Fighting is My Medicine with Kali Reis
Kali Reis | Photo provided by Kali Reis
“People talk about Native people like we’re dinosaurs. Like “Oh wow you’re Indian?! I thought you guys were extinct!” No. No, no. ”
Buckle up for this knockout interview with Seaconke Wampanoag actor, Kali Reis, aka Many Feathers Many Talents. Kali is the star of HBO’s “True Detective: Night Country” (Evangeline Navarro) alongside screen legend, Jodie Foster (Liz Danvers), and your host, Joel D. Montgrand (Eddie Qavvik). Hear about Kali’s lineage and how she went from being a boxing world champion to champion of the box office. Learn about her advocacy for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls as well as what it was like to work with an intimacy coordinator on set. As a Two-Spirit Afro-Indigenous person, Kali shares why it’s so important for future generations to see faces that look like hers on screen.
Transcript available below or external link here
Joel D. Montgrand, Jodie Foster, and Kali Reis in Reykjavic, Iceland, where they filmed True Detective Season 4
Here are a few gems from Episode 2: Fighting is My Medicine with Kali Reis
How to keep your sanity on set:
“Þetta reddast” (thet-ta re-dust) in Icelandic means it’s all going to work out/you’re going to figure it out. Filming True Detective and being the lead was a real test. One thing she learned from her co-star Jodie Foster: “Don’t take everything so seriously! Have fun with it. Forget about the last take and be in the moment. Don’t worry about what you did, it’s over.”On dealing with online harassment and hate:
Being online and so publicly accessible as an actor, it can get hard to deal with toxic comments and criticism especially if people are questioning your talent, skills, and even identity. Kali’s tip is when you start getting emotionally invested in comments people leave about you and your work, just shut it down and don’t engage. “The more success you have, the more people are going to come to try and destroy it. I’m learning to just not engage with it.”Intimacy coordinators are people on set whose specific job is to help make sure any sexual scenes or nudity feel as safe and comfortable as possible for everyone involved. Joel and Kali chat about how intimacy coordinators are something the industry should have brought in a long time ago! For Kali it was reassuring and made everything so much more comfortable just to have someone there to help advocate for you while you do your job of telling a story.
“The Creator wouldn’t have torpedoed me into this headfirst if they knew I couldn’t handle it”
Kali is a passionate advocate for the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women movement and uses her platform to draw attention to the issue. Her breakout acting role was as the lead in Catch the Fair One, where she quotes, “Nobody’s looking because nobody cares”. If you want to learn more about the movement for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women visit:
National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women for more information
Read the book “Unbroken” by Gitxsan author and journalist Angela Sterritt
Kali commends Roxanne White’s work supporting MMIW in helping their families search for them.
Every February 14th in so-called Vancouver, BC, there’s a march for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women organized and led by women in the Downtown East Side. Bring your friends and loved ones out to support and/or send a donation.
“...Every Indigenous person that you speak to knows somebody.... who went missing”
RED RED CARPET RECOMMENDATION FROM KALI:
Reservation Dogs: “It is us today. We’re just freakin’ hilarious…there’s just so much talent right now. There’s been talent but we’re just coming out now to the public eye.” - Kali Reis
Look out for Kali in True Detective (Season 4) and Wind River 2!
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Fighting is My Medicine with Kali Reis
Joel: Well, uh, welcome to Actors and Ancestors, a show for Indigenous actors and anyone else who wants to learn. I'm your host, JD Montgrand. I'm a Rocky Cree actor from Treaty 6 and 10 Territories. And if you wanna know more about me and my land, where I'm from, then just check out episode 1, which is all about me.
I am super, super excited today. My guest today is undoubtedly pound for pound, the hardest hitter we will ever have on the show. I think, , I mean that quite literally. I've personally felt the arm cannons this person has, and let me tell you, they are locked, loaded, lethal. And it's quite possible.
The only thing that rivals their ability to stick and move in the boxing ring is their ability to stick and move in front of the camera from one emotional beat to the next. They're a powwow dancer, the first Indigenous woman to have the title of World Boxing Champion, an advocate for the missing and murdered Indigenous women's movement, a writer, and also an award-winning actress from their breakout role in Catch the Fair One.
Now a guest on my show because they're just incredibly kind, the kind warrior, and probably by the time this airs, Chief of their tribe, just because if they ever walked into the band office and said, I'm Chief now, everyone would know it's good for them and just get the F out the way. There's no stopping this person.
It brings me such joy to have you here. Can I ask you to tell me your name, about your land and where your people are from?
Kali Reis: Absolutely tabutné, so much JD, (shares greetings in Wampanoag) everyone,.
Hello. Greetings everyone. My given name is Many Feathers, many Talents, and I am from the Seaconke Wampanoag tribe, Tribal Nation, based in Massachusetts. I currently live in Philadelphia, but I am originally from Providence Rhode Island.
