Lily Gladstone’s Golden Globes win sets her up to make Oscars history

Now that Lily Gladstone has made history by being the first indigenous actor to win a Golden Globe Award for a performance in a film or TV show, the “Killers of the Flower Moon” star is poised to make history again at the Academy Awards.

It’s widely believed that Gladstone, who is of Blackfeet and Nimíipuu heritage, will be nominated for best actress for her performance as Mollie Burkhart, the real-life Osage woman who was married to one of the accomplices in the systematic murders of Osage people in Oklahoma the 1920s. Gladstone is neck-and-neck with Emma Stone to win the trophy, according to the Hollywood Reporter and the Gold Derby’s 2024 Oscars prediction.

With her Golden Globe win, Gladstone may have become the first Native American to win a trophy from that organization. In turn, she could be become the first Native American to win an Oscar.

Gladstone recognized the historic nature of her Golden Globes win in her speech Sunday night, which she began by speaking some words in the Blackfeet language. “I just spoke a bit of Blackfeet language, the beautiful community nation that raised me, that encouraged me to keep going, keep doing this,” Gladstone said.

“This is a historic one, and it doesn’t belong to just me,” Gladstone said, as she explained that she also was sharing her honor with her female co-stars in “Killers of the Flower Moon,” which was directed by Martin Scorsese and co-stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro.

Up until this fall, it was widely accepted that singer-songwriter Buffy Sainte-Marie was the first Indigenous person to win both a Golden Globe and an Oscar in 1983 for writing “Up Where We Belong,” the hit song from the film “An Officer and a Gentleman.”

But Sainte-Marie’s claim to Indigenous ancestry has been called into question, since CBC News reported in October that it had found a birth certificate and other documentation showing that the beloved Canadian entertainer and activist was born to White parents in Massachusetts, and not on a Piapot Cree reservation in Canada.

When it comes to Golden Globes and the Oscars, there have been other indigenous nominees, if not winners, according to the New York Times and The Hollywood Reporter. This year, the late musician Robbie Robertson, who was Mohawk and Cayuga, was nominated for original score for “Killers” — but lost to Ludwig Göransson for “Oppenheimer.” Going back, Chief Dan George was nominated for the 1970 western “Little Big Man,” Irene Bedard was nominated for best actress in a miniseries or TV movie for 1994’s “Lakota Woman: Siege at Wounded Knee,” and Adam Beach was nominated for his performance in the 2007 television adaptation “Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee.”

With the Academy Awards, Native American actors have fared better than Native actresses, THR said. In 2019, the board of governors presented an honorary award to Cherokee actor Wes Studi for his lifetime achievement within the film industry. Other performers who have earned Oscar nominations include Chief Dan George for “Little Big Man,” and Graham Greene, who received a nomination for playing the Sioux medicine man in 1990’s “Dances With Wolves,” THR said.

However, the Academy has faced questions over whether it is genuinely committed to honoring the contributions of indigenous artists because of its celebration of such controversial figures as Sainte-Marie and of Sacheen Littlefeather.

The latter is the Bay Area-born model, actor and activist who claimed to be Apache when she stood on the Oscars stage in 1974 and, speaking on Marlon Brando’s behalf, declined his best actor Oscar for “The Godfather” to denounce the negative stereotyping of American Indians in entertainment.

Before Littlefeather’s death in 2022, the Academy issued an apology to her and showcased her as an icon of diversity in its glittery museum in Los Angeles, where she is featured in an exhibit about famous moments in the award ceremony’s history.

However, like Sainte-Marie, Littlefeather was the subject of an investigative report that alleged she was a “Pretendian,” a high-profile figure who falsely appropriates an Indigenous identity to gain publicity, as well as professional opportunities and honors. Littlefeather’s sisters also came forward in interviews, including with this news organization, to say she was born Marie Louise Cruz in Salinas to a Mexican American father and White mother.

Gladstone could now give the Academy a new icon of diversity to champion, even if she just receives a nomination. In her Golden Globes speech, Gladstone briefly addressed the way Hollywood traditionally sidelined Native American stories, culture and performers. Referring to her speaking in the Blackfeet language, Gladstone said, “In this business Native actors used to speak their lines in English and then the sound mixers would run them backwards to accomplish Native languages on camera.”

Gladstone concluded her speech by offering hope that Native Americans would increasingly figure at the center of stories told in TV and film — whether they produce the works themselves or in cooperation with “allies” like Scorsese, DiCaprio, De Niro and screenwriter Eric Roth. After she also thanked Chief Standing Bear and the Osage Nation, Gladstone said, “This is for every little rez kid, every little urban kid, every little Native kid 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 with and from each other.”

