Erica Tremblay

Erica Tremblay (born 1980) is a Native American filmmaker from the Seneca–Cayuga Nation.

Tremblay's debut feature film, Fancy Dance (2023), featured Academy Award nominee Lily Gladstone and premiered at Sundance. She also wrote and directed on FX's Emmy-nominated television series Reservation Dogs and AMC's Dark Winds.

Early life and education Tremblay was born in 1980 in Oklahoma. She grew up in a Seneca–Cayuga community near the Oklahoma–Missouri border, where her mother served on the tribal council. She is a citizen of the Seneca-Cayuga Nation.

Tremblay attended Missouri State University (formerly Southwest Missouri State).

In 2012, Tremblay released Heartland: A Portrait of Survival. The documentary was shown at the Omaha Film Festival, and at the St. Louis International Film Festival. Two years later, she released In the Turn, a documentary film that revolves around Crystal, a ten-year-old transgender girl from Timmins, Ontario. During this period, Tremblay also worked closely with grassroots organizations like the National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center and Wica Agli, using film as a tool for advocacy on issues such as violence against Indigenous women and restorative justice. In 2017, she joined Bustle as director of video. Before joining that magazine, she worked for Hearst Digital Media.

In 2018, Tremblay was selected for the Sundance Institute's Native Filmmakers Lab, a development program for emerging Indigenous filmmakers. On Reservation Dogs, Tremblay served as a co-producer, writer, and director on multiple episodes, helping to shape the show’s honest and humorous portrayal of modern Native American life. She also wrote and directed for the AMC series Dark Winds, a noir thriller centered on Navajo Nation law enforcement, contributing to Seasons 1, 3 and 4. In April 2023, the first episode of the first season, "Monster Slayer", of Dark Winds was honored as an Outstanding Fictional Television Drama by the Western Heritage Awards of the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum. In May 2023, Dark Winds received several Vision Awards from the National Association for Multi-ethnicity in Communications (NAMIC). It received the award for Best Drama, and for Best Performance in a Drama Series, awarded to Zahn McClarnon.

In 2023, Tremblay made her feature film directorial debut with Fancy Dance, which she wrote, directed, and produced. Fancy Dance premiered at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival and was met with critical acclaim for balancing its heartbreaking subject matter with moments of humor and hope drawn from Native resilience. It was supported in part by the Cherokee Nation film initiative. The film was acquired by Apple Original Films in 2024. In 2026 Tremblay directed an episode of the Netflix series Little House on the Prairie.

Personal life Tremblay is queer.

Awards and recognition Native Arts and Cultures Foundation Fellowship (2016): Awarded a National Artist Fellowship from the Native Arts and Cultures Foundation, recognizing her as an emerging Native filmmaker. Sundance Institute Native Filmmakers Lab Fellow (2018): Selected by the Sundance Indigenous Program to develop Little Chief, which later premiered at Sundance Film Festival. 2021 Sundance Directors Lab Fellow BAFTA Breakthrough USA (2024): Named a BAFTA Breakthrough artist in 2024 by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts.

Filmography Films +List of film appearances, with year, title, type, and role shown Year Title Type Role 2007 Tiny Red Universe Documentary Writer, Director, Producer 2012 Heartland: Portrait of Survival Documentary Writer, Director, Producer 2014 In the Turn Documentary Writer, Director, Producer 2020 Little Chief Short Film Writer, Director, Producer 2023 Fancy Dance Feature Film Writer, Director, Producer

Television +List of television works by Tremblay, with year, title, role, and network Year Title Writer Director Executiveproducer Network 2021–2023 Reservation Dogs FX 2022–present Dark Winds AMC 2026 Little House on the Prairie Netflix