From Warfare to Caught Stealing, roadtrips and reading his way through the Indigenous literary canon, the Canadian actor might just be one of Hollywood’s busiest – and most intentional – breakout stars.

“I want to tell authentic stories from every single Native community around the world,” says D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai. The 24-year-old has every right to think big when forecasting his future career chapters. The Torontonian actor of Oji-Cree descent has been making  a dent in said vision since his 2021 on-screen debut as Bear Smallhill in FX’s Reservation Dogs. The show, which features an all Native American writers room, crew and primary cast, centres around the intricate journey of four teenagers endeavouring to swap their life in a rural Oklahoma reservation for the dreamscape of California. Sterlin Harjo and Taika Waititi’s critically-adored comedy-drama earned Woon-A-Tai, personally,  two consecutive Critics’ Choice Award nominations, as well as a Primetime Emmy nomination in 2024. Woon-A-Tai would famously show up to the latter’s red carpet donning a red handprint loudly painted across his face, in support of the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women’s movement. In character and as himself, he’s a public figure using his platform with purpose. 

After spending less than an hour in conversation with the actor, it is also clear that he likes to let loose – schedule allowing, of course. Shortly after our Zoom call – late morning for him and just in time for sunset in London – he is due to embark on a casual 17-hour road-trip with friends from Tulsa, Oklahoma to his home base in Toronto. With a professional schedule as bursting at the seams as the car boot of any decent youthful open-road adventure – the actor’s pockets of free time are few and far between. Therefore spending them hanging out with friends is a priority. Most recently, he can be found in one of the summer’s headline big screen releases – Darren Aronofsky’s darkly funny, crime flick Caught Stealing, laden with A-list voltage encompassing everyone from Austin Butler to Zoë Kravitz, and Bad Bunny.

Set to the beat of 1990s New York City, Butler’s Hank – a baseball star-turned-bartender – unwittingly becomes entangled in a gang war when he babysits the cat of his mohawk-sporting punk neighbour Russ (Smith). It’s deliciously chaotic. There’s a romance plot here, a shoot-out there, and a car chase sprinkled in for good measure. It’s the type of compulsive viewing you don’t risk a bathroom break on. “[Aronofsky and Butler] welcomed me with open arms,” Woon-A-Tai enthuses. “Working with two professionals like that, I had nothing to worry about.” Woon-A-Tai’s character Dale, a once-nascent baseball star and best friend of Hank, is deceased when introduced to viewers in a flashback of his demise that circles the plot, via Hank’s recurring nightmares. It’s a brutal scene that sees Dale mercilessly ejected from the passenger seat via a car windshield when Hank swerves out of the path of a stray cow. However, it’s all in a day’s work for Woon-A-Tai. “We approached it with care, but it was a crazy experience. Lying on that [car] hood makes you really want to wear a seatbelt more often,” he smiles. “It makes you want to be sure you’re driving safe.” 

Woon-A-Tai’s primary motive when choosing a project has always been his perception of its impact. The shows or films he inks onto must leave you questioning. They must spark conversations. Alex Garland and Ray Mendoza’s April real-time frontline drama Warfare is a case in point. It saw Woon-A-Tai step into the shoes of Mendoza – a US veteran – playing a Navy SEAL in the thick of  a surveillance mission in Ramadi, Iraq in 2006.  Dale’s tragic death aside, Caught Stealing might not be as hard-hitting, however it did present some professional indulgence. There was working with his esteemed co-stars, for one, but also simply calling The Big Apple’s sidewalks his office. “I want to try to have new experiences and meet new people,” he says. “Being born and raised in Toronto, we love to copy New York, so it was nice to finally tick [working there] off the list.” There is a note of wonderment in his voice at recounting his time in the city, indicating that, perhaps, those streets might see him again some time soon. 

When he’s not city-hopping in the name of shooting schedules, you might find Woon-A-Tai hunched over a book. In between roles, he tells me he has kept well read,  precisely by “reading as many books as possible” from Native American authors. Tommy Orange’s There There, an exploration of the urban Indigenous experience as told through interconnected stories centred around a powwow, was the last he swiped off his bookshelf. It’s a pastime that leads back to the day job, however, as part of his motivation for making his way through this specific canon is to enable him to keep telling authentic Indigenous stories at work. “[Native people] left our imprint in almost every genre and form of media, whether that be Redbone in the 1960s or on-screen with legendary actors, like Wes Studi, Tantoo Cardinal and Graham Greene. They worked in the industry during times when there weren’t any roles like Reservation Dogs,” he says. “Let alone a project that was written, directed and had a main cast full of Native people. I want to be able to tell stories of the greats and legends who very much brought me to where I am now.”

“I take [having a platform] as a responsibility,” he says. “In North America, if you attend enough protests, you will see the [Native American community] there, standing up for the many injustices around the world.” In an era of censorship, Woon-A-Tai understands it’s as vital as ever to use one’s influence and mere visibility to create the change you want to see. “A lot of western people only learn about Native culture through pop culture, so that’s how we can really change a lot of stereotypes for our community, and for many others too,” he asserts. “My people have done, so therefore I do. I think it takes a good heart to stand up and talk”.

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