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00:00I'm standing here in the iconic Hollywood Hills with the Hollywood sign behind me,
00:24but way before the Hollywood sign ever was, the original people were here.
00:29The Tongva people, and they were the original storytellers.
00:33Unfortunately, they still have not received federal recognition, but we're going to go meet them.
00:38They are truly the real stars of this land, and they're still telling their stories about who they are,
00:44where they came from, and we're going to meet these talented individuals.
00:59They're still telling their stories about what is the story.
01:08They're still telling their stories about how they are, and they're still telling their stories about what is the story of a story of a story.
01:45She is an A-lister here in Hollywood.
01:48She has broken the glass ceiling for us as Native people.
01:52She just finished an incredible new movie, and I'm just thrilled beyond belief to meet
01:57her in person.
01:58Where did you grow up?
02:00And tell me about your childhood.
02:02I grew up in Northern Alberta.
02:06I was born in Fort McMurray.
02:08My great grandfather was a renegade, as he was one of Big Bear's tribe.
02:13And Big Bear was one of the last chiefs to be forced to sign.
02:17He didn't sign until children were being starved in front of him, because they saw what was
02:23happening to the people who were signing treaties.
02:26Poundmakers said, don't do it.
02:29They lie, you know?
02:32And my great grandfather was a young man at the time.
02:35And when they were finally forced to sign, he said, I can't.
02:39He split, went west, and wound up in what's now called Sutana.
02:46At the time, it was called Sarsi.
02:47And he started a family there.
02:50And then the RCMP got wind that there was a renegade in that camp.
02:54So he split in the middle of the night and headed out.
02:59And he wound up with a Dene woman, who was my great grandmother.
03:04And that's where my family came from.
03:06So Nakota.
03:09Big Bear's people were Nakota people.
03:11That's Cree and Lakota.
03:13And then my grandmother's firstborn, my mother, came from a Métis man who was French and Cree.
03:23And so I grew up with Cree around the home.
03:27And I didn't know the difference, because history was not talked about.
03:30And I think it had a lot to do with the hell that people went through when they spoke their
03:37own language in those schools that they were taken to.
03:40It was just awful stuff.
03:42We ended up moving to Anzac down the railroad tracks because my grandmother's second husband
03:49was an Englishman and he was a forestry ranger.
03:54So I had spent a lot of time in the bush.
03:58So you come from like a really strong group of people.
04:02If your great grandfather refused to sign any treaties, there were very few people that
04:09took off and said, I'm not going to have any part of this.
04:12Yeah.
04:13Because, you know, there was a lot of ramifications if they caught you.
04:17Here you are in Canada.
04:18I'm from California.
04:19And it's pretty much the same story.
04:21Yeah.
04:22So how old were you when you started to really understand this whole history of, you know,
04:28your grandparents?
04:29And when did the pieces start coming together?
04:30And when did the pieces start coming together?
04:32A woman from Sutana, from the Sarsi people, lent me a dress that was 150 years old.
04:41Oh, it was beautiful.
04:42Oh, it was beautiful.
04:43It was fully beaded and all of this and it just felt so good.
04:50And I had this nap and I woke up.
04:53It was like a dream.
04:54I just felt like this is home.
04:57And it wasn't until years later when my husband of the time was learning Cree from mom and he
05:05put together the words Big Bear because he read history.
05:11And when mom heard him say Big Bear, boom, all the stories came out.
05:17And it was okay to tell him as he was a white guy and she really loved him.
05:24And so she poured out all of these stories that she thought were just made up stories her dad told her.
05:31Here there were historical events, historical facts.
05:34So that's how I found out that my great grandfather had come through Sarsi country, Sutana country.
05:44Boom, it hit me that I remembered that dress again.
05:47I felt like my ancestors are with me.
05:52That's how I will be able to break through all of these hurdles, all of this muck.
05:59And I'm here for a purpose.
06:01So that's what's kept me going.
06:04Our ancestors, they have a plan for this planet and they have a bigger picture for why we're still here as Indigenous people.
06:13Or we wouldn't be here anymore.
06:15How did you end up pursuing acting?
06:17Did you fall into it?
06:19It was always a part of my life because there was no entertainment that was coming in.
06:24We had to create our own entertainment.
06:27I was just drawn to it, drawn to it.
06:30Work was finding me.
06:32And to leave it to my ancestors.
06:35And I didn't want to go anywhere and my ancestors didn't want me to go.
06:38I didn't have my mother.
06:39I didn't have my father and my grandparents split up.
06:43And my aunts and uncles were gone.
06:47And, you know, it was me in the breeze.
06:50You're so incredible in your craft and what you do.
06:55And when I think about somebody like Meryl Streep, who's had all these opportunities to play all these different roles.
