D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai’s historic Emmy nomination is inspiring him to work harder

“I’m having withdrawals for sure,” D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai admits. “I miss everyone.” If Reservation Dogs was still running, the actor explains, the show would either be filming or airing new episodes right about now. Instead, the FX comedy wrapped up for good last fall and subsequently earned its first Outstanding Comedy Series Emmy nomination. 

Sterlin Harjo’s Rez Dogs juggles humor and hard-hitting drama as it tells the tale of four Native American teens in Oklahoma—Bear (Woon-A-Tai), Elora (Devery Jacobs), Willie Jack (Paulina Alexis), and Cheese (Lane Factor)—who dream of escaping their Oklahoma reservation and making it to California. Despite critical acclaim, the show was snubbed at the Primetime Emmys until its final season, with Woon-A-Tai, the only cast member to earn a nod, making history as the first Indigenous star to grace the Lead Actor category. 

The young Rez Dogs actor is grateful to be recognized, but he’s mostly just proud of being part of a TV show boasting authentic Native representation. The A.V. Club spoke with Woon-A-Tai about his time playing Bear Smallhill, collaborating with the show’s creative team, and the significance of his nomination.  

The A.V. Club: You were 18 when you landed Reservation Dogs. What did playing someone like Bear at this early stage in your career teach you? 

D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai: It made me look back on my choices when I was around 16, the same age as Bear, and see how I dealt with situations compared to how he deals or doesn’t deal with things. I’m very similar to Bear, so it felt like stepping into my own shoes a little bit. The experiences he went through are similar to mine—not every single one, of course, but a lot of them. In fact, I was going through some of it when I was 19 and 20, so I think playing him taught me how to figure out life.

AVC: Was it tough to not let your real life bleed into the character? 

DW: It’s interesting because, yeah, as I said, we have similar experiences. It was certainly hard, especially when Bear was going through things I was too. I think it’s also because I felt like I was representing a lot of people, not just Bear but also the Muscogee Nation [in Oklahoma, where the show is filmed and set]. There are a lot of kids out there who see themselves in him, so I was thinking about how telling his story would hopefully help young men and women. 

AVC: Did you know at the beginning where Bear’s journey was going and did you talk to Sterlin about your ideas for how you wanted his story to look? 

DW: I had no idea what Bear’s arc was going to be even through season one. I very much thought this was going to be a limited series, so I’m glad we got to do three seasons. I was hopeful about Bear’s journey, though, because I knew he was in good hands. The writers very much cared about him and all the characters. So I knew he was going to have his moment of finding what he was looking for, which was to become a man and see if he was a good person. I knew it would happen for him even if I didn’t know how it would play out. So I was often surprised when I would go through the scripts. 

 

AVC: Do you remember a scene that surprised you most? 

DW: Oh, yeah, the kidnapping scene in season three’s second episode with Maximus [Graham Greene]. When he gets shot in the neck with the arrow and drops, I was thinking, “What? What’s happening now? Where is this possibly going?” He wakes up in the back of a car. It was crazy, but Bear needed that experience at the time. He had to bring back a community member who was lost but also see where his road would lead if he left Oklahoma like he so badly wanted to.

AVC: You get two big solo episodes in season three, “Maximus” and “Deer Lady.” What was it like to shoulder those arcs? 

DW: It was a lot of pressure, honestly. I never got the chance to properly work with Kaniehtiio Horn, who plays Deer Lady, or with Graham Greene, who plays Maximus. Graham was new to Reservation Dogs in general, but I’ve known his work forever so I was excited to get the chance to meet and act with him. I was feeling the pressure, but it was needed. Every single main character has had this standalone moment, and I think Bear deserved it with these season-three episodes. Since the very beginning, Bear has shown that he tends to feel bad for things like when he’s stealing and he often wonders if he’s a good person or not. So I think meeting Deer Lady puts him to the test. And she very much took care of him and showed him that his mother raised him right. 

AVC: What was it like to develop the comedic and dramatic chemistry between Bear, Elora, Cheese, and Willie Jack? 

DW: Paulina Alexis, who plays Willie Jack, and I had worked together on a project called Beans before Reservation Dogs. It’s a great film based on the 1990 Oka Crisis in Canada. People should look for it. Anyway, we already worked together on this project as brother and sister, so we knew each other. It was cool to see her and spend time with her again, and then we decided we were going to spread that feeling on the set. And it wasn’t hard. Sterlin and his community, and the Muscogee community as a whole, opened up their arms to us. From the auditions, some of the people auditioning for Bear, Elora, Willie Jack, or Cheese got to be on the show as the Indian mafia. The person who was my “competition” for Bear, Dalton Cramer, ended up playing Daniel. So from the jump, we all bonded quickly in the audition room and hung out every day. Dalton stayed at my place and lived with me while filming season one. Jude Barnett, who played Bone Thug Dog, stayed with me too. We all made the place our home, so I think that translates to the chemistry you see on the screen.  

