Lily Gladstone, the guest on this episode of The Hollywood Reporter’s Awards Chatter podcast, is a trailblazing Native American actress whose breakout performance in Martin Scorsese’s film Killers of the Flower Moon, as an Osage woman named Mollie Burkhart whose oil wealth made her a target of white men during what is known as the “Reign of Terror,” has made her a bona-fide star. Indeed, she has already won the best actress in a motion picture drama Golden Globe Award and the best actress National Board of Review, New York Film Critics Circle and SAG awards; she was nominated for the best actress Critics Choice Award; and she is nominated, in a first for an Indigenous American, for the best actress Academy Award.
Over the course of a conversation at the L’Ermitage Beverly Hills hotel, which you can hear below, the 37-year-old reflected on her path to a screen acting career, and why she decided to pursue one despite being familiar with the way Native Americans have historically been treated by the business; why the opportunity to play a key role in Kelly Reichardt’s 2016 indie film Certain Women proved to be both a blessing and a curse, and how she came within just seconds of walking away from acting just a few years afterwards; how she first heard about Killers of the Flower Moon and tackled the challenges presented to her by it, and what it feels like to be racking up history-making accolades for her work in it; plus much more.
