Georgina Lightning is a

First Nations First nations are indigenous settlers or bands. First Nations, first nations, or first peoples may also refer to: Indigenous groups *List of Indigenous peoples *First Nations in Canada, Indigenous peoples of Canada who are neither Inuit nor Mé ...

film director, screenwriter, and actress.

Biography

Born in

Edmonton Edmonton is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta. It is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Central Alberta ...

Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...

, she is an enrolled member of the

Samson Cree Nation The Samson Cree Nation, () also known as the Samson First Nation, is one of four band governments in the area of Maskwacis, Alberta, Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces ...

. She was raised off-reserve, near the

Samson SAMSON (Software for Adaptive Modeling and Simulation Of Nanosystems) is a computer software platform for molecular design being developed bOneAngstromand previously by the NANO-D group at the French Institute for Research in Computer Science an ...

community in Edmonton, Alberta. In 2007, she was featured in ''

Filmmaker Magazine ''Filmmaker'' is a quarterly publication magazine covering issues relating to independent film. The magazine was founded in 1992 by Karol Martesko-Fenster, Scott Macaulay and Holly Willis. The magazine is now published by the IFP (Independent Fil ...

'' as one of 25 New Faces of Independent Film. In 2010 she was the recipient of the "White House Project- Epic-Award for Emerging Artist". Notice of Lightning's award ceremony where she received the White House Award for Emerging Artist. She co-founded Tribal Alliance Productions, partnering with executive producer Audrey Martinez, as a means to create opportunities for Native American,

, and other

Indigenous Indigenous may refer to: *Indigenous peoples *Indigenous (ecology) In biogeography, a native species is indigenous to a given region or ecosystem if its presence in that region is the result of only local natural evolution (though often populari ...

filmmakers. Press release regarding Debut of "Older than America" film. In 2008, Lightning directed, wrote, and starred in the supernatural thriller film '' Older than America'', becoming the first North American Indigenous Woman to direct a major feature film. Interview with Lightning. The film won several major awards at film festivals. She based the film on her father's experience with the

Canadian Indian residential school system The Canadian Indian residential school system was a network of boarding schools for Indigenous peoples. The network was funded by the Canadian government's Department of Indian Affairs and administered by various Christian churches. The sch ...

and other personal family stories. Lightning is an outspoken advocate for First Nations and Native American causes, working towards a greater appreciation and awareness of the intrinsic value of North American Indigenous cultures to not only Indigenous people themselves, but to society in general. Lighting on the value of gaming revenues for Native Americans, and also on the many troubles experienced by Native Americans during the westward expansion of American society. (Referenced article at page's midpoint.) In 2020, she criticised the TV show Big Sky due its lack of cultural sensitivity to the Indigenous community. Her three children are either currently or previously working actors. They are Crystle Lightning,

Cody Lightning Cody Lightning (born August 8, 1986) is a Cree actor and filmmaker from Edmonton, Treaty 6, Alberta, Canada. He is the son of film director and actress Georgina Lightning and brother of actors Crystle Lightning and William Lightning. He was a Yo ...

, and William Lightning. At the

9th Canadian Screen Awards The 9th Canadian Screen Awards were presented by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television from 17–20 May 2021 to honour achievements in Canadian film, television, and digital media production in 2020. The presentations were held as a seri ...

in 2021, she received a nomination for Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for her performance in ''

Trickster In mythology and the study of folklore and religion, a trickster is a character in a story (god, goddess, spirit, human or anthropomorphisation) who exhibits a great degree of intellect or secret knowledge and uses it to play tricks or otherw ...

''.Brent Furdyk
"Television Nominees Announced For 2021 Canadian Screen Awards, ‘Schitt’s Creek’ Leads The Pack With 21 Nominations"
''

ET Canada ''Entertainment Tonight Canada'' (commonly shortened to ''ET Canada'') is a Canadian entertainment news television series that aired on the Global Television Network from 2005 to 2023. Its branding and format were based on the American entertainm ...

'', March 30, 2021.

Filmography

* '' Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child'' (1995 as Morning Dove) * ''Yellow Wooden Ring'' (1998 as Sissy Blea) * '' Pocahontas II: Journey to a New World'' (1998 as an "additional voice") * ''My Brother'' (1999 as Mother) * ''

Walker, Texas Ranger ''Walker, Texas Ranger'' is an American action fiction, action Crime drama, crime television series created by Leslie Greif and Paul Haggis. It was inspired by the film ''Lone Wolf McQuade'', with both the film and the series starring Chuck Norr ...

'' (TV, 1998-1999, two episodes, in Way of the Warrior as Sundance, and War Cry as Ellen Crow Feather) * ''Backroads'' (2000 as Mary Lou) * '' Johnny Greyeyes'' (2000 as Georgina) * '' Christmas in the Clouds'' (2001 as Louise) * ''Cowboy Up'' (2001 as Brenda) * ''

The West Wing ''The West Wing'' is an American political drama television series created by Aaron Sorkin that was originally broadcast on NBC from September 22, 1999, to May 14, 2006. The series is set primarily in the West Wing of the White House, where t ...

'' (TV, 2001, as Maggie Morningstar Charles in the episode The Indians in the Lobby) * ''

Auf Wiedersehen, Pet ''Auf Wiedersehen, Pet'' () is a British comedy-drama television programme about seven British construction workers who leave the United Kingdom to search for employment overseas. In the first series, the men live and work on a building site ...

'' (TV, 2002, as Lainie Proudfoot in four episodes: An Inspector Calls, Another Country, A Bridge too Far, and Bridge Over Troubled Water) * ''

Dreamkeeper ''Dreamkeeper'' is a 2003 film written by John Fusco and directed by Steve Barron. The main plot of the film is the conflict between a Lakota elder and storyteller named Pete Chasing Horse (August Schellenberg) and his Lakota grandson, Shane Ch ...

'' (TV, 2003 as Crystal Heart, also as associate producer) * ''Sawtooth'' (2004 as Lucy, also as executive producer and producer) * ''Hanbleceya'' (2005 as co-producer) * ''Ghosts of the Heartland'' (2007 as Tani) * '' Older than America'' (2008 as director, writer, and as lead actress portraying the character Rain) * '' Blackstone'' (TV series, 2011, as Tracy Bull in the first season) * ''

'' (TV series, 2020) * ''Pipe Nation'' (Canadian TV series, 2021) * ''Three Pines'' (TV series, 2022, as Arisawe Two-Rivers)

References

External links

Georgina Lightning
- Official Website * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lightning, Georgina 20th-century Canadian actresses 20th-century First Nations writers 20th-century First Nations women 21st-century Canadian actresses 21st-century Canadian dramatists and playwrights 21st-century Canadian screenwriters 21st-century Canadian women writers 21st-century First Nations writers 21st-century First Nations women 21st-century First Nations people First Nations dramatists and playwrights Canadian women dramatists and playwrights Cree actresses Living people First Nations filmmakers First Nations screenwriters Canadian women film directors Canadian women screenwriters Year of birth missing (living people) Film directors from Edmonton Cree women writers Writers from Edmonton Samson Cree Nation Screenwriters from Alberta