D'Pharaoh Miskwaatez McKay Woon-A-Tai (born 19 September 2001) is a Canadian actor. He is best known for his role as Bear Smallhill in the

FX on Hulu FX Networks, LLC, is a company consisting of a network of cable channels plus a production company and a subsidiary of the Disney General Entertainment Content segment of The Walt Disney Company. Originally a part of 21st Century Fox, the comp ...

comedy-drama series ''

Reservation Dogs ''Reservation Dogs'' is an Indigenous American teen comedy drama television series created by Sterlin Harjo and Taika Waititi for FX Productions. It is the first series to feature all Indigenous writers and directors, along with an almost ent ...

'' (2021), for which he was nominated for a

Critics' Choice Television Award The Critics' Choice Television Awards are accolades that are presented annually by the Critics Choice Association (CCA). They were established in 2011, and the first ceremony was held on June 20, 2011, and streamed live on VH1.com. The fourt ...

for Best Actor in a Comedy Series.

Early life

Woon-A-Tai and his fraternal twin Mi’De Xxavier were born in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

. Born D'Pharaoh Miskwaatez Loescher McKay Woon-A-Tai, his names reflect his

Oji-Cree The Oji-Cree are a First Nation in the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Manitoba, residing in a narrow band extending from the Missinaibi River region in Northeastern Ontario at the east to Lake Winnipeg at the west. The Oji-Cree people are des ...

, Chinese-Guyanese, and German heritage. A black belt in

Shotokan is a style of karate, developed from various martial arts by Gichin Funakoshi (1868–1957) and his son Gigo (Yoshitaka) Funakoshi (1906–1945). Gichin Funakoshi was born in Okinawa and is widely credited with popularizing "karate do" throu ...

karate, he is the grandson of the notable Shotokan instructor Frank Woon-A-Tai on his mother's side. His paternal grandfather is Dr. Alex McKay, an Anishinaabemowin language professor at the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...

's Indigenous Studies department. Woon-A-Tai and his three (of what would eventually become five) siblings grew up in the

Esplanade An esplanade or promenade is a long, open, level area, usually next to a river or large body of water, where people may walk. The historical definition of ''esplanade'' was a large, open, level area outside fortress or city walls to provide cle ...

neighbourhood of Toronto and visited their paternal family in the

Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug First Nation Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug ( Oji-Cree: ᑭᐦᒋᓇᒣᑯᐦᓯᑊ ᐃᓂᓂᐧᐊᐠ (''Gichi-namegosib ininiwag''); unpointed: ᑭᒋᓇᒣᑯᓯᑊ ᐃᓂᓂᐧᐊᐠ or ᑭᐦᒋᓇᒣᑯᐦᓯᐱᐎᓂᓂᐗᐠ (''Gichi-namegosibiwininiwag ...

at the weekends. He attended Nelson Mandela Park Public School.

Career

Woon-A-Tai began his career with a recurring role as Chase Whaley in season 1 of the 2018 Family Channel series ''

Holly Hobbie Denise Holly Hobbie (née Ulinskas; 1944) is an American writer, watercolorist and illustrator. Holly Hobbie is also the name of a fictional character whom she created. Personal life Hobbie is from Connecticut. She married Douglas Hobbie in 1964. ...

''. In 2019, Woon-A-Tai played Tom Longboat in a two-episode arc of ''

Murdoch Mysteries ''Murdoch Mysteries'' is a Canadian television drama series that premiered on Citytv on January 20, 2008, and currently airs on CBC. The series is based on characters from the ''Detective Murdoch'' novels by Maureen Jennings and stars Yannick B ...

'' season 12. He made guest appearances as Lucky in ''

Creeped Out ''Creeped Out'' is an anthology horror television series created by Bede Blake and Robert Butler as a co-production between CBBC Productions and DHX Media. It premiered in the United Kingdom on CBBC on 31 October 2017 (Halloween), and in Cana ...

'' and Mikey in ''

Tribal The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide usage of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. This definition is contested, in part due to conflic ...

''. Woon-A-Tai made his feature film debut as Hank in the film ''

Beans A bean is the seed of several plants in the family Fabaceae, which are used as vegetables for human or animal food. They can be cooked in many different ways, including boiling, frying, and baking, and are used in many traditional dishes th ...

'' directed by

Tracey Deer Tracey Penelope ''Tekahentakwa'' Deer (born February 28, 1978, Mohawk nation, Mohawk) is a screenwriter, film director and newspaper publisher based in Kahnawake, Quebec. Deer has written and directed several award-winning documentaries for Rezol ...

