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February 19, 2002

Gary Farmer – actor, musician and publisher

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Keywords: Gary Farmer native american actor american indian actors canadian indian actor this is what it means to say phoenix arizona american indian film festival best actor best supporting actor smoke signals powwow highway aboriginal magazine Aboriginal Voices

Gary Farmer (born June 12, 1953) is a Canadian First Nations actor and musician from the Wolf Clan in the Cayuga Nation, of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy (Iroquois).

Farmer attended Syracuse University and Ryerson Polytechnic University, where he studied photography and film production.

Farmer has performed in both the film and television adaptations of Tony Hillerman’s novels. He played “Cowboy” Albert Dashee (Hopi) in the 1991 film The Dark Wind, and Captain Largo (Navajo) in the television adaptations of Coyote Waits (2003) and A Thief of Time (2004).

Gary Farmer was a regular on the CBC’s TV show The Rez, where he played the role of Chief Tom. He has recently completed work on the movie This Is What It Means To Say Phoenix, Arizona.

Some of the many films Gary Farmer has appeared in include Dead Man, Lilies, Tales from the Crypt, Henry & Verlin and Forever Knight.

Gary Farmer has also had roles in TV shows, including Miami Vice, Spirit Bay, E.N.G., Inside Stories and China Beach.

Gary Farmer also had roles in the following films:

  • Blown Away
  • The Dark Wind
  • Ed and his Dead Mother
  • Overdrawn at the Memory Bank
  • Police Academy
  • Powwow Highway
  • Sioux City
  • Smoke Signals

Gary Farmer received awards for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor from the American Indian Film Festival for his performance in Powwow Highway. Farmer has also worked in the theatre, performing in stage plays. Gary’s stage credits include Tomson Highway’s Dry Lips Oughta Move to Kapuskasing, Guys & Dolls on Broadway and The Ecstasy of Rita Joe.

He also has a blues band called Gary Farmer and the Troublemakers. The band has released two CDs, Love Songs and Other Issues in 2007 and Lovesick Blues in 2009. He recorded the audiobook version of Louise Erdrich’s 2012 novel The Round House, winner of the 2012 National Book Award for Fiction. Farmer appeared in season 1 of the Sundance TV series The Red Road in 2014.

Gary Farmer is now the editor of Canada’s well-known Aboriginal magazine,Aboriginal Voices. Farmer is based in Toronto at the magazine’s offices, but travels a great deal in his work to develop a national TV and radio network for Aboriginal people in Canada.

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