Kiowa Joseph Gordon (born March 25, 1990) is an American actor of

Hualapai The Hualapai (, , yuf-x-wal, Hwalbáy) is a federally recognized Native American tribe in Arizona with about 2300 enrolled members. Approximately 1353 enrolled members reside on the Hualapai Reservation, which spans over three counties in Nort ...

descent. He is best known for his role as shapeshifter Embry Call in '' The Twilight Saga,'' as well as Junior in the TV series ''

The Red Road The red road is a modern English-language concept of the right path of life, as inspired by some of the beliefs found in a variety of Native American spiritual teachings. The term is used primarily in the Pan-Indian and New Age communities,McGaa ...

''.

Early life

Gordon was born in Berlin, Germany, where his father, Thomas Gordon, was working. He is the seventh of eight children (Mac, Sean, Aaron, Josh, Cheyenne, Sariah, Lakota). His mother, Camille Nighthorse Gordon, is also an actress. Gordon is partly of

Native American descent, and is a member of the

tribe of Northern Arizona. His family moved back to the U.S. when he was two years old, and he grew up in Arizona, where he attended

Cactus Shadows High School Cactus Shadows High School is a public high school located in Cave Creek, Arizona. It is the only high school in the Cave Creek Unified School District. In 1974 the first committee met in Cave Creek to form a high school. In the fall of 1982, t ...

in Cave Creek, Arizona. He attended the

LDS church The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Christianity, Christian church that considers itself to be the Restorationism, restoration of the ...

for a while in the same

ward Ward may refer to: Division or unit * Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward * Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a pris ...

as ''

Twilight Twilight is light produced by sunlight scattering in the upper atmosphere, when the Sun is below the horizon, which illuminates the lower atmosphere and the Earth's surface. The word twilight can also refer to the periods of time when this il ...

'' author

Stephenie Meyer Stephenie Meyer (; née Morgan; born December 24, 1973) is an American novelist and film producer. She is best known for writing the vampire literature, vampire romance series ''Twilight (novel series), Twilight'', which has sold over 100 mill ...

. Aside from acting, Kiowa is also a vocalist, and used to be a member of a progressive metal band called Touché, leaving it to focus on acting.

Career

In 2009, Gordon played

shapeshifter In mythology, folklore and speculative fiction, shape-shifting is the ability to physically transform oneself through an inherently superhuman ability, divine intervention, demonic manipulation, sorcery, spells or having inherited the ...

Embry Call in ''

New Moon In astronomy, the new moon is the first lunar phase, when the Moon and Sun have the same ecliptic longitude. At this phase, the lunar disk is not visible to the naked eye, except when it is silhouetted against the Sun during a solar eclipse. ...

'', based on Stephenie Meyer's novel of the same name. Kiowa has said that he was approached one day at church by Stephenie Meyer as she thought he would be perfect for the wolf pack. He then attended an open casting where he landed the role of Jacob Black's best friend. Gordon replaced Krys Hyatt (who played Embry in ''

'') in ''New Moon'', ''Eclipse'', and ''Breaking Dawn''. Gordon was set to play Brad in the proposed American film ''Into The Darkness'', but the film never came to fruition. Gordon portrayed Jake Kingston in the 2014 thriller ''Wind Walkers'', which tells a Native American

Urban legend An urban legend (sometimes contemporary legend, modern legend, urban myth, or urban tale) is a genre of folklore comprising stories or fallacious claims circulated as true, especially as having happened to a "friend of a friend" or a family m ...

. Gordon starred in ''

An Act of War ''An Act of War'' (original title: ''The Projectionist'') is a 2015 American thriller film written and directed by Ryan M. Kennedy and produced by Atit Shah. The film stars Russ Russo, Natasha Alam, Doug E. Doug, Joseph R. Gannascoli, Robert Mia ...

'', released on Netflix in 2015. The film was directed by Ryan M. Kennedy and produced by

Atit Shah ''An Act of War'' (original title: ''The Projectionist'') is a 2015 American thriller film written and directed by Ryan M. Kennedy and produced by Atit Shah. The film stars Russ Russo, Natasha Alam, Doug E. Doug, Joseph R. Gannascoli, Robert M ...

. In 2021, it was announced that Gordon will star as

Jim Chee Jim Chee is one of two Navajo Tribal Police detectives in a series of mystery novels by Tony Hillerman. Unlike his superior Joe Leaphorn, the "Legendary Lieutenant", Chee is a staunch believer in traditional Navajo culture; indeed, he is studyin ...

in ''

Dark Winds ''Dark Winds'' is an American psychological thriller television series created by Graham Roland based on the ''Leaphorn & Chee'' novel series by Tony Hillerman. It premiered on AMC and AMC+ on June 12, 2022, with the first season consisting of ...

,'' an upcoming television series on AMC.

Filmography

Film

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gordon, Kiowa 1990 births American male film actors Hualapai people Living people Native American male actors Native American actors 21st-century American male actors Latter Day Saints from Arizona American expatriates in Germany People from Cave Creek, Arizona American male television actors