Throwing Molotovs and Doing It Ourselves with D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai

D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai is an Oji-Cree-Anishinaabe actor born in Toronto whose people are from Big Trout Lake First Nation. On this episode, D’Pharaoh tells us how taking a chance and standing out in his audition scored him a lead role in the hit series, Reservation Dogs, how hard it is to accurately throw a Molotov, and how casting directors can do a better job casting Native roles across the industry.

D'Pharaoh's Red Red Carpet shout-out goes to Angelique Midthunder, casting director of Reservation Dogs.

Transcript available here. See more at www.actorsandancestors.com/episodes.

00:00:10 - Introduction to D'Pharaoh, his land, and who claims him

00:04:08 - How D'Pharaoh started acting and the movie "Beans", about the Oka Crisis

00:17:15 - Joel talks about how Beans shut down the Mercier Bridge in Montreal and the racism they experienced from the public

00:21:38 - D'Pharoah's experience throwing molotovs on set

00:25:28 - Reservation Dogs auditions process and how D'Pharaoh stood out

00:33:23 - How D'Pharaoh stays humble and grounded

00:43:50 - D'Pharaoh's advice to aspiring Indigenous actors

00:47:35 - Moving from nepotism to community

00:52:50 - The Red Red Carpet segment

CREDITS:

Actors and Ancestors is created, produced, and hosted by Joel D. Montgrand. Audio editing and production support from Daniella Barreto.

Episode photograph by Kjohn, photo provided by D'Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai.

Actors and Ancestors is supported by a podcasting grant from the Indigenous Screen Office.

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