The Significance of Lily Gladstone’s Golden Globe’s Win

By: Bec Ly (12) 

Lily Gladstone holding her Golden Globe - Credit: Golden Globes

The Golden Globe Awards is an annual award ceremony held since 1944 that gives recognition to and honors artists and professional’s talents and efforts. Lily Gladstone was the first Indigenous woman to win a Golden Globe Award, winning ‘Best Actress in a Drama Picture’ on January 7th, 2024. Gladstone plays the protagonist, Mollie Burkhart, a member of the Osage nation in Killers of the Flower Moon. In the film, Mollie challenges the justice system as members of her community are murdered out of exploitation for the oil found in her reservation. The film highlights the importance of Indigenous land and identity, which Gladstone conveys through her powerful acting.  

In Gladstone's acceptance speech, she exemplifies how important her native language is to her, and what that means as she wins her award. She opened her speech speaking in her Native language of Blackfeet people, Siksiká, stating “Hello all my relations. My name is Eagle Woman. I am Blackfeet. I love you!” She continues, saying "I'm so grateful that I can speak even a little bit of my language, which I'm not fluent enough here, because in this business, Native actors used to speak their lines in English and then the sound mixers would run them backwards to accomplish Native languages on camera… This is a historic [award]. It doesn't belong to just me… This is for every little rez kid, every little urban kid, every little Native kid who has a dream, who is seeing themselves represented and our stories told by ourselves in our own words with tremendous allies and tremendous trust with and from each other. Thank you all so much.” 

Gladstone, whose background is Blackfeet, Nez Perce, and European, split her childhood between Seattle and the Blackfeet reservation in Montana. Gladstone's speech states that the award doesn’t just belong to her, but to Indigenous actors and people in general. Unfortunately, it is not common to win awards that recognize an Indigenous person’s achievements in the American or Canadian film industry. An Indigenous woman winning this award shows the progress and significance of the Indigenous community in a predominant white male environment. Gladstone’s representation was phenomenal as Mollie Burkhart, a strong willed and passionate woman, furthering the positive representation of Indigenous women. Her role spreads awareness of well-deserved Indigenous people’s achievements and talents.