Joel: Wow. Uh, I mean, I've known you for a while now. It's been a while since we've managed to chat in person, but, um, I gotta come at you real quick with some, something real hard here. The real questions off the bat. Uh, you, are obsessed with eating peanut butter off the spoon as I am. what's your go-to peanut butter? What, what do you fall into there?
Kali Reis: Um, right now what do I got in my cabinet right now? I got Skippy all natural. I usually, I tend to go to the all natural kind of the stuff you gotta stir up. But, um, yeah, so I don't do chunky peanut butter all the time. It has to be like, kind of once in a while, but I literally will stick a spoon. Peanut butter doesn't last at all in this house anymore because if I get some, the puppy gets one now.So, so I gotta share
Joel: Hey, what's your, what's your puppy's name?
Kali Reis: Quincy Bones.
Joel: Quincy Bones. Oh, I love it. I love it. I've got a little cat myself. I think I've showed you pictures of her. Her name's Awas that means “go away” in Cree.
Kali Reis:(laughs) Oh that’s terrible (laughs)
Joel: I know. I'm terrible like that. I mean, you and I, we've, we've known each other for all We met, filming True Detective, and actually one of my favorite lines in season one of true detective was Matthew McConaughey's character. Rusty was saying, you know, “life is barely long enough to get good at one thing-- you gotta be careful what you get good at.” And I mean, you, you've absolutely destroyed that statement. Um, with all of your accomplishments so far, I mean, your name is Many Feathers, Many Talents and you're still relatively new on the acting scene, but you've been so successful right out the gate. I mean, you're an incredibly accomplished boxer as well.
World champ, badass. Can you tell me what got you started in your boxing career and how you made that switch into acting? And what parallels you’ve found between the two?
Kali Reis: Yeah, absolutely. That's an awesome question. Um, I mean, I'm, I've always been such a sporty kid and growing up the youngest of five with two older brothers, two older sisters and two older brothers that loved sports and basketball, and, uh, little girl that was not anything like her mother, girly ballet.
I just wanted to play with the boys. Um, I just was always into sports, always out sporty as a kid. , as you mentioned, I did, I used to dance at pow wows fancy dance, so as we know what fancy dances do, the fastest beat ever and is full of energy. I was just one of those kids that really needs to be expressive but nobody boxed in my family. So it was one of those things that kind of found me. Uh, I played basketball, softball, but it was just something about the solo aspect of boxing that really intrigued me and like, you know, quite frankly, fighting. And to kind of give you a little bit more history about my tribe, um, I'm from the Seaconke Clan or the Black Goose Clan of the Wampanoag Nation.
There's like, I gotta say, nine different bands or clans, um, in the Wampanoag Nation. I come from Seaconke or Seaconk. And our warrior was basically a war chief to one of the baddest sachems or chiefs in the Wampanoag history, Osamequin/Yellow Feather. He had a son named King Philip, uh, Metacomet. And they both had the same war chief named Anawan, and he served Metacom’s father Osamequin. And when Osamequin passed on, uh, he served, uh, king Philip and um, is a huge part of King Philip's war. You guys can look that up. It's one of the biggest and most bloodiest wars on American soil. Um, we almost lost all of our people and at the end of the war, Anawan was given the area of Seaconke, Massachusetts and that's where we come from.
So my fighting spirit is kind of, and that's the exact lineage that I come from, that I come from my line down right from anon himself. So it kind of made sense that boxing kind of found me in some kind of battle oriented. Um, activity. Um, you know, me, I, my first fights were like in the street. I was never a confrontational kid, but I also didn't grow up on a reservation or anywhere where it was, you know, I was a minority.
Um, I grew up in, um, you know, not the best neighborhood and I was the only Native kid around, so I had to do a lot of, a lot of leave me alone fights so I found boxing around the age of. 12, 13 from a friend of my mom's, um, he's from the Narragansett tribe. I kind of got wind of, he was a fighter back in the day, so I used to bother him at powwows when he was making his jewelry stand, his Wampanoag jewelry stand.
Like, come on man, teach me some moves, kind of thing. And he'd like blow me off. Blew me off. Finally convinced him to come to the house. He hung a bag, taught me a couple, a couple of things. and months later my father actually came back up to Rhode Island. He moved back up to Rhode Island and he brought me to Peter Manfredo’s gym and from then on it was quote unquote, uh, cliche, uh, love at first punch, I guess you could say. And my first fight, you would think, you know, some fairytale story. Like, yeah, I did great. I knocked the girl out. No, I got my ass handed to me and I wanted to know. Either do I take a hard left and go, you know what, this isn't for me.
Or do I take a hard right and go, you know what, how do you make that not ever happen again? You know, um, my mom named me, right? Many feathers, many talents, and I'm a OCD Virgo. Um, work ethic is engraved in there, and don't stop it till you get it right, kind of a thing. So I took that hard, right? And I just wanted to learn, and I just got better and better.
