Irene Bedard

Irene Bedard (born July 22, 1967) is an American actress, who has played mostly Native American lead roles in a variety of films. She is perhaps best known for the role of Suzy Song in the 1998 film Smoke Signals, an adaptation of a Sherman Alexie collection of short stories, as well as for providing the speaking voice for the titular character in the 1995 animated film Pocahontas. Bedard reprised her role as Pocahontas in the film's direct-to-video follow-up, Pocahontas II: Journey to a New World and for a cameo in Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018).

Early life Bedard was born in Anchorage, Alaska, to a Native Alaskan mother of Iñupiaq and Yup’ik descent, and a Canadian father of Cree, and French descent. She is an enrolled citizen of the Native American Village of Koyuk in Alaska.

Career In 1994, Bedard appeared in her first role as Mary Crow Dog in the television production of Lakota Woman: Siege at Wounded Knee, which depicted the 1970s standoff between the US government and citizens of several Native nations, including many of the Pine Ridge Reservation, at Wounded Knee, South Dakota. For this role, she was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Miniseries or Television Film. As such, in 1994 she became the first Native American woman to receive an acting award nomination from the Golden Globe Awards.

Bedard is known as the voice of the eponymous heroine in the 1995 Disney animated film Pocahontas, the direct-to-video 1998 sequel Pocahontas II: Journey to a New World and in the 2018 film Ralph Breaks the Internet. She appeared in a different take of the story in Terrence Malick's 2005 film The New World, as Pocahontas's mother, Nonoma Winanuske Matatiske.

In 1995, Bedard was chosen as one of People magazine's "50 Most Beautiful People".

In 2001, Irene Bedard hosted the Ninth Annual First Americans in the Arts (FAITA) Awards from the Beverly Hilton Hotel. In 2002, at the Tenth Annual FAITA Awards, Bedard won Outstanding Guest Performance by an Actress in a TV Drama Series for The Agency.

In 2005, she was cast in the television mini-series Into the West as Margaret "Light Shines" Wheeler. Bedard has been very active in environmental groups to protect sacred lands. In 1997, Bedard and Floyd Westerman co-hosted a benefit for the Dine' People of Big Mountain at The Loft Theatre, in Pasadena. In 2015, she appeared in Chloé Zhao's debut feature film, Songs My Brothers Taught Me. In 2016, Bedard announced an agreement with the Catawba Nation of South Carolina to join in a production agreement. In 2017, she appeared as a recurring character in the TV series The Mist. Bedard made an appearance in the music video for Jay-Z's 2017 song "Family Feud", in which she plays a future Madam President of the United States.

In 2020, Bedard played a recurring character in the drama series FBI: Most Wanted. She then was a starring cast member in the Paramount+ miniseries The Stand, as Ray Brentner, a gender-swapped version of Ralph Brentner from the 1994 adaptation.

In 2022, she was cast as Yagoda in the Netflix series Avatar: The Last Airbender and as Sylvie Nanmac in Alaska Daily, the mother of a missing indigenous woman. She also appeared in the film How to Blow Up a Pipeline.

Personal life In 1993, Bedard married musician Denny Wilson, together, they have a son. Wilson, however, denied all these accusations. In August 2022, she was again arrested for disorderly conduct in Xenia, Ohio.

Filmography Film

Television

Music video Year Title Artist(s) Role 2017 "Family Feud" Jay-Z featuring Beyoncé Madam President

Video games

Awards and nominations Year Award Category Film Result 1995 Golden Globe Best Performance by an Actress in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for TV Lakota Woman: Siege at Wounded Knee 1999 Western Heritage Awards Bronze Wrangler - Television Feature Film Two for Texas 2004 First Americans in the Arts Awards Best Lead Actress in a Feature Film Greasewood Flat 2002 First Americans in the Arts Awards Outstanding Guest Performance by an Actress in a TV Drama Series The Agency 2006 NAMIC Vision Awards Best Dramatic Performance Into the West Western Heritage Awards Bronze Wrangler - Television Feature Film