True North Strong and Cree with Joel D. Montgrand
Joel D. Montgrand | Photo by Daniella Barreto
Joel D. Montgrand introduces you to... himself! From his first stage appearance in a children's buckskin parade, to moving to Vancouver and giving acting a shot, to landing roles in HBO’s True Detective: Night Country and Netflix’s Avatar: The Last Airbender – get to know your host and what you can look forward to from the new Actors and Ancestors podcast.
“I’m a very proud Cree man. As anyone should be proud of being Native. We’re resilient. We’re powerful. We’re amazing people. And despite all the work done to eradicate us, we are still here.”
Actors and Ancestors aims to be a lighthearted roadmap for aspiring Indigenous actors (and anyone else who wants to learn) to hear from people working in the industry about their film and TV paths, inspirations, and hopes for the future.
“One of my dreams right now is that if this podcast continues and you get to hear a lot of other actors...maybe you’ll be inspired by somebody...that we ended up chatting with, then maybe... if we’re lucky enough, 50 episodes from now, I’ll get a chance to interview you!”
ACTORS AND ANCESTORS RED RED CARPET RECOMMENDATION FROM Joel:
Bravestarr: [Bravestarr] was the first Native person I’d seen on TV that was the main star, you know, he wasn't a sidekick. He was the hero. He wasn't story B. - Joel D. Montgrand
Look out for Joel next in HBO’s Season 4 of True Detective (January 2024) and Netflix’s live action Avatar: The Last Airbender (February 2024)
-
Joel: Hi, and welcome to the intro episode to Actors and Ancestors. My name is Joel D. Montgrand. Listen, I really just want to be upfront with you right here and say if you want to hear some interesting interviews and find out what the other actors are up to. Go ahead. Feel free to jump ahead. I'm not gonna have my feelings hurt because this episode is just about me.
There is no other interview. I just wanted to take the time to introduce myself. So don't worry I won't know if you go ahead and listen to the other guys, and if you're still interested and you want to know where I'm from, okay, then come on back, and I'll still be here, okay? So, uh, I'm just gonna have a little sip of this nameless beverage while you go away. (sipping sound)
Oh, you're still here. All right. That's a little ASMR maybe.
Tell you what then I'll introduce myself. Um, because it's tradition that we usually would have people talk about where they're from, where their family's from. And so that's what I'm going to do. I was born in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, in Treaty 6 Territory, in the middle of Saskatchewan.
That's where my mom went to give birth to me. But we lived in a little place called Sandy Bay, which is much further north. And that's where I had my “babydom”. And, um, most of my ancestors on my mother's side of the family are from that area. But we moved to a town called La Ronge, which is still in the north, but it's on the border of Treaty 6 and 10 Territory.
So my family's Cree on my mother's side. Rocky Cree, specifically, because of the Canadian Shield, where everyone's from. Most people, think Cree is, is just, it's one group, but we're a huge tribe and we have a lot of different dialects, uh, most people that I know speak the Y dialect, which is the Plains dialect, uh, but where I'm from, it's a TH dialect, and they speak very quickly, um, it's similar to Woodland Cree, so that's, that's my family there, my mushum himself, which is my grandfather, if you don't know mushum, uh, And kookum is grandmother.
Hey, there's an old joke: How do you make Cree grandparents? Ya mush ‘em, and then ya cook ‘em. There. Now you remember. You'll remember that one forever. It's terrible, I know. Uh, but my mushum was actually Métis. And for those of you that might not know, the Métis are, they're one of the world's newest cultures.
They're a mixture of French and Cree, and they speak Michif. My mushum spoke Michif, uh, in English. And he was Métis and Cree. Those are his parents were Métis and Cree. And my cook. Um, she was just Cree, except that her grandfather going way back. Uh, he was an Irishman. He was, uh, uh, this white guy named Clark, as I recall and I remember seeing this photo of him. Hanging on the wall like, you know, from back in the days when photos were first invented and you weren't allowed to smile and there's this guy wearing a bear, you know, like an actual full bear. He's got the head on his head and, and, uh, it's in front of this little cabin in the north somewhere.
