Indigenous youth from across the country are learning to be stunt actors through Stunt Nations, an Indigenous stunt school out of Cochrane, Alta.
Twenty-two-year-old Andrea Kaye from Sakimay First Nation in Saskatchewan said she didn’t have a lot of experience with horses before learning to fall off one.
“I never pictured that I would get into stunts,” she said while showing bruises she got from falling. “When I found out Marty was having this, I was determined to do it.
Marty Wildman from Stoney Nakoda Nation along with Nathaniel Arcand are the stuntmen behind Stunt Nations. The pair recently worked on the Netflix series, Outlander.
Wildman said over a dozen Indigenous youth travelled to take the workshop and to boost Indigenous representation in the industry.
“One of the productions that are happening now, one of the comments that were made was that, ‘We have to paint people red because there’s not enough First Nations stunt actors in Alberta or Canada’,” Wildman said.
“I think we’ve proven that wrong.”
At Stunt Nations, students learn basic skills of being a stunt actor, which can be added to their resumes for future contract work.
“As Indigenous folks, our knowledge is to share, it’s not for us to keep. So when the kids left I told them all to share our knowledge,” said Wildman.
“The more Indigenous people that come out is a good thing because it shows how much interest there is and how much we want to get back to that authenticity of different roles.”
Wildman said the workshop may continue at the end of August or early September 2021.
