Marika Sila (born March 18, 1992) is a Canadian Inuvialuk actress, content creator, and social activist. Born in

Yellowknife Yellowknife (; Dogrib: ) is the capital, largest community, and only city in the Northwest Territories, Canada. It is on the northern shore of Great Slave Lake, about south of the Arctic Circle, on the west side of Yellowknife Bay near the ...

Northwest Territories The Northwest Territories (abbreviated ''NT'' or ''NWT''; french: Territoires du Nord-Ouest, formerly ''North-Western Territory'' and ''North-West Territories'' and namely shortened as ''Northwest Territory'') is a federal territory of Canada. ...

, her family (originally from

Tuktoyaktuk Tuktoyaktuk , or ''Tuktuyaaqtuuq'' (Inuvialuktun: ''it looks like a caribou''), is an Inuvialuit hamlet located in the Inuvik Region of the Northwest Territories, Canada, at the northern terminus of the Inuvik–Tuktoyaktuk Highway.Montgomery, ...

) moved to

Canmore, Alberta Canmore is a town in Alberta, Canada, located approximately west of Calgary near the southeast boundary of Banff National Park. It is located in the Bow Valley within Alberta's Rocky Mountains. The town shares a border with Kananaskis Country ...

when she was five years old. Olympic cross-country skier Jesse Cockney is her older brother.

Film and television

Sila focuses on roles which she feels portray Indigenous people in a positive way, saying that her acting career serves to "build a platform so I can speak about important Indigenous rights issues and climate issues." Her first major acting role was in a 2019 episode of ''The Twilight Zone'', "A Traveler," where she portrayed an Inuk police officer. Sila next appeared as a police officer in four episodes of Canadian

police procedural The police show, or police crime drama, is a subgenre of procedural drama and detective fiction that emphasizes the investigative procedure of a police officer or department as the protagonist(s), as contrasted with other genres that focus on eith ...

series ''Tribal'' in 2020. Her lead performance as an Inuk paramedic in Canadian horror film ''

Ditched In aviation, a water landing is, in the broadest sense, an Landing, aircraft landing on a body of water. Seaplanes, such as floatplanes and flying boats, land on water as a normal operation. Ditching is a controlled emergency landing on the ...

'' (2022) was well-received, with one reviewer calling her "reason enough to stick with the story." In March 2022, she announced that she was producing and directing a documentary about the reaction of Inuit elders and community leaders to the bodies discovered at former residential schools. The documentary will be titled ''What's Next? On Canada's RedPath to Reconciliation''. In September 2022, Sila and her brother Jesse competed in ''

The Amazing Race Canada 8 ''The Amazing Race Canada 8'' is the eighth season of ''The Amazing Race Canada'', a Canadian reality competition show based on the American series ''The Amazing Race''. Hosted by Jon Montgomery, it featured ten teams of two, each with a pre-exis ...

'', and came in second place.

Other ventures

Sila's TikTok has over 323,000 followers . She began posting on TikTok in April 2020 at the beginning of the

COVID-19 pandemic in Canada The COVID-19 pandemic in Canada is part of the ongoing worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (). It is caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (). Most cases over the course of the pandemic have been in Ontario, Que ...

. Her content is a mixture of education about Inuit culture and social issues; social activism relating to

missing and murdered Indigenous women Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW) is an epidemic of violence against Indigenous women in Canada, the United States, and Latin America; notably those in the FNIM (First Nations, Inuit, Métis) and Native American communities. Acros ...

, the

Canadian Indian residential school system In Canada, the Indian residential school system was a network of boarding schools for Indigenous peoples. The network was funded by the Canadian government's Department of Indian Affairs and administered by Christian churches. The school sy ...

, and the bodies of children buried at the schools; and stunt performances, including hoop dancing,

fire spinning Fire performance is a group of performance arts or skills that involve the manipulation of fire. Fire performance typically involves equipment or other objects made with one or more wicks which are designed to sustain a large enough flam ...

, and weapons handling. In 2021, Sila launched RedPath Radio, a podcast aimed at preserving and sharing Indigenous cultural knowledge and stories. She is also the owner of RedPath Talent, an entertainment and

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 ...

agency focused on Indigenous performers. Sila has also appeared as a model. In 2020, she was a quarterfinalist in the ''

Maxim Maxim or Maksim may refer to: Entertainment * ''Maxim'' (magazine), an international men's magazine ** ''Maxim'' (Australia), the Australian edition ** ''Maxim'' (India), the Indian edition *Maxim Radio, ''Maxim'' magazine's radio channel on Sir ...

'' Cover Girl contest. In 2022, she was a model for the third iteration of Project Atigi, a

capsule collection A capsule wardrobe is a collection of clothing that is composed of interchangeable items only, to maximise the number of outfits that can be created. The aim is to have an outfit suitable for any occasion without owning excessive items of clothing ...

created by Inuk designer

Victoria Kakuktinniq Victoria Kakuktinniq (born 1989) is a Canadian Inuk fashion designer from Nunavut. Under her label Victoria's Arctic Fashion, Kakuktinniq hand-stitches clothing such as parkas, (winter boots), and other accessories. Her work has been described ...

for winterwear brand

Canada Goose The Canada goose (''Branta canadensis''), or Canadian goose, is a large wild goose with a black head and neck, white cheeks, white under its chin, and a brown body. It is native to the arctic and temperate regions of North America, and it is o ...

Filmography

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sila, Marika 1992 births Activists from Alberta Actresses from the Northwest Territories Actresses from Alberta Canadian Inuit women Canadian women activists Inuit activists Inuit actresses Inuit filmmakers Inuit from the Northwest Territories People from Yellowknife People from Canmore, Alberta Living people Inuvialuit people Canadian female models The Amazing Race Canada contestants