And that's, that's where, uh, my, my kookum’s from, uh, so, uh, and, and as for my father's side, uh, I didn't know who my father was growing up because I, I grew up with my Cree family, my father's of settler descent, and I met him when I was around 12 years old, and now we have a good relationship, we've, we've, uh, built it up over, over the decades. But when I was young, just with my Native family, because of my mixedness, you know, many people looking at me, Uh, might mistake me for a white person, or I got Hispanic, or Cuban, and French, which makes sense, French, uh, because, uh, my last name is Montclair, which means big mountain, that's from my mushum’s side being, being a mixture of French and Cree, as you recall, the Métis.
So, growing up in the far north, I wasn't sure, you know, what I, what I wanted to be when I would be getting older. I was just trying to survive. I was a very confused kid. I was just a little pink looking baby in a Native family. And that's actually one of the reasons why my family calls me JD.
My name is Joel Darren. You know, I always made the joke that my middle name was Danger or something, but it's Joel Darren. And mushum was the one that kind of helped with this nickname for J. D. Because he really liked these Weird television shows, you know, like all the strange ones, John Wayne, The Duke, and there was another TV show called The Dukes of Hazzard, and you know, these young southern boys driving around, and they're always trying to get away from the sheriff character, and his name was J.D. Buford Hogg, I think it was Buford Hogg, and he thought, “hey, look at this chubby little pink baby, my grandson. Oh, he looks like this roly poly sheriff guy. Well, you know, let's call him J. D. Hogg. Ha ha ha, won't that be a funny nickname?” And it really, uh, it really stuck. And I kid you not, dear listener, I was, um, It was right up until I was about four years old where I thought my name was, was actually J. D. Hogg. I remember I was in the parking lot of, of, uh, the North Mart or the Bay.
I can't remember what store it was at the time. And there was a man that came up to talk to my mom and, uh, she was chatting with him and I'm standing there and she said, Oh, introduce yourself. So I looked at him and I remember very sadly going, Ah, and I looked back at the ground and I said, J. D. Hogg.
And my mom started laughing and she said, No, that's not your name. That's your nickname. So I learned the difference between a nickname and a real name that day and thankfully now. It's just JD, no Hogg, and I'm much happier with that, but again, being a confused mixie kid, uh, I remember I wasn't sure what that meant.
I mean, even at a very young age, I remember being ashamed, actually, that I was Native, you know, because Society was, was teaching me that that was bad, you know, on TV because of shows like the ones that I'd watch with my mushum with John Wayne and, and these Westerns where the Indians were going around in circles, you know, uh, getting shot 20 times for every cowboy that they could take out.
And I was like, Oh, wow, we're, we're, we're not really that smart, are we? Oh, what, what is all this? You know, that's what society was teaching us. I mean, I'm sure that many people out there have those terrible memories and felt the same way. And it wasn't until later on in life where I learned to be ashamed the other way.
Now I'm, I'm very ashamed that I ever felt that way about myself because I'm a very proud Cree man. as anyone should be proud of being Native. We're resilient. We're powerful. We're amazing people. And despite all the work. Done to eradicate us. We are still here.
So growing up in the North, I didn't know what I wanted to be and I was definitely not a born performer. I was, I was not born to be out there and be the centre of attention. Um, just being a confused little kid trying to keep my head down. I had no idea what the wider world was like.
And in fact, I remember the first time I was ever on stage and it was for a buckskin parade, and that's a showcase of traditional outfits made out of deer hide and just really beautiful beadwork and things like that of all ages, you know, and I was six years old. So I was in the in the small category.
And I remember, man, if I could only go back and tell that that little kid, you know that they're not looking. At, at you. They're, they're looking at the outfit. Don't worry. You're just, you're just a, a coat hanger. Get out there, you know. And that outfit was beautiful. I, I still remember it. It was a collection of, um, hand me downs for a six year old little Indian kid.
I mean, I had a beautiful beadwork picture of a wolf. Uh, I had a raccoon tail hat on. Uh, there's lots of little dangly bits. These moccasins with rings of, of fur around them. Um, I mean, it was an outstanding piece of art, and I should have been really proud to get out there and put that on, but when I got on stage, all that I could see were these people looking at me going, oh, wow, you know, and, and, and I just kind of froze, and then of course, I exploded into tears, crying, you know, right for my mom right in the middle.
You know, I was, I was not a born, you know, actor. I was an incredibly, incredibly shy, shy boy. And in fact, I was completely quiet in the class until I was about 17 years old. You know, when, um, we moved a little further south when I was 15 and, uh, it wasn't until I was in high school and up, up until that moment in my life.
