Annabella Piugattuk (born December 19, 1982) is a Canadian

Inuk Inuit (singular: Inuk) are a group of culturally and historically similar Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Indigenous peoples traditionally inhabiting the Arctic and Subarctic regions of North America and Russia, including Greenland, Labr ...

actress, notable for her role in the 2003 film ''

The Snow Walker ''The Snow Walker'' is a 2003 Canadian survival film, survival Drama (film and television), drama film written and directed by Charles Martin Smith and starring Barry Pepper and Annabella Piugattuk. Based on the short story ''Walk Well, My Brothe ...

''.

Early life

Annabella Piugattuk was born December 19, 1982, in Frobisher Bay,

Northwest Territories The Northwest Territories is a federal Provinces and territories of Canada, territory of Canada. At a land area of approximately and a 2021 census population of 41,070, it is the second-largest and the most populous of Provinces and territorie ...

(what is now

Iqaluit Iqaluit is the capital of the Canadian territory of Nunavut. It is the territory's largest community and its only city, and the northernmost city in Canada. It was known as Frobisher Bay from 1942 to 1987, after the large bay on the coast on ...

Nunavut Nunavut is the largest and northernmost Provinces and territories of Canada#Territories, territory of Canada. It was separated officially from the Northwest Territories on April 1, 1999, via the ''Nunavut Act'' and the Nunavut Land Claims Agr ...

), Canada. She was raised with her four brothers and younger sister in

Igloolik Igloolik ( Inuktitut syllabics: , ''Iglulik'', ) is an Inuit hamlet in Foxe Basin, Qikiqtaaluk Region in Nunavut, northern Canada. Because its location on Igloolik Island is close to Melville Peninsula, it is often mistakenly thought to be o ...

, a village with a population of 1,286 in Nunavut. Throughout her childhood, Piugattuk spent time with her grandfather, listening to his stories of their ancestral past and developing a deep understanding of Inuit tradition. She became adept at hunting and wilderness survival techniques.

Acting career

Annabella became interested in acting after her grade eight teacher involved her in a school play. At the age of 19, she read a story in the ''Nunatsiaq News'' about casting directors in town searching for actors for a new film, ''The Snow Walker''. She was encouraged by her mother to audition. At a community dance with friends, Piugattuk was approached by casting director Jared Valentine, who asked her to audition for the role of Kanaalaq. After attending local auditions, the diminutive teenager (she is 4'9") and six other semi-finalists were flown to Vancouver to do screen tests. A few weeks after returning home, she received word that she was offered the part. In the film ''The Snow Walker'', Piugattuk plays the character of Kanaalaq, a young Inuk woman who helps a Canadian bush pilot to survive the harsh conditions of the Northwest Territories following an airplane crash. Like the character she portrays, she can fish, hunt seal and walrus, and make clothing out of

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 ...

hides. For her role in ''The Snow Walker'', Piugattuk received a

Genie GEnie (General Electric Network for Information Exchange) was an online service provider, online service created by a General Electric business, GEIS (now GXS Inc., GXS), that ran from 1985 through the end of 1999. In 1994, GEnie claimed around ...

nomination as best supporting actress in 2004. Her performance was commended by Susan Walker in the

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part of Torstar's Daily News Brands (Torstar), Daily News Brands division. ...

and by Liz Nicholls in the

Edmonton Journal The ''Edmonton Journal'' is a daily newspaper published in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It is part of the Postmedia Network. History The ''Journal'' was founded in 1903 by three local businessmen — John Macpherson, Arthur Moore and J.W. Cunn ...

. In 2005, she appeared in the TV miniseries '' Into the West'' in the role of Dancing Water.

Filmography

* ''

'' (2003) * '' Into the West'' (2005)

Honors and awards

* 2004

Genie Awards The Genie Awards were given out annually by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television to recognize the best of Canadian cinema from 1980–2012. They succeeded the Canadian Film Awards (1949–1978), known as the "Etrog Awards" for sculpt ...

Nomination for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role (for ''The Snow Walker'') * 2006

DVD Exclusive Awards The DVD Exclusive Awards were an awards program that honored direct to video productions released on DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was i ...

Nomination for Best Actress (for ''The Snow Walker'')

References

External links