Nutaaq Simmonds
Nutaaq Doreen Simmonds is an American Iñupiaq actress, activist, and language teacher from Utqiagvik, Alaska. She is known for her roles in the 2024 American drama True Detective: Night Country and 2025 Canadian comedy series North of North.[1]
Early life
[edit]Simmonds was born as the third daughter to Samuel Simmonds and Martha Ahnupkana Simmonds. Her mother passed away when she was 5 years old, and her father remarried. She has 13 siblings and 4 children, one which she adopted.[2][3]
Career
[edit]Simmonds acted as the aunt to Jodie Foster's stepdaughter in True Detective: Night Country (2024).
Her voice was used in The Revenant, although she received no screen credit, notification, or financial compensation. In a scene from the film, a Pawnee acted by Arthur Redcloud is building a shelter. However, the poetry being recited was not in the Plains Indian Pawnee dialect, but the Iñupiaq language. Simmonds' son first pointed out this fact while the two were watching the film. She had recited the poem roughly 30 years earlier.[4][5]
She debuted in theater in 2024 and was cast as Elisapee in the Canadian comedy series, North of North.[6][7][8]
Personal life
[edit]Simmonds serves on the advisory board of Sovereign Iñupiat For A Living Arctic, a cultural organization for Iñupiat peoples. She is also an advisory board member of Native Movement, an Alaska-based social justice advocacy group. She has been active with Resisting Environmental Destruction on Indigenous Land (REDOIL).[9]
References
[edit]- ^ "CBC's North of North is a hilarious look at a young Inuk mom looking for a fresh start in a tiny Arctic town". CBC.
- ^ https://www.brightshores.org/qiniqtuuraaq-atuun.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - ^ Simmonds, Doreen Nutaaq (2019-11-06). "Part 1: Environmental Justice and Native Peoples - A Conversation with Doreen Simmonds". Unbound. Retrieved 2025-02-16.
- ^ Gajanan, Mahita (2016-03-14). "Woman whose voice was used in The Revenant got no screen credit or money". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2025-02-16.
- ^ "Woman discovers she's in 'The Revenant,' and she had no idea | Globalnews.ca". Global News. Retrieved 2025-02-16.
- ^ Krumrey, Yvonne; KTOO, Yvonne Krumrey (2024-09-04). "Tongass Voices: Nutaaq Doreen Simmonds on finding herself on the stage". KTOO. Retrieved 2025-02-16.
- ^ "Funny, authentic, beautiful: Why you want to watch CBC's new comedy series North of North". CBC.
- ^ "Grieving family of Iñupiaq woman and MMIP issues are at the center of a new play". Anchorage Daily News. Retrieved 2025-02-16.
- ^ "Staff and Board". Sovereign Iñupiat for a Living Arctic. Retrieved 2025-02-16.
External links
[edit]- 21st-century American actresses
- 21st-century Inuit people
- 21st-century Inuit women
- 21st-century Alaska Native people
- 21st-century Native American women
- Activists for Native American rights
- Actresses from Alaska
- Alaska Native activists
- Alaska Native women
- American Inuit women
- American stage actresses
- American television actresses
- Inuit activists
- Inuit actresses
- Inupiat people
- Living people
- Native American actresses
- Native American women activists
- Alaska Native actors