Lily Gladstone made history as the first indigenous woman to win a Best Actress Golden Globe for her celebrated performance in Killers of the Flower Moon.
After a standing ovation, Gladstone began her speech with a few words in the Blackfeet language, the “beautiful community and nation” that raised the actress, as she put it a few moments later. She then thanked her mom, who’s not Blackfeet, but “worked tirelessly to get our language into our classrooms so I had a Blackfeet language teacher growing up.”
Gladstone acknowledged the historic moment of her victory, as well as Hollywood’s long history of failing to properly portray, or offer genuine representation to, indigenous communities. “I’m so grateful I can speak even a little bit of my language — which I’m not fluent enough in — up here, because in this business, Native actors used to speak their lines in English, and then the sound mixers would run them backward to accomplish Native languages on camera.”
She continued: ‘’This is a historic win, it doesn’t belong to just me, I’m holding it right now — I’m holding it with all of my beautiful sisters in the film, and my mother… I’m standing on all of your shoulders.”
Gladstone closed her speech by dedicating her win to “every little res kid, every little urban kid, every little Native kid out there who has a dream, who is seeing themselves represented and our stories told by ourselves, in our own words, with tremendous allies and tremendous trust.”
Nominations, let alone wins, for indigenous performers — whether they are Native American or from other countries around the world — are exceptionally rare at the Golden Globes and other major awards shows. The last time the Globes nominated an indigenous performer for playing an indigenous character was Irene Beard for her leading role in the 1994 mini-series Lakota Woman: Siege at Wounded Knee.
Even before winning her Golden Globe, Gladstone was raking in awards and acclaim for her portrayal of Mollie Burkhart in Killers of the Flower Moon. The performance was among one of Rolling Stone’s favorites of 2023, giving Martin Scorsese’s epic its “broken-hearted pulse and backbone.”
In real life, and in the movie, Burkhart married Ernest Burkhart (played by Leonardo DiCaprio), a white man who murdered several members of the Osage Nation as part of a larger plot to take over the oil rights on their land. Gladstone, who is of Blackfeet and Nez Perce descent, has expressed deep pride in the film, and especially all the contributions made by various members of the Osage Nation, but remained frank about the film’s violence and brutality.
Last November on Twitter, Gladstone encouraged Native people to only see the movie when, and if, they felt ready and to do so with those they felt safe with. “I’m so proud of the film we made with so many Osage Nation leaders, artists, educators & community advocates,” she added. “Never forget this story is recent history with a lasting impact on breathing, feeling people today. It belongs to them, & we all have so much to learn from it. In this process of learning about the horrific Reign of Terror, remember that the Osage remain. Native People remain. And this story is a lot to take in. Be kind, and please be gentle with each other. There is much to process, and much to heal.”
