Nathaniel Arcand
Born and raised the eldest of six children in Edmonton, Canada, film and television actor Nathaniel Arcand is a Plains Cree (Nehiyaw) Native American whose career has largely been built around Native and First Nation roles. Inspired to be an actor after seeing a Bruce Lee movie at a drive-in when he was just five years old, Arcand's first screen role came with a small appearance in the 1994 family Western "Savage Land." His big break came when he was cast in the CBC series "North of 60" in 1994, in a rebellious-teen role that eventually netted him a Gemini nomination. From there, Arcand landed roles in various popular Canadian TV series including "Da Vinci's Inquest," its spin-off "Da Vinci's City Hall," and the saddleback soap-opera "Heartland." Arcand was chosen to be the new Tonto in a youth-culture rebooting of "The Lone Ranger" by The WB, opposite teen heartthrob Chad Michael Murray. Though initially intended to be a series, this youthful "Lone Ranger"--with Arcand as a martial arts-practicing, sexy sister-possessing Tonto--was shelved after its movie-length 2003 pilot. In features, Arcand has been in scores of Westerns, though often maligned ones; like the Richard Attenborough-directed biopic "Grey Owl," or the "Young Guns"-styled, Civil War popcorn movie "American Outlaws." Two more notable cinematic roles were in "Ginger Snaps Back: The Beginning," the third film in the Candian werewolf trilogy, and in the Vikings/Indians would-be-blockbuster "Pathfinder."