AVC: Rez Dogs also has some groundbreaking Native actors like Zahn McClarnon, Dallas Goldtooth, and Lily Gladstone. What was it like to have them on set? 

DW: It was awesome. Honestly, I’m so happy you asked that because it was incredibly fun. These are people I’ve always wanted to work with. If you ask me now who you want to work with next, the answer is, “I’ve done it.” As you said, these are people who’ve been in the industry for a long time when representation wasn’t at its best. They dealt with it because they loved the craft, they wanted to keep working, and they also had to put food on their plate. They had to put up with stereotypes that affected our community as a whole. It was either them [getting cast] or it would be, you know, a non-Indigenous person playing a Native role. I very much acknowledge that. I’m grateful for all the older generation actors we worked with on Reservation Dogs and even those who weren’t on the show. They paved for us, putting up with so much bullshit so we could do Reservation Dogs and, through it, tear down those stereotypes. They pushed their foot in the door for us so we could go all the way in. In the Native community, it’s important for us to pass down knowledge through the generations in all aspects of life. Acting isn’t different. I felt like I was getting mentored by every veteran on- and off-screen, including Zahn McClarnon. The biggest one for me, like I said, was Graham Greene. He took me under his wing and taught me a lot. 

 

AVC: What type of reaction did you all expect from Reservation Dogs as it was airing? 

DW: I knew from reading the script, or even the breakdown of the show before I got the script, that this was going to be important for the Native community all over North America. It’s a first-of-a-kind show with Native writers, cast, and directors. I knew it was special before seeing how big it got. I’ll always be proud of the fact that we can claim this. I knew it would be different and I didn’t know how mass audiences were going to take it. That’s why we all thought it was going to be a limited series, but then it took off. A lot of people were relating to it because I feel like we ultimately told a human story. 

AVC: The show finally earned a nomination for Outstanding Comedy Series at the Emmys, and you got a Leading Actor nod. How do you feel about it? 

DW: It’s inspired me to work harder and harder to see what’s the next level I can get to. It hasn’t changed much else for me. It’s cool to be recognized by pretty important people, enough to get a nomination, but I’m mainly inspired to work more and work harder. 

AVC: Do you feel like Reservation Dogs getting Emmys attention will lead to more people watching it? 

DW: Yes and no, you know? People see the show and they’re going to be like, “Oh, it’s Emmy nominated,” and it’ll lead to more interest in it if it hasn’t yet, which is great. But I also think our fan base is what it is because people know they want to watch it or learn more about Native communities. Not everyone wants to learn more about it. It’s great that we’re Emmy nominated because it might change things to a degree, but we’ve also won awards from many amazing academies since season one. So I think where we’re at now, Emmy or not for the show or me, I’m proud of what we’ve accomplished for our people because that’s who we truly made it for.

AVC: It’s great that Reservation Dogs is a TV show people can point to for authentic Native representation. Do you remember seeing any projects while you were growing up that made you feel similarly or that you took inspiration from? 

DW: I didn’t have too many Native projects that I watched growing up in the early 2000s through the late 2010s. At least they were never very funny. A lot of the time, it was non-Native people representing us or telling stories they thought people wanted to hear, so the depressing stuff. Comedically, I can’t think of anything off the top of my mind. There is stuff Reservation Dogs took inspiration from in terms of the ’80s and ’90s, but that wasn’t my time.

I did watch Chris Eyre’s Smoke Signals. Another film I remember growing up with a lot regarding Indigenous content was Dance Me Outside, based in Ontario, which is where I’m from. It was cool to see such a good project with representation, even if it wasn’t a very popular film. My grandfather showed it to my father who showed it to me. In Canada, we have something called APTN, the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network, a channel that focuses on Native content, from news to weather to sports and everything in between. But there wasn’t anything on a big platform like FX or Disney+. 

AVC: What types of films and TV shows are you’re excited to do next? 

DW: As for genres, I do love psychological thrillers. I want to do something that challenges me and my craft so I can try something new. I want to tell more Native stories with Native creators. That’s important to me. Right now, there’s hype when it comes to representation, and I don’t think it’s just a “moment in the industry.” Authentic representation is here to stay, so I think it’s time to start creating and building stuff within the community and put our foot down. I also think it shows the youth that getting into the industry, whether through acting, directing, writing, or on the crew side, is something very possible for those in cities, rural areas, or reservations.