Tantoo tells her story

Page 9

As I sat waiting for Tantoo Cardinal, an award-winning Metis actress from Anzac, to begin her lecture on "Breaking into the Business" at the World Aboriginal Film Festival workshop, I anticipated what she'd talk about. Probably on how to find a good agent, the best acting jobs and what kind of money a beginner can make.

She both surprised and delighted me. She didn't talk about that stuff at all, she spoke about something much more important ? her own feelings and how she felt inside as she entered her acting career. What she said struck me deeply ? we should always be true to ourselves.

The following is excerpted from her talk:

"I come from a land of no expectations. The only Indians I ever saw in movies were people like Katherine Ross and Katherine Hepburn (dressed up like Indians). When I was ten or 12-years-old ? I didn't know what I wanted to do. Where I came from people didn't have faith that you could go out in this world and do what you really wanted to do.

I also knew that other people didn't really know my people. And, I was told by my own people that I had no sense of reality. No sense of completing anything. I've always felt that too many people get caught up doing things they think they should be doing, instead of what they want to be doing. I knew I'd be doing O.K. if I could find those things to do that made me feel good. But, I had no concentrated education, no tools to do anything.

I began to do volunteer work. I became president of the Native Youth of Alberta. I found I like communicating. We are a verbal people. My grandmother was a great dramatist. I learned a lot from her. IF she was telling a story about a 13-year-old girl, she would act that age.

You know breaking into the business of acting is really breaking into your own self. It's self-discovery. Even if you make some horrible mistakes along the way, continue to do things the way you feel you should. You'll end up being right at some point along the way.

When you start out, make sure you're doing what you want to do. I started out doing ten and 20 minute films on fire prevention and instruction films on things like band procedures. I was poor . . . I wouldn't work for companies that wasted resources. I didn't get any waitressing jobs either because I told them straight out that if I got an acting job I'd be gone. Who would hire someone like that? I really had my scruples.

Finally, at one point, I gave in. I borrowed $10 from my granny and took the bus to Ft. McMurray to see about a job at Syncrude. When I got back to Edmonton, the bus left me of at a hotel . . . and there was a film industry party going on. Fil Fraser (who is involved with filming and communications in Edmonton) noticed me and told me to come and join in. Everyone was dressed to the teeth ? like you see in movies, with glittering jewellery and silk. I had on old jeans and the tongue had come off one of my shoes. But, I went up and flitted around talking to people. That was the turning point. Right then I knew I was an actress. I knew I could make a go of this career.

In the next little while I had a lot of conflicting feelings. I knew I had to approach people and ask them about acting jobs. And I had to keep a daytimer. A daytimer, so I wouldn't miss appointments. I remember thinking to myself it was too much like the whiteman's way. But, I won out over my feelings and kept appointments and a daytimer. I would do it on the premise that I was using it for what I saw was a good purpose.

Since last January, I've dealt with a lot of press. It started getting scary ? there seemed to be so many expectations laid on me. I was lucky to have been in a movie like Loyalties ? there was truth in it. Sometimes we have to dig deep to find the truth and then get it out. Or else it sits inside and affects you all the time.

Now that I've really gotten into acting, I've begun to know just how much I don't know. I started taking classe ? clowning techniques, movement, acting technique. I was trying to find my method of working.

Before you shoot a scene you have to warm up ? you warm up your body and your voice. I remember working with professionals who have quite a system of warming up ? doing elaborate exercises and singing mi-mi-mi-mi. Well, I didn't have a technique; I couldn't warm up like them. So, I just did some Indian singing and dancing and you know what? It worked! That was my way of doing things. As soon as you start copying someone else it will usually take you longer to get where you want to go.

We all have our own gifts, our own special shine. And we should stick with what we feel is right because sometimes we end up showing others a different way to do something."

AT the end of the film festival, Tantoo was presented with a feathered headdress (made by Orton Eagle Speaker of the Blood reserve) on behalf of the Indian Summer World Festival of Aboriginal Motion Pictures, in recognition of her contribution to the film industry.