07:02And then I think about a woman like you, equally as talented, but has not had the opportunities to expand that talent in all of these different areas.
07:16What is your thoughts on that?
07:18Working and hoping and praying.
07:21So these opportunities will arise and expand those horizons.
07:26It's happening for many of the younger people coming behind me.
07:32But I've sort of been in the face of the icy wind in those terms.
07:39So I accept that responsibility has landed on me.
07:45And I'm honoured by that.
07:47That means that I was trusted.
07:50How have you kept your centre, you know, your ability to be in this industry?
07:58Walking along this path always knowing that there's big change.
08:04There's big change.
08:05And that's, you know, really a big part of what's kept my tenacity and kept my hope alive is that I've known from a very early age that we are in change.
08:19And so I've been watching to see these changes.
08:25That's wonderful.
08:36Straight from the reservation to Spirit, he has become one of the top makeup artists and hairdressers in Hollywood.
08:44So the next time you watch a movie, you might just see Daryl's handiwork.
08:49Back in the 60s, there was the Relocation Act of 1956 to get native families and native people off of the reservations into the urban cities.
09:01And we were on our way to California and we ended up in Arizona.
09:05Did you ever go back to the reservation, like to visit family or friends?
09:09Yeah.
09:10We would take trips back to the Dakotas.
09:12My mother was very traditional.
09:14She was a very traditional Hidatsa woman.
09:16So she always instilled in us our culture and our traditional ways of how we prayed, giving thanks and ceremony.
09:26So you really had a strong sense of being native then because of your mom.
09:31Yes, we were very connected to our culture.
09:34So fast forward, my mother in high school, she wanted to do something more in her life.
09:41So she became a hairstylist and she opened a hair salon in Tempe, Arizona.
09:46That was my high school year.
09:48So I was always in the salon sweeping up hair, answering phones, doing laundry and towels for the salon and stuff.
09:55In 1977, a movie came out called Eyes of Laura Mars.
09:58And in this one scene, it's a Faye Dunaway movie.
10:01They're doing this photo shoot on Fifth Avenue with all the models.
10:04And she goes into this motor home and she talks to the hairdresser and she goes,
10:07I want her hair really big and I want it and the makeup.
10:10I want this, this, this.
10:11She was directing the hair and makeup people what to do.
10:14And I'm like watching that.
10:16And I thought, oh my God, people do that for a living.
10:20And I was like, that's what I'm going to do.
10:22And I went to beauty school, got my license.
10:24And skated into a job in Scottsdale in a very prestigious salon.
10:29Just kind of as an assistant and built a clientele very fast in the Scottsdale scene.
10:34So mind you, this is 1978, 79, like right around there.
10:39During that time, disco was huge.
10:42And I was going out to discos.
10:46You had to be 19 years to drink in Arizona at the time.
10:50And everybody got fake IDs and we used to all go out to the gay discos.
10:55And I became a disco dance champion.
10:57So that was your first career.
10:59That was my first career.
11:00Yeah.
11:01And for like years, it was like, I was getting my license to do hair and building my career as a hairstylist.
11:06But in those days, people partied.
11:09Yes, they did.
11:10It was a big party scene.
11:12You are one of the most important hair and makeup artists here in the city.
11:17How have you been able to do that?
11:19Because it's fascinating.
11:21Well, three years later in 1986, a movie came to Arizona for RKO Paramount called Campus Man.
11:28It's a Paramount picture.
11:29And a girl I worked with, she was a model.
11:32She got hired as a PA on the show.
11:35Heard the producer saying, we have to hire a local hair person for this film.
11:40And she called me up.
11:41She's like, Daryl, they're looking for this, a hairdresser for this movie.
11:44You should call.
11:45She gave me the number.
11:46I called the production office.
11:48It was in Tempe said, Hey, I hear you're looking for hairdresser.
11:51He goes, yes, we are.
11:52And I, and I said, I'd like to come in and talk to you about doing it.
11:55So we said, sure.
11:56Come on down.
11:57I go down to the Holiday Inn where their production offices were in Tempe.
12:01I meet this guy.
12:02He's young guy sitting behind a desk, sit down, said, you know, what have you done?
12:07I said, nothing.
12:08He goes, you're nothing.
12:10And you want to do this?
12:11I said, yeah, I decided that I want to do hair and makeup for the film business.
12:15And he was like, okay.
12:17He said, well, the costume designer down the hallway is the one hiring the hair and makeup.
12:23People go down and talk to her.
12:25So I go down the hall, knock on the door.
12:27And I walked in.
12:28I said, Hey, the guy down the hallway told me to come and meet you.
12:31I'm a hairstylist.
12:32Her name is Elisabetta Roggiani.
12:34She said, oh my God, finally, somebody young.
12:37It is.
12:38Everybody come here.
12:39They old.