And from, you know, my childhood, it wasn't that great. I had a couple of things that happened that kind of put me over the edge, my dad leaving, um, kind of not knowing my footing as far as being mixed, Cape Verdean or black and Indigenous or Native American. Um, so it was just something that was calling to me in the solo aspect of boxing.
Basically, you know, when you're on a team, a baseball team, basketball team, if you're having a bad day you can have a sub, but there's no subbing anybody in, in boxing. It's, you have to do your work. It's very self-accountable. Um, so I just kind of fell in love with it and I didn't have these huge aspirations of being a world champion as of yet.
I really didn't understand my purpose. I just knew I liked it and I was getting good at it, and I got to fight. So, um, the rest is history, man. I, um, Made my way through the, made my way through the amateur ranks. Um, I didn't have too much amateur background due to number one, um, Olympics women who weren't in the Olympics up until 2012.
Number two, I didn't have the funds to travel to all these tournaments. Number three, quite frankly, I don't have an amateur style. So I went pro and kind of just scratched and clawed my way to where I am now. And as far as finding, acting again, it kind of found me. You know, I come from a very musically inclined family.
Everybody either sings, plays an instrument or both. I’ve played the violin since I was nine. My father was on tour with Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch. Like we just are very musically inclined.
Joel: Incredible. I did not know that about you.
Kali Reis: Yeah, man, I'm showin my age and show you if you know what I'm talking about. Yeah. It was just one of those things that kind of just, um, happened and um, I've always been interested in acting, but you know, I've always been part of like church play productions with my mom.
My grandmother was in a bunch of theater, um, things too, I just didn't know where to start, like anybody else. And by that time around 2015, 2016, you know, I really started to get the bug, but I'm like, yeah, I don't really know how to, how do you start this thing? Like what do I get a cameo in like a Gatorade commercial?
I have no idea. You know, I don't know anybody. I don't, I wasn't like out auditioning or anything. Um, I actually got approached, uh, by the director of Catch the Fair One, Josef Kubota Wladyka, on Instagram. He slid in my dmm. And he
Joel: Oh, wow.
Kali Reis: um, Hey, I'm so and so. I've done X, Y, and Z. You ever think about acting?
And as you can imagine, at that point in my career, I've already established myself, I was already a world champion. Um, I started taking my boxing platform and using it for a voice for the voiceless, bringing, you know, just different awarenesses to Missing Murdered Indigenous Women, pipelines, and any kind of Indigenous issues that I could shed some light on, which is every issue in the Indigenous community that nobody knows about.
And, um, he had just, just like a lot of people had just been finding out about, um, missing and murdered Indigenous women, um, movement in, in Canada and North America. And he kind of wrote a script based around that and he just was really intrigued by the fact that I was putting so much, um, attention on it with my platform.
He approached me on Instagram, got kind of got on the phone. He told me he had the script and I read it. It was cool. And then he asked me really early on to help him write the story 'cause. One thing about Joseph, and he is a really good friend of mine that right, right now, um, he knew it was an important story to tell, but he knew it wasn't his story to tell, which is really.
Really cool. Um, and he just wanted to get the perspective of, of the community. And I just, I winged it. I, you know, he, he gave me a couple pointers. We practiced, we read the script. We wrote, wrote, we wrote it a ton of times. And, you know, I just took a crack at it. And that was a pretty good swing at the first time.
And it kind of just, it just kind of unfolded from there, honestly.
Joel: You ended up winning, winning the Gotham Award for this
Kali Reis: I didn't, I was nominated, I won, uh, I was nominated for the Spirit Award. I was nominated from Gotham. I got, I won best actress in the Newport Film Festival and I got nominated for Best Actress at the Tribeca, where I got a special jury mention.
But we didn't even set out to do that much. We just wanted to tell a story. And this is my first time doing this, so, To have the story be so, you know, in the film, be viewed by so many and then get accolades behind it. It just adds to it. But I'm just happy we were able to tell that story.
Joel: Wow. That, that's, that's absolutely incredible. And you came in, I mean, getting your butt handed to you right off the bat in boxing and then going straight for the jugular when you switched over to acting. Uh, so if there's any of those kids listening out there, they just want to know how to make it. Well, fight first, become world champ, and then you're gonna be in,
Kali Reis: Yep. Yep. You gotta go to a bunch
Joel: that easy.
Kali Reis: Yeah. It's that easy.[00:12:00]
Joel: We worked together on, on True Detective season 4 which was out in Iceland, and I was taken away by the beauty of the land. I mean, it looks like an alien landscape. Can you tell us what was your favorite thing about being on that land and anything that you took from it, uh, that you really, really liked?
Kali Reis: It. It was such a beautiful, uh, To the eye place. Um, but the energy there, the, the, the really intensely strong energy there in connection to nature and the pride that the people, lovely people have of their country, um, from, from, you know, the very difficult language that I only still don't know after seven months of being there.
