Lily Gladstone has said making Oscars history as the first Native American recognised in the best actress category was "long overdue" - but added that she feels it is "just the beginning".
The 37-year-old, a native of Montana's Blackfeet reservation, has been nominated for her first Academy Award for her starring role in Killers Of The Flower Moon alongside Leonardo DiCaprio in Martin Scorsese’s western crime thriller.
The film follows the murders of wealthy members of the Osage tribe in mysterious circumstances in the 1920s, with Gladstone playing Osage national Mollie Burkhart, who is married to DiCaprio’s character Ernest Burkhart.
"It’s about time, and I know I might be the first for native North America, but (I) certainly won’t be the last," she told the PA news agency of her nomination.
"I know that that reverberation is shared by other indigenous kids, by elders.
"I think about our elders that grew up in a time watching movies where they didn’t see themselves, they grew up watching all of these incredible, iconic actresses in the golden age of cinema (with) no representation for themselves.
"…I’m grateful to have this acknowledgement because it really just means that this film had an impact on people, and it’s a testament to the talent that we hold as indigenous people, the natural proclivity we have as storytellers, as actors, and the universality in that."
Gladstone added: "It is truly circumstantial that it’s me, and I know that’s just the beginning of a lot to come."
The nomination comes after Gladstone became the first indigenous American woman to win the best actress award at the Golden Globes, which she dedicated to "every little native kid out there who has a dream".
She will now go up against Poor Things star Emma Stone in the category, alongside Carey Mulligan for Maestro, Anatomy Of A Fall’s Sandra Huller and Annette Bening for Nyad.
Source: Press Association
