canadian Native acting entertainment community because most of

them come out of the theater. they don't have this star system like we

have down here. There too many people that walk in and say, "I'm Indian

so I want some work." That's not enough. You have to have training ,

you have to be a professional," he said.

After spending four months living in Calgary last winter, the actor

feels the issues addressed in North of 60 can easily apply to the

American Native community. He noticed there are other everyday living

experiences that are the same on toth sides of the border.

Horse was frustrated to find the same level of ignorance when it comes

to the non-Native community's lack of understanding regarding Native

culture and history.

"I found that in Canada, people that live so close to reverses, like

Calgary, who live next door to this huge Native population, know nothing

about the culture, now nothing about their neighbors. I find that very

strange," he said.

Another commonality between the two countries is the denial of

accepting the importance of Native peoples' participation and

contribution to the overall ceonomy. Horse, who is also an

accompolished artist, feels stongly that technology will play a vital

role in native artists gaining greater control and access to world

markets. Something which has not been possible in the past.

"What's coming up is going to be very exciting for everybody in the

arts. The high-tech stuff isn't going to ruin things for artists. It's

going to allow us to bypass all the big merchandising of the

corporations. Artists will be able to sell their work on the Internet

and cut-out all these corporations that are only concerned with making

money. We'll be able to write and produce a film for relatively low

money and sell it on the Internet.

"We'll be able to acess markets that we have never been exposed to

before. It will be a cottage industry. Having computers on the

reserves means artists won't have to leave anymore to sell their work,"

said Horse.

Tapping into the world market pace, especially Western Euruope, has

proven to be successful for the distribution of Native art and films.

Since the beginning, the producers of North of 60 have failed in getting

the series sold in the United States, even though the show is popular in

over 430 countries around the world. Horse says this is unfortunate

since he believes American audiences would be receptive to the show.

"I think the show could be successful. It's not that the film and

television industry doesn't get my culture. They don't get anything.

They don't get women. They don't get kids. It's middle class white

corporate people that run that whole industry. I found out it doesn't

matter what the subject is, people will support a show as long as it has

three critical ingredients--it's about the human condition, it's well

acted and well written," he said.

Michael Horse agrees that America is stuck in a historical time warp in

it's perception of Native people which makes it resistant to any

contemporary portrayal of the culture. The actor hopes to change that

outllook with a film he is in the process of developing. A film that he

believes will give Ameicans the ride of their lives--taking them out of

the past and into the world of "Indian Country."

"I want to do a film like what Easy Rider did in showing America what

was happening in the '60s. I want to show people how America really sees

us today and how we see them. A road trip."