I only had a handful of friends, you know, I played video games by myself a lot, you know, being a, a lone kid for the most part, right up until I was about 12 when I met my dad and, um, and suddenly I had these brothers and sisters and my mom had two kids back to back too, so I got a brother and sister on my mom's side.
So I was this lone kid going home, um, latchkey kids I guess were, were called then, you know, just. Make yourself some food and take yourself to school, that kind of stuff. Because my mom was busy working. So I was so shy I mean I was terrible with girls. I couldn't talk to them, I'd just clam up and I had no idea how to deal with anything.
And then when I was in grade 12 I auditioned for a musical, basically. Out of peer pressure because the friends that I had, I mean, everybody that I knew, all of my acquaintances, they were all auditioning for this thing. And I didn't want to be the only one in the group of people that didn't try out.
So, it was for Jesus Christ Superstar. You know that that musical, uh, there was only two high schools in my town and I went to the Catholic one because It was within walking distance to my house. Not because I was enthused in any way about the church for obvious reasons um, I was just a lazy teenager So so, uh, I decided to sing a song with a whole bunch of bad words in it and you know Just being an edgy 17 year old I thought maybe i'd get into some trouble, maybe get detention, and I wouldn't have to do anything, you know, wouldn't be in this show.
Well, I ended up getting one of the leads, uh, I was playing Judas, and Mrs. Moon was our director, and she did the casting too, and uh, you know, bless her, bless her for being terrible at her job, because I ended up getting the, this acting bug, and I had no idea how deep that, that bite was getting to me, but it really did.
Bite deep and it took root. But I mean, I was terrible. I, I, I couldn't sing. I couldn't carry a tune. I couldn't act, uh, somewhere out there. There's a, recording of me from, from high school with my voice breaking. They recorded the show twice and it broke at the same point. So they couldn't edit around it.
And I'm trying to like do a, a one, two count left foot to right foot in this. You know, what passes a dance and I'm messing that up somehow, I mean, it was, it was just, it was, it was awful. Um, but it was funny because at that point was when I started to realize that there was maybe more to the world than, I don't know, just, you know, sticking around and working in a local shop or something.
I just didn't dare to think bigger than, than that. So that was my first experience, um, performing and, uh, soon after I was doing community theatre off and on for like years afterward, because it was something that I just love to do. I ended up traveling around the world for a while to, not doing any theatre, but, um, loving the experience of traveling around the planet and, and, uh, learning that way.
And then eventually, I moved out to Vancouver after a lot of things accomplished, a lot of places seen, and I got back into acting. And it was actually during one of these community theatre shows where someone had said, “Hey, you know, you're good at this. Why don't you actually take it seriously?”
And I said, “Well, take it seriously? How? I don't have a clue how,” and they said, “Well, you gotta get an agent, man. You, you know, well, you gotta do some videos. You gotta, you gotta get out there and actually like, like, like build up a resume”. And, and so not having a clue. This person, I mean they, they recommended someone that they had gone to school with and they said, “oh, this person works down at this agency. They're an agent now they, they left the acting game.”
So I went down to that agency and knocked on the door and there was no secretary there. I, I think. Like, she was out on lunch and I was like, “hello, hello,” And I, and I walked in and knocked on my now-agent's door and I said, “hi, I'm, I'm, I'm looking for an agent.”
I need to get an agent. Um, My friend recommended this place and she was like, “what? Uh, uh, okay, do you have, uh, your resume?” And I, I said, “oh. I need a resume”, like, you know, you need headshots, you know, I had no idea, no experience, but she took a shot on me and she gave me a cold read right then and there. She gave me a script, said, “read this over, come back in 10 minutes, read the scene with me.”
And then we did and she said, “okay, okay, uh, what you're going to do is you're going to type up a resume, even though you have nothing on it. And then you're going to go get some headshots.” So I was like, “Oh yeah, yeah, you got it.” I didn't tell her at the time, but I spent the only 500 that I had to my name to get these headshots done.
And I mean, I was flat broke, flat broke. Broke as a joke in Vancouver. I mean, I was surviving on 800 bucks a month back then. And Vancouver was a different animal then. It was brutal hard then. It's impossible now. , but I was somehow making it work with that little coming in from my part time job. And, uh, I went in for my very first audition a couple of weeks later.