12:40I don't want old.
12:41The cast is young.
12:42You got the job.
12:43That's all she said.
12:44I walked back to the guy.
12:46I was like, uh, she told me I got the job.
12:49And he's like, okay, you got the job.
12:51And I'm like, wow.
12:52I ended up jumping onto the next film in Arizona called Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure.
12:57So August of 87, I was going to turn 30.
13:01And I thought if I don't move to Los Angeles, I'm never going to do this.
13:06So I came to California.
13:08I drove a 1970 Impala.
13:10I had my cat Winston and my hair bag.
13:13And I came to California, LA, slept on friends' sofas.
13:17I did all these B movies, all these horror slasher movies and stuff.
13:23Along the way, you know, I mean, I've worked with other stars, a lot of stars, as you know.
13:30But right now, my current roster are Helen Hunt, Uma Thurman, Lily Tomlin.
13:36I've been personal to Cameron Diaz, Demi Moore, Kim Basinger.
13:41I would imagine doors opened up for you and you took those chances, right?
13:47But I also wonder, were there some times where you got really down and discouraged or wondered,
13:56how is this going to all work?
13:58I mean, you pack up, you come to LA.
14:00Or did you just feel like things just happened for you?
14:04Things did happen.
14:06I was ready.
14:07I was prepared.
14:09You know that saying, luck is when preparation meets opportunity.
14:15And Helen taught me something a long time ago.
14:17Helen Hunt taught me.
14:19She said, if you're there, meaning on a job, then you've made it.
14:25It's like, you've made it because of your skill and your craft.
14:29So how did I end up in Hollywood?
14:32And it was because I had a desire to create my art.
14:38So what's on the horizon next?
14:40I think that now in entertainment, Indigenous stories are finally here.
14:47Now we are creating our own stories.
14:50We as Indigenous people are storytellers.
14:53So for me, what I want next in the third chapter of my life and my career is I want to produce Indigenous stories, series, movies.
15:05And I'm working on two projects right now because it is our time.
15:11Absolutely.
15:12And we've got so many stories, so many stories to tell.
15:15And I want to be a part of that.
15:17I'm going to watch.
15:29Today, I find myself traversing the winding roads of the Topanga Canyon, having the great privilege to be invited to meet with a group of Native women.
15:38Together we gather in a circle honoring our ancestors, our heritage and our past.
15:44Some are direct descendants of the Tongva and Chumash, their lineage deeply entwined with this land.
15:50Others are city Indians drawn to Los Angeles to pursue their artistic passions.
15:56They are artists, writers, filmmakers, and storytellers.
16:00But regardless of their background, their bond is unbreakable.
16:05Together, they hold steadfast to their traditions, their stories, and their shared struggles.
16:11I get an opportunity to meet with each of these powerful matriarchs, listen to their stories, and how they're carrying on their Native culture in the City of Angels.
16:23None of the peoples that are on the coast received our reservation land.
16:28Our treaties never got ratified.
16:30They got kind of locked away in a desk, and they were found many years later.
16:34They're no longer ratifying treaties, so we are not a federally recognized tribe.
16:38This is Topanga, and the next village over to the east is Komikranga, and that's my village.
16:44We were coastal people, but then the reservations got pushed.
16:48We were given some land.
16:50You folks in L.A., you didn't get that opportunity.
16:57I love to create sort of these stories and titles for all my pieces.
17:01She's Ojitika Win, which is honoring my Lakota side.
17:07And Ojitika Win means brave woman.
17:11And I think she's very brave, and she's got her power.
17:15I think most Native women that I've met are strong.
17:18I always, you know, I learned that from my aunties.
17:21What I love about what you're doing with your creativity is you're bringing in different mediums, and you're continuing to expand.
17:28When I used my subject matter, there were mostly women.
17:33Women maybe praying, standing, holding babies.
17:37Usually when I paint on old documents, I use song sheets.
17:43My photography has continued to move along, not in as dramatic a way, but I've had 60 solo and group shows, and I'm very pleased with where I've come from.
18:02You've done a lot, you've made an impact, and I think that always makes you feel like when it resonates with people.
18:08My mother had been a poet and a painter, and my sister was an artist.
18:13And I guess it was at the point I decided I wanted to explore photography, and so that was my big jump into a creative endeavor.
18:22And it's been, you know, very exciting for me, and it's led to travels to 60 countries and photographing Native, you know, people around the world, and I've loved it.
18:33A special energy because of the ancestors.
18:36I grew up going to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, you know, so I'm kind of like the mixture of mixtures of mixtures, you know.
18:45So I got the traditional art, and I got that.
18:47And I got to know about that.
18:48So what I try to do is very simple.
18:50I try to get the message across that Native American people are not noble savages on horses who are dead, who are better than us, and so stoic and sad, you know, the tear and all that.
