Paulina Alexis is Reservation Dogs’ breakout star
The 20-year-old actress from Alberta is upending Hollywood custom whereas upholding her personal
It didn’t take lengthy for Reservation Canine to safe Hollywood’s stamp of approval. Within the 12 months since its debut, the FX dramedy—which is co-created by Oscar-winner Taika Waititi—has clinched a Peabody, a Golden Globe nomination and an Unbiased Spirit Award for finest ensemble forged. The staff itself is an leisure business anomaly, although: each single one of many present’s writers and actors is Indigenous—together with fan favorite Paulina Alexis.
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The 20-year-old actress, who performs the tough-talking, tear-jerking character Willie Jack, hails from the Alexis Nakota Sioux Nation in Alberta. Her childhood was filled with on-screen alternatives: Alexis’s father, Robb, owned a small manufacturing firm. “I might mess around with my brothers and make my very own little skits,” Alexis recollects. Nevertheless it wasn’t till she turned 18 that she went professional. Alexis’s first huge gig was a minor position in Ghostbusters: Afterlife, which she snagged after sending director Jason Reitman into stitches throughout her Calgary audition.
Alexis quickly landed a task in Beans, an acclaimed 2020 drama from Mohawk filmmaker Tracey Deer. Six months later, she caught wind of an upcoming sequence about 4 teenagers on an Oklahoma reserve. Alexis initially auditioned for Elora Danan, the present’s feminine lead, however the showrunners thought she was higher suited to play the wily Willie Jack—a task initially written for a male actor. In true Canadian type, she discovered she received the half whereas watching a hockey recreation. “I began freaking out within the stands,” she says.
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Now, it’s her followers who’re freaking out. The present kicks off its second season on August 3 on Hulu, and the web is already chockablock with memes of the eminently quotable Willie Jack, recognized for her wisecracks and backwards City Native Period hats. In actual life, Alexis strikes a steadiness between her newfound fame and life again residence, the place she nonetheless performs centre on her hockey staff when she’s not filming.
Sometimes, worlds collide: ultimately 12 months’s Emmys, Alexis wore a beaded eagle affixed to her braid and a protracted skirt to cover the leg bruises she incurred whereas racing horses in an Indian relay 4 days earlier than. “I’ve received a ton of followers on Instagram, and I am going to L.A. rather a lot without spending a dime, however not that a lot has modified,” says Alexis, whose subsequent position is on CBC’s Bones of Crows. “I placed on new footwear right here and there, however I’m nonetheless carrying the identical slides I wore on the rez.”
This text seems in print within the August 2022 subject of Maclean’s journal. Subscribe to the month-to-month print journal here, or purchase the difficulty on-line here.
