Tantoo Cardinal was born and raised in Fort McMurray, Alberta, and she belongs to four nations: Cree, Dene, Nakota, and Métis. Tantoo was raised by her Dene grandmother. The original territory of the Dene people was central and northwestern Canada. Dene is one of the largest Indigenous linguistic groups in North America.

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Wes Studi was born in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, in a rural area called Nofire Hollow and belongs to the Cherokee Nation. Tahlequah was established as a capital of the 19th-century Cherokee Nation, as part of the new settlement after the Cherokee were forced to relocate during the Trail of Tears.

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Dwight King was born and raised in Meadow Lake, Saskatchewan. Dwight is of Métis ancestry. While the Métis are spread across a broader territory today, the first Métis were the children of Indigenous women and European fur traders in the Red River area of what is now Manitoba. The Métis developed their own distinct culture, including language, clothing, artwork, music and dance.

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Chuck Billy was born and raised in Oakland, California. Chuck is Pomo on his father’s side, from the Hopland Band of Pomo Indians in the Ukiah area of northern California. The traditional land of the Hopland band is located in the Sanel Valley, and surrounding areas, of what is now southeastern Mendocino County.

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Taboo, aka Jimmy Gomez, was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. Taboo is of Mexican and Shoshone heritage. Taboo’s grandmother was Shoshone, and a huge support and influence on her grandson. The Shoshone people traditionally occupied parts of California, Nevada, Utah, Idaho, and Wyoming.

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Tia Carrere was born and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii. The Indigenous people of Hawaii are the descendants of Polynesians who migrated to Hawaii from the Marquesas Islands around 400 AD and from Tahiti around the 10th century.

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John Herrington was born in Wetumka, Oklahoma, but grew up in Colorado, Wyoming, and Texas. John is a member of the Chickasaw Nation in Oklahoma. The Chickasaw people originally inhabited what is now northern Mississippi and Alabama, but were forced to relocate by the U.S. Government in the 1830s, during what is now known as the Trail of Tears.

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The Hollywood Seminole Indian Reservation is home to the Seminole Tribe of Florida, near Fort Lauderdale. After the 19th century Seminole Wars against the U.S., most Seminoles were forced to leave their traditional territory in Florida. Many ended up in Oklahoma, but a small group refused to leave. This group moved deep into the Everglades, where they later emerged to become the strong and autonomous nation they are today.

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George Starke was born and raised in New Rochelle, New York where he lived until he joined the Washington Redskins in 1973 and moved to D.C. George has Mohawk ancestry on his mother’s side. The Mohawk Nation, or Kanien’kehá:ka, belong to the Iroquois Confederacy, which also includes the Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca, and Tuscarora nations.

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Billy Mills was born and raised on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, home to the Oglala Lakota people, who belong to the Great Sioux Nation. The earliest known record of the Sioux indicate their traditional territory was in what is now Minnesota, Iowa, and Wisconsin. With the introduction of the horse, the Sioux dominated larger areas of land, expanding into Nebraska, South Dakota, and Montana.

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Graham Greene was born and raised on the Six Nations of the Grand River reserve, in Ontario, located just outside Brantford. It has the largest population of all First Nations in Canada. While Graham belongs to the Oneida Nation, the reserve is home to all six nations of the Iroquois Confederacy; Oneida, Mohawk, Cayuga, Seneca, Onondaga, and Tuscarora.

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Raven Kanatakta Polson-Lahache was raised in Winneway, Quebec, also know as Long Point First Nation, an Ojibway or Anishinabe community. It is one of nine communities of the Algonquin Nation in Quebec. Raven is also Mohawk, from the community of Kahnawake, south of Montreal.

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Sho-Shona Kish was raised in Toronto, Ontario, and belongs to the Batchewana First Nation in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. It is an Ojibway or Anishinabe community on the eastern shore of Lake Superior.

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