I got that call, go in there, do this thing. So I was so nervous, but I got the call a couple of days later. Yeah, you got it. And I couldn't believe it. My very first audition, I booked it. It was for Bates Motel, the television series. And my line, uh, I still remember it was, uh, Dylan Massett is here.
I was playing a no name guard, you know, Jody's guard, it said. And I, I went in for my, uh, uh, line. And the director was in the room and he's going, Oh yeah. You know, looking at all the one liners really quickly, just in, out, in, out, in, out, but, uh, I showed up to work on the day I had to drive out there.
I borrowed a car. , I got to this place in the middle of the countryside, said my lines. I knew I was getting paid 500 bucks. The money that I put into those headshots was going to come back to me, which is great because, you know, then I wasn't going to be broke and I could actually afford maybe some food.
And it was, it was really lean. so I got the work done. Uh, I go out, I see some famous actor people. I can't remember their names now, but I mean, they were famous to me then. And, uh, yeah. After I got back to the trailer and I did my scene, I get out of my costume, I go out and I happen to see the director and I'm walking by, I just said, well, kind of wave my hand.
He goes, “Hey, good job today. Uh, by the way, listen, in your audition, you said the wrong line. And I just figured, uh, Well, let's just give him a fucking job, right?” Like, yeah. He gave me a job out of pity because I literally had nothing on the resume. You know, this guy who's like more than 30 years old comes in with nothing on his resume.
So that was my first acting job. just an act of charity. But then I ended up booking three out of the next four auditions that I went to. And things started to work out, you know, uh, I brought myself a bed. I mean, I was so poor up until then. I slept on a cot for two years living in Vancouver.
You know, my, my room was just a pile of clothes and the cot. It was awful, but my life was, um, it was getting better and better. I was there in this moment of, uh, I knew that community theatre acting was the only thing that I. really had a connection to that kept me going.
Um, you know, I was just happy that I was able to make this living cause I was not a very happy guy for a while. I mean, I I'd made bad choices, uh, bad relationships as, as just bad to myself. I also really miss my family, you know? I mean, I was out by myself in British Columbia and it's hard being away from the land that you love and the family that you love, but I just knew that out in Vancouver was a potential future, you know, something different.
And so I just had to keep pushing for it. So I always tell people, I mean, if, if you could do anything else that makes you happy, just go for it, please. Acting is, is hard and it's hard work and there's a lot of sacrifice. But, uh, I remember waking up thinking. I'm okay with this. I've been poor my entire life.
I could continue being poor and as long as I get a chance to actually really create some interesting characters and Affect people that see me perform or watch me on on something then i'm gonna be happy. I may not be wealthy But I'm going to be happy. And now life's taken a real turn. Things got better here in Vancouver.
I started getting better and better parts. And I moved up from those one liners to principles. Um, and things took a real turn when I ended up getting cast in this movie called Beans, which is about the Oka crisis. And there was the Mohawk uprising out in Quebec. And for those of you that don't remember. 1990, uh, the town of Oka, they were trying to build a golf course over a Native burial ground.
It sounds like a bad plot from a, not even a B movie, like a C movie, but it was really happening. And so there was this big uprising, uh, all First Nations people across the country were sending delegates. I was just a kid then, um, and I, I watched this on the news and, uh, they were all sending these people out there to show the government that we're reunited in this cause.
You know, we're not just going to lay down and take it. , And I, I remember watching this happen live and being confused because I was, again, being that confused kid going, yeah, we're not bad guys, but why are they trying? What are we bad? I don't understand because the news was, well, they were doing their classic thing and just making us look terrible.
but the movie itself was, um, set on this backdrop. It's a coming of age story. And it was about the director's own personal experience growing up in that area when this all happened. And I was cast as the father. of this little girl whose nickname was “Beans”. And I was taken aback. I couldn't believe I actually got this part because of my own identity crisis that I've always suffered from looking, looking white, you know?
Uh, I was like, wow, I got this part? Really? I was, I was kind of floored. , because on, in, in, in my books it, it was always easier to be Native on stage because there's a, a, big suspension of disbelief. And in front of the camera, it's just right there. But then I saw a photo of this real dad who I was based on, who my character was based on.
