Elaine Miles (born April 7, 1960) is a Native American actress best known for her role as Marilyn Whirlwind in the television series ''

Northern Exposure ''Northern Exposure'' is an American comedy-drama television series about the eccentric residents in the fictitious town of Cicely, Alaska, that originally aired on CBS from July 12, 1990, to July 26, 1995, with a total of 110 episodes. It rec ...

''. She is an enrolled citizen of the

Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation The Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation are the federally recognized confederations of three Sahaptin-speaking Native Americans of the United States, Native American tribes who traditionally inhabited the Columbia River Plate ...

Early life

Elaine Miles was born in

Pendleton, Oregon Pendleton is a city in and the county seat of Umatilla County, Oregon, Umatilla County, Oregon, United States. The population was 17,107 at the time of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, which includes approximately 1,600 people who are ...

. She is a citizen of the

with Cayuse/

Nez Perce The Nez Perce (; autonym in Nez Perce language: , meaning 'we, the people') are an Indigenous people of the Plateau who still live on a fraction of the lands on the southeastern Columbia River Plateau in the Pacific Northwest. This region h ...

ancestry. She lived on the

Umatilla Indian Reservation The Umatilla Indian Reservation is an Indian reservation in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. It was created by The Treaty of 9 June 1855 between the United States and members of the Walla, Cayuse, and Umatilla tribes. It lies in north ...

in Eastern

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

until age three.Taylor, Catherine
Marilyn Speaks
! A Conversation with Elaine Miles", ''Radiance Magazine'', Fall 1993 Issue Her family then moved to

Renton, Washington Renton is a city in King County, Washington, United States, and an inner-ring suburb of Seattle. Situated southeast of downtown Seattle, Renton straddles the southeast shore of Lake Washington, at the mouth of the Cedar River. As of the 202 ...

, where her father was a

Boeing The Boeing Company, or simply Boeing (), is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and product support s ...

machinist. She learned skills and Indigenous art techniques skills in her youth, such as storytelling, beading, pottery and weaving, and she is a prize-winning

powwow A powwow (also pow wow or pow-wow) is a gathering with dances held by many Native Americans in the United States, Native American and First Nations in Canada, First Nations communities. Inaugurated in 1923, powwows today are an opportunity fo ...

dancer.

Career

Miles was offered the role of Marilyn Whirlwind when she was spotted in the waiting room at an audition. This came as a surprise as she had not come with any intent to audition—she was only there to give her mother, Armenia Miles, a ride. In 1995, Miles was nominated for a

Screen Actors Guild The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) was an American labor union which represented over 100,000 film and television principal and background performers worldwide. On March 30, 2012, the union leadership announced that the SAG membership voted to m ...

Award as part of the ''

'' cast in the category, Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series.Awards for Elaine Miles
at IMDbPro: Screen Actors Guild Awards. Access date 26 Sep 2009 Since ''Northern Exposure'', Miles has done tours with her dancing and

stand-up comedy Stand-up comedy is a performance directed to a live audience, where the performer stands on a stage (theatre), stage and delivers humour, humorous and satire, satirical monologues sometimes incorporating physical comedy, physical acts. These ...

, has emceed at numerous powwows, and had roles in independent films such as '' Smoke Signals'', '' Skins'' and '' The Business of Fancydancing''. With fellow comedian Drew LaCapa (

Apache The Apache ( ) are several Southern Athabaskan language-speaking peoples of the Southwestern United States, Southwest, the Southern Plains and Northern Mexico. They are linguistically related to the Navajo. They migrated from the Athabascan ho ...

), she has made an exercise video
RezRobics
) addressing

diabetes Diabetes mellitus, commonly known as diabetes, is a group of common endocrine diseases characterized by sustained high blood sugar levels. Diabetes is due to either the pancreas not producing enough of the hormone insulin, or the cells of th ...

rates among Native Americans. The video mixes powwow dancing, martial arts, and aerobics moves with nutritional advice. In contrast to the usual FBI warning, the creators encourage people to copy the video freely and distribute it among friends and relatives in

Indian Country Indian country is any of the self-governing Native American or American Indian communities throughout the United States. Colloquially, this refers to lands governed by federally recognized tribes and state recognized tribes. The concept of tri ...

.Rez Robics

Filmography

References

External links

*

RezRobics Youtube Channel
{{DEFAULTSORT:Miles, Elaine 1960 births Living people American film actresses American television actresses People from Pendleton, Oregon Native American actresses Nez Perce people Actresses from Oregon 20th-century American actresses 21st-century American actresses Cayuse people Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation Native American people from Oregon 20th-century Native American women 20th-century Native American people 21st-century Native American women 21st-century Native American people Year of birth missing (living people)