Morningstar
Angeline
THEY/THEM/THEIRS
SHE/HER/HERS
DINÉ (NAVAJO), CHIPPEWA, BLACKFEET, SHOSHONE, & LATINX
SAG-AFTRA ACTOR & FILMMAKER
Morningstar Angeline (they, she) is a queer actor, director, writer, editor and producer. They were born in Santa Fe, NM, and raised in Gallup, NM and the Los Angeles, CA area by their mother Rita Rose Wilson, father Ethan Shawn Chippewa and stepfather, Daniel H. Freeland.
Morningstar's most recent short film, Seeds, enjoyed a critically acclaimed festival run at ImagineNative, SFiFF, Palm Springs International Shorts Fest, National Museum of the American Indian at the Smithsonian, among numerous others. Currently in development are their feature film debut, Rowdy by Nature and feature documentary Borders.
As an actress, she was recently in Frybread Face and Me, which was directed by Billy Luther and executive produced by Taika Waititi, and premiered at SXSW 2023. She also heavily recurred on Echo for Marvel, Westworld for HBO, Outer Range for Amazon and Yellowstone for Paramount. Other recent credits include Chambers for Netflix, I Know This Much is True for HBO and the Sundance feature, Drunktown's Finest.
Fellowships, Labs + Grants include...
2022 SFFILM Rainin Grant Recipient
2022 NBCU Launch New Mexico Directors Initiative
2022 Fourth World Indigenous Lab
2021 ImagineNATIVE Director's Lab
2020 Vision Maker Media Short Film Fellowship
2020 Native American Feature Writers Lab
2018 Sundance Institute Indigenous Lab
Nominations and wards include...
The National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development
2024 Native American 40 Under 40
2022 C&I Movie Awards
Best Actress Nominee for 'The Incredible 25th Year of Mitzi Bearclaw'
2020 Winnipeg Aboriginal Film Festival
Best Leading Actress Nominee for 'The Incredible 25th Year of Mitzi Bearclaw'
2019 American Indian Film Festival
Best Actress Nominee for 'The Incredible 25th Year of Mitzi Bearclaw'
2018 New Mexico Film & TV Hall of Fame
‘Rising Star’ Honoree
2017 IAIA Cinema Showcase
Best Acting Performance for 'Raven'
2014 American Indian Film Festival
Best Supporting Actress for 'Drunktown’s Finest'
Morningstar Angeline by Darklisted Photography
Morningstar Angeline by Darklisted Photography
P R E S S
Array Acquires ‘Frybread Face and Me,’ Sets Limited Theatrical Run and Netflix Debut (EXCLUSIVE)
by Variety
The coming-of-age story had its world premiere at the 2023 SXSW Film Festival with an international premiere at Toronto International Film Festival. It has been making the fall festival rounds including screenings at Mill Valley Film Festival and Middleburg Film Festival.
“Frybread Face and Me” follows two adolescent Navajo cousins from different worlds as they bond
during a summer on their grandmother’s Arizona ranch. Produced by Chad Burris and executive produced by Taika Waititi, Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato.
by IONCINEMA
If you are looking for some future truly independent films in the coming years (especially future Sundance selections) just keep an eye out for the scribes, producers and film titles mentioned in the eighteen projects advanced here by the Kenneth Rainin Foundation. Sharing coin totalling $450,000, we have some familiar names in Blindspotting‘s Carlos López Estrada, actress Morningstar Angeline (part of our Sundance Trading Cards series), Matthew Puccini and recent 2022 Sundance Institute Directors and Screenwriters Labs folks in Yuan Yuan (Late Spring) and Hasan Hadi (The President’s Cake). you’ll benefit from the SFFILM Rainin Grant coin.
NM native Morningstar Angeline selected for NBCU's director's initiative
by YAHOO News and ABQ Journal
With each step, Morningstar Angeline is getting closer to her dream. For years, Angeline has been part of the New Mexico film industry. She's worked many facets within the industry. While she's enjoyed many, it's directing that is pulling on her heart. It's exactly why she took a shot and put her name in the hat for NBCUniversal's New Mexico Directors' Initiative. The initiative provides mentoring and shadowing opportunities to up-and-coming film and television professionals. It also creates a pipeline of in-state talent for future productions. Angeline is the second participant.
by Filmmaker Magazine
Distributed on an annual basis, the SFFILM Rainin Grant is typically awarded to “to filmmakers whose narrative feature films meaningfully explore pressing social issues and/or have significant economic or professional impact on the Bay Area filmmaking community,” according to a press release. However, this does not mean that the grants are reserved exclusively for Bay Area filmmakers. So long as the filmmaker spends time developing their project in the Bay Area, recipients can be from anywhere in the U.S. or abroad.
They said in a collective statement, “The jury was impressed and inspired by this talented slate of filmmakers and their bold approaches to storytelling in front and behind the camera. The diversity in stories and filmmakers reflect the enduring vitality and spirit of independent cinema. From transgenerational stories to films that center historically excluded characters and communities, we are thrilled to support these projects and help them get one step closer to the big screen.”
Josh Brolin Teases an ‘Extraordinary,’ Twisty Take on the Western at ‘Outer Range’ Premiere
by Variety
“The Western does not include Indigenous ideas and truths,” Podemski said. “It served a function of conquering the West. There was a mythology to it. And this is really a neo-Western that is turning that mythology upside-down. I don’t think I could’ve gone into a traditional Western world. I’ve been fighting too hard in my fight for representation in television and in Hollywood. This is the work that I’m meant to do.”
Added Angeline: “A part of it is definitely reclaiming and trying to twist the genre. Natives don’t just have to be the horse-riders, but we can also be the other side of these things.”
Indigenous Queer Actor MorningStar Angeline Paves a Way in Film and TV
by Advocate
A multi-hyphenate artist, MorningStar Angeline is quietly helping to shift stories about Indigenous people in Hollywood. Earlier this year, Angeline (who uses she/they pronouns) starred in The Incredible 25th Year of Mitzi Bearclaw, a sweet indie flick about a hat-designing dreamer who gets a second chance at bonding with her family when she’s called home to her community on a remote island to help care for her ailing mother. Next, they star in Amazon Studios’ Outer Range, where they play an Indigenous woman who has a wife and a daughter. To Angeline’s knowledge, it may be the first story about married Indigenous women on a major platform. It’s a story that not only opened a conversation about Angeline’s identity but also made them feel seen.
by Hollywood Reporter
You also mentioned Morningstar, who plays C’s partner. The show loves to explore, including through Caleb and C’s familial relationship, how characters are forced to make choices and what’s at the core of their humanity. Will your two characters’ romantic relationship touch on that as well?
I don’t know if it explores that too much. When I first read, it was like, “OK, this does feel a little bit like that kind of relationship,” but I think as it goes on, we’re the yin and yang to each other. We both keep each other level-headed because I think we’re both a little bit ready to go at any time. I think that’s what makes them fun to be together. They have a very sweet relationship.