I thought, Oh, wow. Hey, yeah, that's, that's me. I could be this guy. You know, Native people are all types of people. I'm a Native man, and even if the world sometimes wants to argue with me because of skin color, that doesn't change the fact that I am who I am, and it really helped and changed my life in a lot of ways, because, not just for self confidence, but because of that casting, uh, Kiawentiio, who is the actor that played, uh, Beans, she, Ended up , getting cast in this new TV series called Avatar the Last Airbender, a live adaptation of the cartoon.
And the director, showrunner, Albert Kim was looking for people to audition and they saw Beans so they, they liked the, the parents in the movie, myself and another actor, Rainbow Dickerson playing the mom. And long story short, we both got the chance to audition and then we both ended up playing parents again.
And so the casting announcement came out for that. Uh, and when that happened, The momentum just keeps happening. You know, once you, once you start moving in this business because then I got a call in for an audition for a big part in a HBO show called true detective the fourth season. And I ended up getting that too.
So 10 years of grinding away. Uh, and it started to pay off started off with those one liners and community theater, not getting paid much of anything, if anything. And now, you know, things are feeling pretty great. And acting, this thing that I love, this thing that I've always thought I would just be living in poverty with actually pulled me out of poverty and into a really happy place.
And so what I'm trying to do with this podcast is kind of create a roadmap. You know, to show all those other Natives out there, you know, like, or even if you're just an interested actor, our lives aren't so different at all that it doesn't matter where you're from. And, you know, I wish I would have known it was a viable option for me when I was, when I was younger, but I didn't know anybody that did anything like this.
I didn't, I didn't even get to see any live theatre or anything like that until I was much older. So one of my dreams right now. Is that if this podcast continues and you get to hear a lot of other actors, you know, share their own experiences and journeys, maybe you'll be inspired by somebody, you know, not me, you don't have to be inspired by me, but if you're inspired by anybody that, uh, that we ended up chatting with, then maybe, uh, you know, uh, if we're lucky enough, 50 episodes from now, I'll get a chance to interview you and then maybe I could sit down and say, Hey, I did something cool.
You know, I did something. Great here, and I'd be happy with that.
So, thank you That's my intro about myself. I'm happy that you who stuck around and listened and uh, believe me, I have a really hard time talking about myself to this day. I live my life and, and I've, I've done some, some pretty wild things when I take a step back and look at it objectively.
But because I'm here the entire time I go, Oh, I don't want to talk about me, but. Here I am. So, thank you. Please come along, check out the other interviews. Feel free to shuffle through some of them. See who you, um, who piques your interest. But everybody's got a story. They're all different. And hopefully, one day you'll roll out your own red, red carpet.
I don't really know what that means, but I said it because it sounds cool. And, uh, I want to do this segment with all my guests, , called the red, red carpet, where we'll give a shout out to people that have inspired us in our lives or inspiring now, uh, that other people might not know of. For me.
On a very personal note from when I was a kid, uh, I want to roll out the red, red carpet for this little cartoon called BraveStarr. It's from the 80s. It probably didn't age well. Um, but I remember staying up all night, some nights on Saturday and Friday nights, you know, um, just to catch it in the early mornings.
And it was a show. Uh, where it was the first Native person I’d seen on TV that was the main star, you know, he wasn't a sidekick. He was the hero. He wasn't story B. I mean, I mean, the story itself, it was ridiculous. You know, he was a, he was a space cowboy and the irony was, um. Lost on me then, but he was a sheriff.
I mean, he had a a giant robotic horse named 30-30 and he's laying down the law, you know, in the far corners of the galaxy. And, uh, I mean, he had an animal power, you know, he had strength of the bear, eyes of the hawk, and a medicine man with this wild metal headdress that he would go and talk to. But as wild as that was, I just remember being a kid going, cool.
Wow, that's. That's awesome that it's, it's us, you know? So, he's always got, uh, a little special happy spot in my heart. Just because I was, I was a young Native kid looking for any hero. And there he was. So thanks, BraveStarr! You crazy old 80's cartoon. Anyway, um, I think we're done. So, I'll see ya in the next episode.
Tenege, ekosi!
Oh, wait, wait, wait. cheeskwa, cheeskwa.
Uh, the credits. Thank you for listening to Actors and Ancestors. This show was created, hosted, produced by me, Joel D. Montgrand. And audio production was done by Daniella Barreto. Okay, now,
ekosi