Gladstone made her feature film debut in Jimmy P: Psychotherapy of a Plains Indian (2012), and collaborated with filmmaker Kelly Reichardt on the independent films Certain Women (2016) and First Cow (2019). She also appeared in episodes of HBO's Room 104 (2017–2020), Showtime's Billions (2016–2023), and FX's Reservation Dogs (2021–2023). Her performance in the crime drama miniseries Under the Bridge (2024) earned her a nomination for a Primetime Emmy Award.
Early life and education
Gladstone was born on August 2, 1986, in Kalispell, Montana. Raised on the Blackfeet Reservation in Browning, Montana, she is of Piegan Blackfeet (Siksikaitsitapi) and Nez Perce (Nimíipuu) ancestry on her father's side, and European heritage on her mother's side. She is descended from the first cousin of British Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone. One of her paternal great-great-grandfathers was Kainai Nation chief Red Crow.
Gladstone's desire to portray an Ewok after watching Return of the Jedi at the age of five inspired her to become an actress. One of her first acting experiences as a child was when Missoula Children's Theatre came to her East Glacier, Montana, hometown and cast her as an evil step-sister in Cinderella. Gladstone's family moved to the Seattle area during her middle school years to be closer to her grandmother. There she enrolled in Stone Soup Theatre, a nonprofit educational theatre company for Seattle youth, starring in student films and theses.
In 2004 she graduated from Mountlake Terrace High School in Mountlake Terrace, Washington. In 2008 she graduated from the University of Montana with a Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) in Acting/Directing and a Native American Studies minor. At the University of Montana, she became interested in Theatre of the Oppressed. At UM, she performed in Riders to the Sea (2006), Richard III (2006), Miss Julie (2007) and Coyote on a Fence (2008). Upon graduating, she taught acting classes and workshops in her Native community. She taught an image theatre acting method she called a "sculpture garden" as violence prevention sponsored by the National Indigenous Women's Resource Center. In 2010, she performed in The Frybread Queen, a co-production by Native Voices at the Autry, the UM School of Theatre and Dance and the Montana Repertory Theatre.
CAREER
Early work and breakthrough (2012–2022)
Gladstone made her film debut in Jimmy P: Psychotherapy of a Plains Indian (2012). She then acted in Winter in the Blood (2012) and Buster's Mal Heart (2016) before making her career breakthrough as Jamie, a rancher, in Kelly Reichardt's film Certain Women (2016). The role earned Gladstone the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress and the Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress. She also received nominations for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Female and Gotham Independent Film Award for Breakthrough Actor.
Gladstone performed the role of Kate Keller in the 2014 Montana Repertory Theatre's national touring production of The Miracle Worker. Gladstone was in the Oregon Shakespeare Festival acting company in 2017 and starred in the Yale Repertory Theatre production of Mary Kathryn Nagle's Manahatta in 2020. In 2017, Gladstone hosted a series on the educational YouTube channel Crash Course about film production. Gladstone had a small role in Reichardt's 2019 film First Cow before starring in the 2022 film The Unknown Country, directed by Morrisa Maltz, for which she received the Gotham Independent Film Award for Outstanding Lead Performance.
Career progression (2023–present)
Gladstone was cast in the lead role of Mollie Kyle in Martin Scorsese's 2023 feature film Killers of the Flower Moon, which was released theatrically in October 2023. Her performance received critical acclaim and was described as a highlight of the film. Critic Josh Spiegel of /Film said that she "brought [Mollie] to life with incredible passion". In January 2024, she won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama; she was the first Indigenous (Native American) person to win an acting Golden Globe. She also became the first Native American nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress. In February 2024, she became the first Indigenous actor to win the Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Female Actor.
Earlier in 2023, Gladstone starred in Fancy Dance which premiered at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival to critical acclaim and was distributed worldwide by Apple TV+. In 2024, Gladstone starred in the crime drama miniseries Under the Bridge, about the murder of Reena Virk. Her performance earned her a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie.
Gladstone also costarred in Jazzy, written and directed by Maltz. Gladstone will costar in The Wedding Banquet, which began filming in May 2024. Also in May, Gladstone served as a member of the jury for the main competition at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival. In June 2024, Gladstone was invited to become a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Personal life
Gladstone goes by both "she" and "they" pronouns. She explained in 2023, "In most Native languages, most Indigenous languages, Blackfeet included, there are no gendered pronouns. There is no he/she, there's only they... my pronoun use is partly a way of decolonizing gender for myself." Gladstone identifies as "middle-gendered" and a member of the LGBTQ community.
Film work by Lily Gladstone
2012 - Jimmy P: Psychotherapy of a Plains Indian
2013 - Winter in the Blood
2016 - Certain Women
2016 - Buster's Mal Heart Morning Shift Concierge
2017 - Walking Out
2019 - First Cow
2022 - The Unknown Country
2022 - Quantum Cowboys
2022 - The Last Manhunt
2023 - Fancy Dance
2023 - Killers of the Flower Moon
2024 - Jazzy
2025 - The Wedding Banquet
Television Work
2017 - Scalped
2017 - Crash Course
2017–20 - Room 104
2019–23 - Billions
2021 - Tuca & Bertie
2022–23 - Reservation Dogs
2024 - Under the Bridge
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