I mean, it's a beautiful language, but the way they speak it is just the same way they always have. And it's, that's a beautiful thing and I'm experiencing. That part of the world that gets dark and light. And Northern Lights, probably as cliche as it sounds. Probably one of my favorite parts of that. I mean, it was just, you know, they're yelling, rolling, [00:13:00] and I'm looking at the sky, like mesmerized.
It was just so beautiful. And the people there, everything was just really, really unexpectedly dope.
As we were there, I mean, it's, we were there for work and I barely got enough time to do anything other than work. But for the times it did. I mean, the hot springs and nature there, the just the calmness. It was really beautiful. I would love, my husband came every time and he was like, we, can I come back?
I'm like, yeah. Like, he's like, can we go there for New Year's? It was, it was so amazing. It was, it was an all around really great experience.
Joel: Oh my God. I, uh, I couldn't believe actually how much I had, I had fallen. Like I think I, I had a lot of downtime myself in comparative to you 'cause you were running a marathon. Um, yeah. You were so incredibly busy. I ended up, uh, just on set, falling in love with this little drink. They have a collab, I can't find it anywhere in
Kali Reis: Yes, I know I'm missing my Collab.
Joel: Oh my God. I know it's got like that, uh, college(n) – they're not paying me or anything– I don't know, but I actually, it's funny 'cause I, I brought a bunch back from Iceland 'cause I was so addicted to it. I have one right here. Hang on. Listen to this. (can-opening sound)
Kali Reis: Oh, God.
Joel: There we go. I just, I
Kali Reis: I'm…
Joel: it’s open.
Kali Reis: I'm hating. man. I miss, I miss. I miss Svenni. I miss everybody. I miss the Collab. I miss everybody. It was such a dope place to be, man.
Joel: It really was. I mean, it's different when it becomes work, I'm sure for you. I mean, having to be there day in, day out. What was it like working opposite Jodie Foster?
She has a lifetime, an absolute lifetime of acting behind her. She's like the Joe Fraser of the acting world and you and her going toe to toe. Um, there was one moment where I was on set and I had, I had just come in for a hair test basically, and of course set life for those that don't know, sometimes you're there for ages.
I was, I was on set for about. I don't know, five, six hours just to get a look. And someone looked at my, my look and were like, okay, [00:15:00] cool. But in that time I got to see you and Jodie doing the scene together. And spoiler free of course, but I mean, it was the climax of the series. And I remember looking over at, uh, Svenni and, uh, we were looking at a monitor and just being amazed and I, I can't wait for people to see this.
Um, but what, what's it like knowing that you are up? Against the heaviest of heavyweights and you are killing it.
Kali Reis: Um, you know what, uh, me and my husband are just talking about this like not to be cliche anymore, but I have to, like my back's against the rope. That's when I perform the best. I mean, the creator wouldn't have thrown me into this, like torpedoed me into this head first if they knew I couldn't handle it or they didn't know I, I had the capacity to figure this out.
And that's kind of what I've learned. Getting older, like, everything is temporary. We gotta figure it out. It's a quote. The only other thing I know in Icelandic is þetta reddast, which means. We'll figure it out. You know what I mean? Like, you are always gonna figure it out. You know what I mean? And I love that saying, that's probably the only thing I learned.
It was, you know, I'm still trying to take the time to digest everything that transpired. 'cause number one, like
When I got the call, I was in a daze. Like, I was like, “yeah, yeah”. Then I'm like, “oh man, like, what, what am I getting into?” But it was, it was, it couldn't have been a better place and a better person to learn from, if I'm gonna learn this, this is like being interested in boxing and then getting invited to like, Mike Tyson's camp in 1986, when he was 18, about to fight for the, the world title and like just sitting there and absorbing all that knowledge.
I mean, she's an absolute wonderful person besides being an act. She's so humble, she's hilarious, and it's very humbling and it was very awesome to see how interested she was in how I do my thing. And I'm like, “I'm winging it man”. This is just me taking a crack at it. But she, you know, was very generous with our time, her knowledge and just to be able to watch her work in her element was such a blessing. I mean, it's like I was going, it's like going to school for this and I didn't. So it was amazing. And the way she plays her character and my character is just so perfect and I can't. Thank her and the production enough to get the opportunity to learn from everybody.
Not just Jodie, but especially from her because we have quite the mission in this show, so, um, it was amazing.
Joel: And she's so friendly, and again, I, I mean so small. She's such a tiny
Kali Reis: I know, I know.
Joel: Oh I mean, I had to, uh, work out for this, for this role, uh, because I was, uh, in various states of undress. Uh, you know, this again, spoiler free, can't talk too much about it, but, uh, Jodi was so incredibly friendly and I remember one of the highlights of my life, just her coming up to me outside, slapping, slapping my belly and being like, Hey, looking great buddy.
Kali Reis: Yeah, that's hard, man. So cool. So down to earth.
Joel: Yeah, absolutely. And, and not just because she is very low to the ground, but, uh, in, yeah. And, speaking of, I mean, we, you and I, we had to do, you know, that scene together. This scene, it's an intimate scene, uh, how was that for you working up to that moment?