Now that Lily Gladstone has made history by being the first indigenous actor to win a Golden Globe Award for a performance in a film or TV show, the “Killers of the Flower Moon” star is poised to make history again at the Academy Awards.

It’s widely believed that Gladstone, who is of Blackfeet and Nimíipuu heritage, will be nominated for best actress for her performance as Mollie Burkhart, the real-life Osage woman who was married to one of the accomplices in the systematic murders of Osage people in Oklahoma the 1920s. Gladstone is neck-and-neck with Emma Stone to win the trophy, according to the Hollywood Reporter and the Gold Derby’s 2024 Oscars prediction.

With her Golden Globe win, Gladstone may have become the first Native American to win a trophy from that organization. In turn, she could be become the first Native American to win an Oscar.

Gladstone recognized the historic nature of her Golden Globes win in her speech Sunday night, which she began by speaking some words in the Blackfeet language. “I just spoke a bit of Blackfeet language, the beautiful community nation that raised me, that encouraged me to keep going, keep doing this,” Gladstone said.

“This is a historic one, and it doesn’t belong to just me,” Gladstone said, as she explained that she also was sharing her honor with her female co-stars in “Killers of the Flower Moon,” which was directed by Martin Scorsese and co-stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro.

Up until this fall, it was widely accepted that singer-songwriter Buffy Sainte-Marie was the first Indigenous person to win both a Golden Globe and an Oscar in 1983 for writing “Up Where We Belong,” the hit song from the film “An Officer and a Gentleman.”

But Sainte-Marie’s claim to Indigenous ancestry has been called into question, since CBC News reported in October that it had found a birth certificate and other documentation showing that the beloved Canadian entertainer and activist was born to White parents in Massachusetts, and not on a Piapot Cree reservation in Canada.

When it comes to Golden Globes and the Oscars, there have been other indigenous nominees, if not winners, according to the New York Times and The Hollywood Reporter. This year, the late musician Robbie Robertson, who was Mohawk and Cayuga, was nominated for original score for “Killers” — but lost to Ludwig Göransson for “Oppenheimer.” Going back, Chief Dan George was nominated for the 1970 western “Little Big Man,” Irene Bedard was nominated for best actress in a miniseries or TV movie for 1994’s “Lakota Woman: Siege at Wounded Knee,” and Adam Beach was nominated for his performance in the 2007 television adaptation “Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee.”

With the Academy Awards, Native American actors have fared better than Native actresses, THR said. In 2019, the board of governors presented an honorary award to Cherokee actor Wes Studi for his lifetime achievement within the film industry. Other performers who have earned Oscar nominations include Chief Dan George for “Little Big Man,” and Graham Greene, who received a nomination for playing the Sioux medicine man in 1990’s “Dances With Wolves,” THR said.

However, the Academy has faced questions over whether it is genuinely committed to honoring the contributions of indigenous artists because of its celebration of such controversial figures as Sainte-Marie and of Sacheen Littlefeather.

The latter is the Bay Area-born model, actor and activist who claimed to be Apache when she stood on the Oscars stage in 1974 and, speaking on Marlon Brando’s behalf, declined his best actor Oscar for “The Godfather” to denounce the negative stereotyping of American Indians in entertainment.

Before Littlefeather’s death in 2022, the Academy issued an apology to her and showcased her as an icon of diversity in its glittery museum in Los Angeles, where she is featured in an exhibit about famous moments in the award ceremony’s history.

However, like Sainte-Marie, Littlefeather was the subject of an investigative report that alleged she was a “Pretendian,” a high-profile figure who falsely appropriates an Indigenous identity to gain publicity, as well as professional opportunities and honors. Littlefeather’s sisters also came forward in interviews, including with this news organization, to say she was born Marie Louise Cruz in Salinas to a Mexican American father and White mother.

Gladstone could now give the Academy a new icon of diversity to champion, even if she just receives a nomination. In her Golden Globes speech, Gladstone briefly addressed the way Hollywood traditionally sidelined Native American stories, culture and performers. Referring to her speaking in the Blackfeet language, Gladstone said, “In this business Native actors used to speak their lines in English and then the sound mixers would run them backwards to accomplish Native languages on camera.”

Gladstone concluded her speech by offering hope that Native Americans would increasingly figure at the center of stories told in TV and film — whether they produce the works themselves or in cooperation with “allies” like Scorsese, DiCaprio, De Niro and screenwriter Eric Roth. After she also thanked Chief Standing Bear and the Osage Nation, Gladstone said, “This is for every little rez kid, every little urban kid, every little Native kid 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 with and from each other.”