19:03And instead see it as very alive people doing powwows, doing art shows, doing dance, doing music, getting elected into office, and all these other things.
19:14And I started doing this about 30 years ago.
19:17So I call them portals.
19:18So we're bringing back the ancestors so that they can help us to become once again who we were, sort of like reenacting the ghost dance, but through art.
19:29My thesis film that I have in festivals now is like a 1970s style horror with ghosts and all that.
19:37But I really kind of want to play with the genre, you know, even the subgenres within it, psychological, you know, all that kind of stuff.
19:46So I don't think that I've ever met a Native woman doing horror.
19:51I know.
19:52I think it's a little unique.
19:53I haven't really met any either.
19:55I think it's a genre that you could just do so much with.
19:59Then also, I want to get more Natives into it.
20:02So.
20:03I love that.
20:04Yeah.
20:05Because like Native people, I mean, some of the parts that are even for Native people, Native people don't even get cast in.
20:11Exactly.
20:12Exactly.
20:13You're a young Native woman.
20:14Yeah.
20:15And you're in that industry now.
20:17I mean, I could totally see you making an amazing impact.
20:25Everybody connects to Pocahontas.
20:28Pocahontas was a Pamunkey and a Padawomac Indian.
20:31And yet it took over 400 years for them to gain federal recognition.
20:36Yeah, that's unbelievable.
20:38And here we are in the beautiful Topanga Canyon.
20:42And all of your colleagues here, your ladies, your Native sisters, right?
20:48Mm-hmm.
20:49A lot of them that are from here, it's still, there's still no federal recognition.
20:53Exactly.
20:54And unfortunately, there never will be.
20:56Because this land is just way too valuable.
20:58This piece, it's a hundred strands.
21:01Stunning.
21:02Wow, look at that.
21:03They used to do the jewelry for the Kathy Ireland swimsuit calendars.
21:08So they wanted a bikini top that would cover her.
21:14And that's where the hundred strands came from.
21:17So these are gourds.
21:28Yes.
21:29And how did you get into working with gourds?
21:32My mother was an artist, my grandfather, my great uncles.
21:37Some of my great aunts were Rockettes.
21:40I mean, we were all over the place with our creativity.
21:43So I was challenged by my family to have a medium that none of them had ever done.
21:50That was my challenge.
21:51Right.
21:52And they said, it doesn't have to be right away.
21:54Just, it'll show up for you.
21:56Just don't turn it down.
21:58Nodnokwe was my mother's, what they call Indian name.
22:03It's a Potawatomi word that literally translates to Windy Woman.
22:08So that's who I'm naming this piece after.
22:11This piece is unfinished, but I just, she really wanted to come.
22:15So I'm going to give her a little face and I'm going to give her hair that flies away that way into the wind.
22:22It's almost like abstract sculpture.
22:24All the indigenous people on every continent had an understanding at one time about how to live within and without the spirit world and its beings.
22:36Army, you're like young me.
22:42My aunties were saying, I want you to know who you are.
22:45This is our paperwork.
22:46And so they traced it all the way back to the first native person who was taken into the mission system.
22:53Prospero Dominguez was the name that they baptized him with.
22:56He was taken away from his family at seven years old.
22:59They left his parents in Comigrana and they took him away from the parents.
23:03He would never see them again and we would never know his Indian name.
23:07The one thing that the Spanish priests were really good at was keeping records.
23:11And so when they baptized a child, it said what village they came from and it said their parents' names.
23:17So we have the Indian names of the parents.
23:19Wow.
23:20And that's what I've always held on to, that knowledge.
23:24We were able to keep a little bit of our culture alive within my family.
23:29The freedom of religion didn't pass until 1978.
23:32Right.
23:33So what was passed down to us, it was hush hush, don't talk about it outside of our family.
23:37Right.
23:38But they wanted to make sure we always knew who we were.
23:40I can always cry.
23:41I can always cry.
23:42Always.
23:43Always.
23:44That was so sweet.
23:46Thank you very much.
23:47Thank you very much.
23:49Thank you very much.
23:58As I reflect on my time in Los Angeles, I'm amazed by the incredible indigenous people I've met.
24:04Like Tantoo Cardinal, who's paved the way for indigenous actors.
24:09And Daryl Redleaf, who gets the stars red carpet ready.
24:13It wasn't just about Hollywood's glitz and glamour.
24:17I witnessed the strength of the indigenous matriarchs, who continue to protect their land, despite the lack of federal recognition.
24:25They are the true guardians of this land, shining as brightly as any star in the sky.
24:32So to the indigenous community of Los Angeles, I extend my heartfelt gratitude for your immeasurable contributions to this land, the homeland of the original California natives.
25:02In the U.S.
25:18Transcription by CastingWords
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