Kali Reis: Um, it was so nerve wracking. I probably, it's probably, I've never even been in a fight that I was so nervous about because again, I'm so new to this industry. Um, but a lot of the parallels from boxing to acting is the repetition of it, the paying attention, the being in the moment and having, just having to keep repeating it so you learn better.
Um, so the parallels with that, but leading up to those type of things, not knowing what to expect and then having this be such a big production, I was, I could have puked. I was so nervous, honestly, and I just, you know, wanting to make sure that we're telling the story correctly, especially me on that end.
It was not even bad, and I gotta give kudos to you 'cause I probably will never have a scene partner in general like you. So I really thank you for your generosity and your patience and it was just, it turned out to be fun, but I had no idea what to expect, so I was nervous as hell.
You can ask Lee. I was so nervous.
Joel: Yeah. No, that, that was our, our acting coach. Um, yeah, we, we were both, I mean, I, I was, I was nervous as well, just because, um, I was, I was just so impressed with you. I was, I was like, wow, you were so dedicated, committed, focused, and I just wanted to make sure that you were okay, because I could see that, uh, this was, this was something that was.
Nerve-wracking in this scene and I, I had never been fortunate enough to work with, um, an intimacy coordinator as well. That was something I had , never, uh, experienced. What was that like for you working with someone like that? Lucy.
Kali Reis: Well, big shout out to Lucy. She's such, such a doll, such a, a kindhearted caring person. Another fellow Virgo. Yep. Um, it was cool. I mean, it was, um, I only hear the, you know, the, the myths of how it used to quote unquote used to be. So not knowing and our experience, how it used to be to what we have access to now, I think it should have been something that should have been implemented in the industry a long time ago.
And I, it's a lot of comfort. Um, you know, you know, we have a job to do. We have a story to tell, but to have somebody designated for the comfortability of you and be extra hypervigilant and extra sensitive to what kind of scene it is, I think that's the best thing for.
The industry and sort of make sure everybody's good. 'cause obviously it's such a weird thing to do. There's nothing, there's nothing about it that's other than the, you know, whatever it is. Um, so it was really comforting to know that she was there if we forgot or if we, didn't know how to not speak up, but if there was something that wasn't really what we agreed to kind of a thing.
So it really felt, it's really comforting actually to have somebody like that there.
Joel: Yeah. Yeah. I, I agree. I mean, it's still relatively new in the industry and, um, a lot of people are still learning the ropes around, getting qualified to get into it. Uh, 'cause it isn't universal at this point that I know of uh, there was a scene where I was just by myself, but I still had her in the room.
And I appreciated that even though, maybe it wasn't necessary for that because my comfort level was okay. I mean, I, you know, spoiler alert, but I wasn't actually naked.
Yeah, I, I, I had some skin color, uh, some things on when I was by myself in this, in this, in this room. But, um, she was still there. And I, I just really appreciate that. That's the the type of caution that they're showing all of us as actors.
I mean, I've been, I've only been doing this for about a decade now, but even in that time, um, yeah, I've seen a lot of, of bad actors and, uh, you are not one, I, I learned the way that you learned how to get into fighting. I just got my butt handed to me a bunch of times, and I learned not to make the same mistakes after that.
Kali Reis: that'll, that'll teach you.
Joel: Yeah, exactly. Um, you know, right now it is actually, it is, uh, Indigenous People's month. Great, great, great month. Favorite month of the year. Part of this is getting people to understand though, the issues surrounding things like the missing and murdered Indigenous women's movement.
And you're very active on this, on your social media and everything. Uh, what. Would you want someone who doesn't know too much about this to know and and more importantly, what would you like people to actually step up and do?
Kali Reis: It's one of those things that Native people, Indian country, Indigenous, however you wanna identify it.
We know what goes on in our communities, we talk amongst ourselves. But that's the problem. And the problem comes from, you know, we can get into jurisdiction and law enforcement and the lack of funds or lack of law enforcement on reservations, but it happens on and off reservations. And basically it's not just women.
It's not just young women, it's young women, it's older women, it's boys, it's older boys. And it's something that's been happening to Indigenous peoples everywhere is just being targeted and especially when. You have these different reserves or these reservations and this secluded sovereign nation area where, um, they only have 25 cops, uh, for a reservation the size of Rhode Island like Navajo Nation does.
There's no policing, there's no backup. And then you get to the jurisdiction issue where if it's on tribal land, it's tribal police problems and we don't get the support of local or federal police and it's just something that does not get talked about. Like, I know every Indigenous person. Um, that you speak to know somebody that knows somebody that knows somebody that went missing. And it's, it's ridiculous how easy it is, um, to just find all these victims and then you get to the point where, you know, Native families don't wanna identify their loved ones as Native for . Fear of them not being found or looked for. Um, a lot of these times, these women and these girls and these people are [00:24:00] reported missing and you just get the response from law enforcement, oh, she probably ran away. She's probably out drunk somewhere. Yeah, that's the. The case, but that's where they're the most vulnerable and then they turn up just a body.
