Melaw Nakehk'o is an actress, artist, traditional moose hide tanner,
and co-founder of the First Nations organization Dene Nahjo. She is
primarily known for her role as the kidnapped Arikara woman Powaqa in
the 2015 film The Revenant.Nakehko is Dehcho and Denesuline Dene, and
was born in Fort Simpson in the Northwest Territories, Canada.[1]The
Revenant was Nakehk'o's first film role.She was at the grocery store
with her two young sons one Saturday morning when there was an open
casting call in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories. "People kept
texting me and telling me I should go do this thing," she said. When
the grocery store clerk also told her to try out for the role, she
went to the casting call, arriving an hour before it was over. For her
audition, Melaw had to improvise a scene with other actors about
trading furs for a horse. "I didn’t have to read anything; it was
all just presence and just being badass," she said.[2]
and co-founder of the First Nations organization Dene Nahjo. She is
primarily known for her role as the kidnapped Arikara woman Powaqa in
the 2015 film The Revenant.Nakehko is Dehcho and Denesuline Dene, and
was born in Fort Simpson in the Northwest Territories, Canada.[1]The
Revenant was Nakehk'o's first film role.She was at the grocery store
with her two young sons one Saturday morning when there was an open
casting call in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories. "People kept
texting me and telling me I should go do this thing," she said. When
the grocery store clerk also told her to try out for the role, she
went to the casting call, arriving an hour before it was over. For her
audition, Melaw had to improvise a scene with other actors about
trading furs for a horse. "I didn’t have to read anything; it was
all just presence and just being badass," she said.[2]
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