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Actors and Ancestors
Throwing Molotovs and Doing It Ourselves with D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai
Season 1, Ep. 6
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D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai is an Oji-Cree-Anishinaabe actor born in Toronto whose people are from Big Trout Lake First Nation. On this episode, D’Pharaoh tells us how taking a chance and standing out in his audition scored him a lead role in the hit series, Reservation Dogs, how hard it is to accurately throw a Molotov, and how casting directors can do a better job casting Native roles across the industry.
D'Pharaoh's Red Red Carpet shout-out goes to Angelique Midthunder, casting director of Reservation Dogs.
Transcript available here. See more at www.actorsandancestors.com/episodes.
00:00:10 - Introduction to D'Pharaoh, his land, and who claims him
00:04:08 - How D'Pharaoh started acting and the movie "Beans", about the Oka Crisis
00:17:15 - Joel talks about how Beans shut down the Mercier Bridge in Montreal and the racism they experienced from the public
00:21:38 - D'Pharoah's experience throwing molotovs on set
00:25:28 - Reservation Dogs auditions process and how D'Pharaoh stood out
00:33:23 - How D'Pharaoh stays humble and grounded
00:43:50 - D'Pharaoh's advice to aspiring Indigenous actors
00:47:35 - Moving from nepotism to community
00:52:50 - The Red Red Carpet segment
CREDITS:
Actors and Ancestors is created, produced, and hosted by Joel D. Montgrand. Audio editing and production support from Daniella Barreto.
Episode photograph by Kjohn, photo provided by D'Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai.
Actors and Ancestors is supported by a podcasting grant from the Indigenous Screen Office.
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