Lily Gladstone’s awards show run for ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ makes history
US actress Lily Gladstone attends the 96th Annual Academy Awards at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, California on March 10, 2024. (Photo by Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES - Lily Gladstone didn’t win the Oscar Sunday night for Best Actress, but her achievements this awards season still made history.
The Academy Award went to Emma Stone in "Poor Things," a tight competition that had split predictions between Oscar enthusiasts.
Gladstone picked up several other nominations – and wins – for her acting in "Killers of the Flower Moon," marking the first time a Native American has been awarded these achievements in acting.
Here is what to know about Gladstone and the history she’s made this awards season:
Who is Lily Gladstone?
Lily Gladstone is a 37-year-old American actress who grew up on the Blackfeet Reservation in Montana until she was 11, then moved to Seattle.
Her mother is white and her father is Blackfeet and Nez Perce.
Blackfeet is one of the 10 largest tribes in the United States; the Nez Perce still live on a fraction of the lands on the southeastern Columbia River Plateau in the Pacific Northwest.
Gladstone has said that her desire to be an Ewok as a child is what got her on the path to acting.
Gladstone has spoken publicly about her use of she/they pronouns, which she says honors her native heritage.
"In most Native languages, most Indigenous languages, Blackfeet included, there are no gendered pronouns. There is no he/she, there's only they," Gladstone told People Magazine.
"Killers of the Flower Moon"
Gladstone stars in "Killers of the Flower Moon," a film by Martin Scorcese that tells the true story of the murders of the Osage people in the early 20th century when they were targeted for the headrights to their oil-rich land.
It’s based on the nonfiction book of the same title by David Grann.
The movie also stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro. It’s available to stream on Apple TV+.
The Osage Nation
The Osage Nation is a Midwestern American tribe of the Great Plains.
The Osage Nation Reservation is also referred to as Osage County, which is currently the largest county in Oklahoma, with approximately 1,470,938 acres or 2,298 sq. miles.
Crude oil was found on their reservation in the late 1800s, leading to negotiations with the U.S. government about control and production.
Today, the nation’s population is over 25,000, with about 4,400 living in Osage County.
"Killers of the Flower Moon" was made with extensive collaboration with the Osage, and, often, Gladstone was the go-between. Osage Nation began to feel, to her, like another home.
"She’s part of our community now," Osage Nation’s Principal Chief Geoffrey Standing Bear told The Associated Press. "She comes to our traditional dinners. We all know: Here’s Lily. And no one gets awestruck because she’s one of us."
"I carry my family’s legacy. And I’m expected to carry my family legacy, in a way," Gladstone said in a recent interview. She added: "Even though I’m not Osage, it did very much feel like it was in my blood."
Lily Gladstone awards
This awards season, Gladstone won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama and the Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Female Actor.
She also made history and headlines when she spoke the Blackfeet language in both of her acceptance speeches.
She was also nominated for Best Actress in the Critics’ Choice Awards.
This story was reported from Detroit. The Associated Press contributed.