Roseanne Supernault is a Canadian actress who has appeared in both movies and television shows. She is most known for playing Natalie Stoney in the TV show Blackstone and for playing the title role in Mana. For her work in Mana, Supernault received the Best Actress Award at the 2013 American Indian Film Festival. She graduated from the Victoria School of Performing and Visual Arts in Edmonton, Alberta, and has since made appearances in the television programs Rabbit Fall, Into the West, and Mixed Blessings, as well as the films Rhymes for Young Ghouls and Through Black Spruce. Since 2013, Supernault has been involved in the Idle No More movement and teaches acting classes to young Indigenous people in Vancouver. She is Métis and Cree and hails from East Prairie, Alberta.
While in middle school, Supernault was tormented, but she found her power in reading and studying because she was an honors student. She enjoyed theatre, basketball, and spending time learning computer coding. She recalls being a social “floater,” hanging out with everyone but not belonging to any particular group. Supernault has always been interested in performing, whether it be singing, dancing, or sports, but she had never considered a career in acting. She had always considered a career in law or science. That changed when she was 13 and someone persuaded her to submit an application for a movie’s open casting call. She impressed the casting director so much that acting became a true career for her, and she invested the following few years in creating a resume. She carried her early challenges into her career, and her perseverance and capacity to build her own way became huge assets to her as a budding actress. In 2005, Supernault made his acting debut in the Steven Spielberg-created TV drama Into the West. She received a nomination for an American Indian Film Festival Award for best actress for her breakthrough performance in the historical love drama Mana in 2013. She recalled her early years when her father had taught her how to hunt and trap, navigate by the stars, and survive in the wilderness when she was filming Mana in the wilds of Quebec.
During a period in her life, Supernault gave up most of her possessions and traveled for a year while staying in hotels, hostels, and Airbnb as well as on the couches of friends. She traveled on a tight budget to the Cannes Film Festival. She was able to break free from a workaholic lifestyle throughout that year and have a new perspective on the world. She places a strong focus on avoiding the busy, damaging lifestyle of overworking oneself and ascribes to the adage that you cannot carry money, fame, or other possessions with you when you pass away. Supernault is She She is pleased to be happy and confident in who she is and in her endeavours to develop, rather than live to please others.
She is passionate about bettering the world, especially for women and Indigenous people. She most recently spoke on a panel at the Women in the World Summit about women in advertising and retaining one’s self-confidence alongside Sophie Grégoire-Trudeau, Wendy Mesley of CBC, and others. Supernault attributes her confidence in life to her Cree and Métis culture. She describes it as the kind of confidence that youngsters naturally possess and that, if you’re not careful, starts to wane as you get older. She works with Native youth to guide them so they can accomplish their objectives and keep a firm hold on the spiritual side of life. Supernault has expanded her interests since she first began performing. She is a rising filmmaker, public speaker, and social media influencer. She created, wrote, and directed her debut short film, the comedy The Nod, in 2014. This year, she will release The Wretched One, her second short. According to Supernault, recalibrating our perceptions of what it means to be Canadian requires the use of film. The film allows us to view a wide variety of stories about Canadians and our history, including those that reflect the grit and messiness of our past. Supernault believes it’s crucial that we keep watching movies by and about Canadians because more and better stories will attract better audiences. Roseanne Supernault is obviously just getting started. As one of our RBC Emerging Artists, Reel Canada is eager to see where her career takes her next. Supernault seeks to uplift and motivate Native Americans. For the last two years in a row, she has presided over the American Indian Film Awards. According to Supernault, she wants to use her work to promote peace between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people. She has backed Indigenous activist groups like Idle No More and conducts workshops on acting and mental health for Native youngsters.