I mean, it's something that happens. It's ridiculous how much attention doesn't get put on this, and it's a movement where just have the conversations. I know awareness leads to change. Change leads to even more change. The– what I kind of, my goal to even bringing awareness to this epidemic is the more people know, the more people are gonna search.
The more people are gonna talk about it, the less people are gonna be apt to do it if it's everywhere. It's one of those things that it just doesn't make any sense. And, you know, not to be corny and quote of, uh, a line from catch the fan one, but “no one's looking because nobody cares”.
Unfortunately. That's so true for the Indigenous community. I mean, Indigenous women are 10 times more likely to experience violence in their life, you know? or that I believe murder is a second leading cause of death in the Native and Indigenous women starting from the age of three.
I mean, why? You know, why is that with the leading in homelessness, drug addiction, depression, suicide, if the list goes on and on, and. It has a lot to do with, you know, people talk about Native, people like we're dinosaurs. Like, oh wow, you're Indian. I thought you guys were extinct. Like, dude, no, no, no. Like, it's an, it's, it's crazy.
You know? And then you get people, “Do you live in a reservation?” like, no, I live in a house in the South Philly. I grew up in the hood. You know what I mean? It's just one of those things that the everyday average person just has no idea. And it has to do with what they're being taught, what they're being taught in school, what they're being taught in society.
Um, so I just would ask people to, number one, know where you are, know the land, and know who originally occupied the land that you are on. And, um, allies, non-Native allies, not Native allies are, are. Biggest asset right now, especially because you'll start having the conversation. This might lead to a discussion being brought up in, in the house that's like, I think Washington right now, state of Washington is putting up like an actual MMIW alert, um, that I heard this maybe months ago.
Joel: Alright. Yeah, that's, that's great. And yeah. 'cause I don't think that there are any of us, like you were saying, I mean, I know, uh, in my family it's been, we've been personally affected and at even the very furthest Indigenous people that I know they at least know of someone.
Um, so yeah, this is something that's, it's not going away tragically ever since colonization. It's been here, it's been happening. But on that note of Indigeneity, uh, you and I being mixed, uh, we had a few discussions on sometimes that feeling of, um, being less than. Um, and you being Afro-Indigenous, what has the world looked like growing up and now you know, you're gonna be the one of the biggest names– I'm just saying that now– in the Indigenous acting world by far. Uh, what has your connection to culture been? Um, when you feel sometimes like you're under the microscope when it comes to identity.
Kali Reis: Oh, that's a loaded question. No, it's a, but no, it's a, it's a really good question. Um, you know, even like back to my childhood where I come from, a family of especially being from the northeast woodland tribes of, you know, still trying to reconnect, regather ourselves from centuries of, you know, trying to take us out.
We come from first contact tribes. I mean, we held off them settlers for like four or 500 years before they went west. So it was a lot of work. You know what I mean? Shout out to all my ancestors who did all the work, but, um, you know, I didn't grow. I grew up in a household where I am like pretty much the, the first generation woman, at least from my line in my tribe, um – at least with my grandmother, great-grandmother – my line to grow up as just a mixed Indigenous woman. I didn't, that's how I got raised. And my mother, Um, was more into culture right before I was born, and then she just brought me up into it as she learned. I was taught and it was just like, oh, this is what we do.
This is what I am but then it's like, you don't look Native. And I'm like, I look like exactly like my cousins and all the other tribes Natives. Look around here. That's the one thing about the word Indigenous that I would love to get through. People's heads do not compare. S Native or any kind of ethnic group to only look one certain way.
That's another thing that as far as identity, like my people come from. The coast we were next to, salt water. Our hair is not gonna be bone straight, black, blown in the wind. It's gonna be kinky, curly, number one. Secondly, every Indigenous area of group or area of people, family, tribe, nation, they're Indigenous to their land, their people, their families.
It doesn't mean that we're all gonna look alike. That's one thing that was probably one of my pet peeves, and I'm like, what does it mean to look Native? Like, can you please tell me what, what that means? And then to top it all off to be mixed with Cape Verdean, which is, that's an argument. It's a whole nother podcast, but it's basically African and Portuguese anyway, people don't know what I am, so just to try to find my footing. Um, you know, I'm not Native enough for Natives because I look different 'cause I'm mixed with Black. So I got [00:29:00] curly hair, I got freckles. My skin's a little dark, whatever it is, I just, I'm different, which I'm very proud of. And then I'm not Cape Verdean enough for the Cape Verdeans because I don't speak it. I don't cook. I didn't grow up in a Cape Verdean household like that. I know where I'm from, I know my family's from, but that's about it. So it was one of those not enough for anybody, and I was so busy trying to fit in a box where I wasted a lot of time, but it's, I know now that I just, I, I belong in my own little star shaped box, you know what I mean?