, which was a 2020

Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the largest publicly attended film festivals in the world, attracting over 480,000 people annually. Since its founding in 1976, TIFF has grown to become a permane ...

selection and won Best Motion Picture at the

Canadian Screen Awards The Canadian Screen Awards (french: link=no, Les prix Écrans canadiens) are awards given for artistic and technical merit in the film industry recognizing excellence in Canadian film, English-language television, and digital media (web series) p ...

. In December 2020, it was announced Woon-A-Tai would star as Bear Smallhill in the 2021

comedy-drama ''

'', "a slice-of-life triumph" from

Sterlin Harjo Sterlin Harjo (born November 14, 1979)Sam Lewin ''Native Times News'', reprinted in ''Canku Ota'', May 24, 2004 (article gives his age as 24 in 2004). is an American filmmaker. He has directed three feature films, a feature documentary, and the F ...

and

Taika Waititi Taika David Cohen (born 16 August 1975), known professionally as Taika Waititi ( ), is a New Zealand filmmaker, actor, and comedian. He is a recipient of an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, and a Grammy Award, and has received two nominations at t ...

. Set and filmed in rural

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...

, ''Reservation Dogs'' is a coming-of-age story that follows the antics of rebellious teenagers living on tribal land. The series' entire creative team, core cast, and crew consists of

Indigenous people Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...

, with the addition of a few non-Native actors in supporting or guest roles. The ''Denver Gazette'' described Bear as "played spectacularly by D’Pharaoh, this series' breakout star." ''Reservation Dogs''' second season premiered on August 3, 2022, and the third season is set to premiere on August 2, 2023. In 2022, it was announced that Woon-A-Tai would be joining

Finn Wolfhard Finn Wolfhard (born December 23, 2002) is a Canadian actor and musician. He gained recognition for playing Mike Wheeler in the Netflix series ''Stranger Things'' (2016–present). His film roles include Richie Tozier in the film adaptation of ...

and Billy Bryk in the duo's

directorial debut This is a list of film directorial debuts in chronological order. The films and dates referred to are a director's first commercial cinematic release. Many film makers have directed works which were not commercially released, for example early work ...

''Hell Of A Summer'' to be released sometime in 2023. Woon-A-Tai plays Adam in the 2023 film '' Bloody Hell''. He is set to star in

Indie Indie is a short form of "independence" or "independent"; it may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Gaming *Independent video game development, video games created without financial backing from large companies *Indie game, any game (board ...

Thriller film ''Only the Good Survive'' alongside; Sidney Flanigan,

Frederick Weller Frederick Weller (born April 18, 1966) is an American actor known for portraying Johnny Sandowski on ''Missing Persons,'' Shane Mungitt in '' Take Me Out'' and Marshall Mann on ''In Plain Sight''. Early life Weller was born in New Orleans, Lou ...

, and

Will Ropp Will Ropp is an American actor. He first gained attention for his role as Kenny Dawes in '' The Way Back'' (2020). Life and career Will was born in Connecticut. After graduating from The Bolles School in Jacksonville, Florida, he went on to earn ...

, set to be released in 2023.

Personal life

Woon-A-Tai has been dating American

model A model is an informative representation of an object, person or system. The term originally denoted the Plan_(drawing), plans of a building in late 16th-century English, and derived via French and Italian ultimately from Latin ''modulus'', a mea ...

and

activist Activism (or Advocacy) consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived greater good. Forms of activism range fro ...

Quannah Chasinghorse Quannah Rose Chasinghorse-Potts (born c. 2002) is an Indigenous American model. She appeared on the 2020 ''Teen Vogue'' list of Top 21 under 21. Career Chasinghorse was interested in modeling and fashion from a young age but, due to the lack of ...

since 2021. The pair live together in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

, and are both signed to

IMG img or IMG is an abbreviation for image. img or IMG may also refer to: * IMG (company), global sports and media business headquartered in New York City but with its main offices in Cleveland, originally known as the "International Management Group ...

as models and for

talent management Talent management (TM) refers to the anticipation of required human capital for an organization and the planning to meet those needs. The field has been growing in significance and gaining interest among practitioners as well as in the scholarl ...

. They both appear together in the

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

for Rob & Jack Lahana's

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

"Haute saison".

Filmography

Film

Television

Web series

Videography

Music videos

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Woon-A-Tai, D'Pharaoh Living people 2001 births 21st-century First Nations people 21st-century Guyanese actors Canadian people of Chinese descent Canadian people of German descent Canadian people of Guyanese descent First Nations male actors Male actors from Toronto Oji-Cree people