I would have never thought I would just pitch myself in there with everyone else. So fate kind of played its hand and all the roles I've ever played in Hollywood have been native. Adopted as children by white foster parents after the death of their alcoholic mother, they're denied government financing for the venture because they aren't enrolled members of a federally recognized tribe. They want you to have long hair, brown skin, brown eyes. And it helps to have the nose.
Every little thing helps.
The movie, which was shot in Los Angeles in 1997 and screened at the Sundance Film Festival in January 1998, was financed by Connecticut's 400-member Mashantucket Pequot Indian tribe, owners of the world's biggest casino. It's the first mainstream feature film to be produced, financed, written and performed by American Indians. It's about sticking together and persisting and entrepreneurship. There's just some basic, human, wonderful issues that are brought out. I think any person that has a good heart and wants to help their community and help their world to be a better place is going to find similarities between themselves and the girls in the film.