Billy Merasty (born 1960) is an

Aboriginal Canadian Indigenous peoples in Canada (also known as Aboriginals) are the Indigenous peoples within the boundaries of Canada. They comprise the First Nations, Inuit, and Métis, representing roughly 5.0% of the total Canadian population. There are over ...

actor and writer of

Cree The Cree, or nehinaw (, ), are a Indigenous peoples of the Americas, North American Indigenous people, numbering more than 350,000 in Canada, where they form one of the country's largest First Nations in Canada, First Nations. They live prim ...

descent.

Early life

Merasty was born in

Brochet, Manitoba Brochet () is an unincorporated community located in Northern Manitoba on the northern shore of Reindeer Lake near the Saskatchewan border; it is designated as a northern community. There is no year-round road service to the mostly Cree popu ...

, Canada. He is the ninth of fourteen siblings born to Viola and Pierre Merasty, and a grandson of Joe Highway, a famous

caribou The reindeer or caribou (''Rangifer tarandus'') is a species of deer with circumpolar distribution, native to Arctic, subarctic, tundra, boreal, and mountainous regions of Northern Europe, Siberia, and North America. It is the only represe ...

hunter and champion

dogsled A dog sled or dog sleigh is a sled pulled by one or more sled dogs used to travel over ice and through snow, a practice known as mushing. Numerous types of sleds are used, depending on their function. They can be used for dog sled racing. Tradi ...

racer; and related to playwright

Tomson Highway Tomson Highway (born 6 December 1951) is an Indigenous peoples in Canada, Indigenous Canadian playwright, novelist, children's author and musician. He is best known for his plays ''The Rez Sisters'' and ''Dry Lips Oughta Move to Kapuskasing'', ...

and dancer, choreographer, actor, and director

René Highway René Highway (November 6, 1954 – October 19, 1990) was an Aboriginal peoples in Canada, Indigenous Canadian dancer and actor of Plains Cree people, Cree descent from Brochet, Manitoba. He was the brother of playwright Tomson Highway, wit ...

Career

Merasty moved to

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

at the age of 18 in search of

, who was then working for the

Toronto Dance Theatre The Toronto Dance Theatre is a Canadian modern dance company based in Toronto, Ontario. Described by ''The Canadian Encyclopedia'' as "one of the foremost modern-dance companies in Canada", the company tours nationally and internationally and regu ...

. At the age of 23, he launched his acting career after graduating from the

Centre for Indigenous Theatre The Centre for Indigenous Theatre is a non-profit theater educational institution located in Toronto, Ontario. It focuses on performance art from an Indigenous cultural foundation. The goal of the Centre "is to develop and implement education ...

for aspiring First Nations artists. He then worked for the

Native Earth Performing Arts Native Earth Performing Arts is a Canadian theatre company located in Toronto, Ontario. Founded in 1982, Native Earth is Canada's oldest professional Indigenous theatre company. Native Earth is dedicated to developing, producing and presenting pro ...

for a long period. Merasty has worked extensively on the stage and films as an actor and has written one play, ''Fireweed'', produced in 1992. His second play, ''Godly's Divinia'', is in development. In 2010, Merasty received the

Order of Manitoba The Order of Manitoba is a civilian honour for merit in the Canadian province of Manitoba. Instituted in 1999 when Lieutenant Governor Peter Liba granted royal assent to the ''Order of Manitoba Act'', the order is administered by the Governor-in ...

(Order of the Buffalo Hunt) in recognition for his many years as an Aboriginal role model from Manitoba.

Stage work

His stage credits include appearances in Tomson Highway's ''The Sage, The Dancer and the Fool'', '' Dry Lips Oughta Move to Kapuskasing'' and '' The Rez Sisters'',

Daniel David Moses Daniel David Moses (February 18, 1952 – July 13, 2020) was a Canadian poet and playwright. Moses was born in Ohsweken, Ontario, and raised on a farm on the Six Nations of the Grand River near Brantford, Ontario, Canada.Colin Boyd"Daniel Davi ...

' ''The Indian Medicine Show'',

Lanford Wilson Lanford Wilson (April 13, 1937March 24, 2011) was an American playwright. His work, as described by ''The New York Times'', was "earthy, realist, greatly admired ndwidely performed". Fox, Margalit"Lanford Wilson, Pulitzer Prize-Winning Playwrigh ...

's ''Rain Dance'',

Marie Clements Marie Clements (born January 10, 1962) is a Canadian Métis playwright, performer, director, producer and screenwriter. She was the founding artistic director of Urban Ink Productions, and is currently co-artistic director of Red Diva Projects, ...

' ''Copper Thunderbird'', Kevin Loring's ''Where the Blood Mixes'', Steven Cole Hughes' ''Ghost Dance'' and David S. Craig's ''The Neverending Story''. In 2012, he performed the role of Gloucester in an all-aboriginal production of

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

's ''

King Lear ''The Tragedy of King Lear'', often shortened to ''King Lear'', is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare. It is loosely based on the mythological Leir of Britain. King Lear, in preparation for his old age, divides his ...

'' at the

National Arts Centre The National Arts Centre (NAC) () is a Arts centre, performing arts organization in Ottawa, Ontario, along the Rideau Canal. It is based in the eponymous National Arts Centre (building), National Arts Centre building. History The NAC was one ...

Ottawa Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...

, alongside a cast that also included

August Schellenberg August Werner Schellenberg (July 25, 1936 – August 15, 2013) was a Canadian actor. He played Randolph in the first three installments of the ''Free Willy'' film series (1993–1997) as well as characters in '' Black Robe'' (1991), '' The New Wo ...

as Lear,

Tantoo Cardinal Tantoo Cardinal CM (born July 20, 1950) is a Canadian actress. Of Cree and Métis heritage, in 2009 she was made a member of the Order of Canada "for her contributions to the growth and development of Aboriginal performing arts in Canada, as a s ...

as Regan,

Jani Lauzon Jani Lauzon (born September 29, 1959) is a Canadian director, and multidisciplinary performer from the East Kootenay region of British Columbia. For much of her career she believed her family to be Métis, and centered Métis themes in her wo ...

in a dual role as Cordelia and the Fool, and

Craig Lauzon Craig Lauzon is a Canadian actor, writer, and comedian. He is best known for his time as a member of the Royal Canadian Air Farce. His main caricatures on the Farce include George Stroumboulopoulos, John Baird, Justin Trudeau and Stephen Harp ...

as Kent."Aboriginal cast in staging of King Lear"
''

Ottawa Citizen The ''Ottawa Citizen'' is an English-language daily newspaper owned by Postmedia Network in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. History Established as the Bytown ''Packet'' in 1845 by William Harris (journalist), William Harris, it was renamed the ''Ci ...

'', May 12, 2012.

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Merasty, Billy 1960 births 20th-century Canadian dramatists and playwrights 20th-century Canadian male writers 21st-century Canadian dramatists and playwrights 21st-century Canadian LGBTQ people 21st-century Canadian male writers 21st-century First Nations writers Canadian gay actors Canadian gay writers Canadian LGBTQ dramatists and playwrights Canadian male dramatists and playwrights Canadian male film actors Canadian male stage actors Canadian male television actors Cree male actors First Nations dramatists and playwrights Gay dramatists and playwrights LGBTQ First Nations people Living people Male actors from Manitoba People from Northern Region, Manitoba Writers from Manitoba