Like, I don't wanna fit in that stupid little circle. I wanna be a star! New circle. So, um, it wasn't, it wasn't easy. I mean, between that and then coming from a household where religion played a key part in my mom's life and me being Two-Spirit was just, it was all confusing. Hence the reason why I found boxing.
But, um, that outlet of really expressing myself, Through, you know, my art of boxing really helped me. And now there was a point in time where I was almost ashamed of being Cape Verde because I associated to being Cape Verdean with my father. And I had a real tough, tough time with him, got rest, his soul.
Um, early in the years, teenage years, it was just, you know, my parents got divorced when I was about four and it was just in and out. So I thought that was my fault. I thought I wasn't enough for Natives, the Cape vers. It was just really hard to find my footing. Um, but finding, finding an outlet helps.
And then when I really understood my purpose in that ring, besides the whole fighting part, um, spiritual energetically and doing what, you know, uh, God-given talent to create a given talent that I have, as in fighting in battle, it's my time to pray in there. You know, we can't tell anybody what their medicine is.
Um, if that's my medicine, that's my medicine. Your energy don't lie.
Joel: eloquently put, I, I love that. Um, and for people that, and if there's anyone out there listening, which I doubt wouldn't know what Two-Spirit means, but just in case they don't, uh, can you explain what, what that is?
Kali Reis: Sure. I mean, there's, um, if you speak to Indigenous people, I don't think there's a universal, um, meaning other than special, you know, special, we hold both energies. Um, a hundred percent. For me, it's a hundred percent comfortable in my masculine energy, a hundred percent comfortable in my feminine energy.
I have a ton of energy. I have a ton of female energy. I have a ton of male energy, and I just am comfortable in either or.
Um, that's what it means to me
Joel: that's awesome. Well, whatever, uh, people may. Question or when it comes to fame? 'cause there's a lot of online, online issues. I know that, uh, I struggled a lot with, uh, suddenly my career taking a turn and being cast as a cartoon character and a real life version of a cartoon character who's Native, and them being like, where, who's this guy bear?
Um, yeah. How do you deal with, , Online comments. Um, hate what, what is, what is fame when people are judging you for various things, be it two-spirit, be it mixed, uh, how do you get that off your back?
Kali Reis: You know, it's one of those things where, especially on social media, it's like a necessary evil. Um, it has its pros and cons. You know, I get to link up with a lot of people I wouldn't have necessarily met up with or met or had links to because of it, but, you know, Just for everybody out there, social media is a fake world.
It's not a real world. So when you start getting emotionally involved in comments, that's when it's time to just shut it down. We all do it. Um, but I, you know, especially with getting into this newfound career I have, you know, the more, more success you have, the more enemies, the more hate you have to try to disrupt it.
And I had recently had an issue. With I had a whole Facebook page. You'll laugh at this. We can all laugh at this de dedicated to me being a quote Ian and I, and this, this woman. It's Oh, I, I will, I will send you. Oh yeah, man. So when I got cast in Wind River two, it was me and Gil Birmingham. Uh, that, that she was attacking, saying, um, I was pr, I was, I was playing redface and I was taking jobs away from real Natives because I'm not a real American Indian. And there's plenty of quote unquote American Indian actors out there that need to get these parts. Like she just went in, she went hard in to paint Kobe Bryant, man. It was like, I was like, wow. So there, I just, I'm discovering, and I already knew this. With, especially with boxing, that the more success you have, the more people are gonna come to try to destroy it. And I'm learning it, just don't engage with it.
Joel: Ah Well, that's a very good way of actually dealing with it, um, because you're right, it is all, it is all fake. Um, Instagram, all of that stuff online. I mean, but it. You know, initially, I, I let a little bit of that get to me too, because I hadn't had to deal with that kind of thing now, but you've got a lifetime now of, of fighting and, and right now you're a supernova, uh, exploding at the moment Yeah. Right. So, um, on that note too, of, of, um, Instagram, um, you often send messages on there, it seems to be to your younger self. I mean, what is, what, what are some of those that you would like to share with your younger self from this moment?
Kali Reis: Going through this process of just learning so much about myself and, you know, also playing a different person. Makes you see different things in characters now that I'm noticing you can pull different things outta yourself to add a little sprinkle into your character to create this person that express and to work through things.
It's like therapeutic as hell. Um, and I would definitely, you know, tell my younger self, I always have messages for her. Like, you know, it's not your fault. Is exactly what I needed to hear. And you are worth so, so much. You're worthy of being loved, you're worthy to, to love, and you're, you're worthy at top like most of all of success, which I think that's something that hits a lot of us, is that we get scared of that success.
Um, 'cause you think it's not. Worth it or we're not worth it. Um, especially being an Indigenous woman, like there's just that, that common, that common somber energy that you feel as an Indigenous woman that I, I understand much better now that it's just because. We've kind of been groomed and kind of feel like we're worthless.
And then what goes back to MMIW, these women, these men, these children, these boys, these girls are just walking around feeling worthless. And I'm sure that whoever's preying on these women and, and men can see that sense it. You know what I mean? So just know that you are worth, you are worthy of love, and you're worth so much.
And I hope I've heard this quote, maybe not verbatim, but I hope that. Things that you couldn't even imagine, that you can't dream of, that you can't see. I hope you accomplish that because I could never see where I'm at now. I had little goals, but I overshot this by miles, you know what I mean?
Just always being in a, in a, a mental state of learning, of wonder, of exploring. And there's, don't put a ceiling on your knowledge. Don't put a ceiling on, what you're capable of and welcome failure. 'cause you're gonna fall down about 19 as long as you get up, up on that 20, you're good. Just keep, keep moving.
Everything's in motion. It's like water. And, um, good things will happen.
Joel: Yeah. Yeah. And also, um, I think it's, it's important too, you know, just don't, uh, don't live your life in the, in comparison. I mean, that's what I always. I always struggled with when I was younger is just looking at the success of, um, other people. But everybody's, everybody's different. Everyone's got their path, but just be tenacious.
Kali Reis: One thing I really learned just from Jodie and just from being on there and because I'm such a perfectionist, is. Don't take everything so seriously. Have fun with it. You know, we were telling a dark story and forget about the last take, man. Just forget about the last take and just be in the moment, deal with what is right in front of you 'cause don't worry about what you did, it's over. Don't matter. Don't look at what you think's gonna happen. 'cause it can change and don't have expectations. Just go and work off of what's going on right in front of you.
Joel: Oh, that is, uh, I completely agree. And it was an absolute honor to be able to, uh, be opposite scenes. I mean, I was, I just was, uh, absolutely amazed with what we were accomplishing there. but I wanted to switch gears now because, uh, I wanna give you a chance to give a, a shout out 'cause I'm rolling out the red, red carpet. And I wanna know, what are you watching, what Indigenous shows are out there that you recommend to other people to go check out at this moment?
Kali Reis: This moment Reservation Dogs is killin ‘em. It's killin ‘em. Um, Rutherfords Falls is pretty cool, man. I mean, we got Spirit Hunters. I haven't watched that yet, but, you know, shout out to everybody doing that. Um, you know, we have, we have a bunch of comedians that are hilarious right now, but those two shows for sure.
There's just so much, so much talent right now.
Um, but there's been talent. We're just, we're just coming out right now, you know what I mean? Into the public eye. But I'm so happy to see, um, Our humor. I could appreciate Reservation Dogs so much. 'cause it's not a Western with 19, 18-hundreds. And then, you know, the southwest plains Natives are getting slaughtered. You know what I mean? It's not, it's us. It's us today. And we're freaking hilarious. I mean, and so laughter is so important. It's such good medicine and it's, dude, just check it out. It's hilarious, man.
Joel: Uh, that boy, I, I want to know, um, are there any allies out there? Is there an ally out there specifically you wanna, you wanna point that and say, Hey, they're a real one.
Kali Reis: I mean, Jodie was an ally. She's, she's, she's a, that's the homie yo. That's the homie. And I mean, um, Princess Johnson, she was in, uh, I forgot her last name. The two, um, Alaskan producers that we had on True Detective. Shout out to both of them and for holding it down and making sure that we told that story the correct way 'cause you know, we're representing a group of people, not only Indigenous, but Alaskan Natives is, that's a whole nother layer of non representation that's out there. So, big shout out and tubutné thank you for every, uh, N U P I. Um, and in the entire even, um, our Greenlandic Natives that came over and, you know, just being able to represent them. You know, I was an artist to be able to represent them.
Um, you don't have to be Indigenous to support Indigenous issues as far as getting the word out. Um, Getting us to tell our stories. That's really important to tell our stories from our narrative. And, um, we, we are the only ones that can tell our stories correctly,
Joel: Before we, uh, wrap this up is there anything else that you wanted to, to add before we, uh, take off from here?
Kali Reis: No, man, I just, I'm, I'm really humbled and honored to be getting these opportunities to not only, you know, be telling Indigenous stories, but also to be an Indigenous mixed Indigenous Afro-Indigenous Black, Native, Black Indian “Blindian”, however you wanna identify it. Um, Cape Verdean and being on the screen and having a face that looks like mine, hair, that looks like mine, background that is mine. Be on the big screen for our future generations. 'Cause I didn't grow up like seeing me, you know, on the screen or in a boxing ring at, at all. Like, who's that? You know what I mean? I, so that's just something that I am, it's never me. It's always we, if, if I'm successful then we're all successful.
Joel: Uh, that is, that is good to hear. I'm so happy. Happy for your successes. I can't wait to see, uh, more of the stuff that you're in because I know that this is gonna be amazing when we actually get to see us on, on screen. Uh, and, you know, we are Native. Being Native is dope. Uh, thank you very much Kaylee Reese. I appreciate you. Thank you all for listening. We'll catch you next time.