Elaine Miles

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Elaine Miles (2001)

Elaine Miles (born April 7, 1960 in Pendleton , Oregon ) is an American actress who was best known for portraying the Native American nurse Marilyn Whirlwind in the television series Alaska, of all places .

Life

Miles lived on the Umatilla Indian reservation in eastern Oregon until she was three and is descended from the Cayuse and Nez Percé . The family later moved to Renton , Washington , where her father worked as a technician for Boeing .

In her childhood Miles, who is called "Choppie", learned many traditional Native American skills, such as storytelling, beading, pottery and weaving ; she is also an award-winning traditional dancer.

As a teenager, she portrayed Sacajawea at the Fort Vancouver National Historic Site in Vancouver , Washington during the summer .

Miles has a son named Dustin.

Career

When Miles, who until then had no acting experience , drove her mother Armenia to an audition for the television series Alaska ( Northern Exposure ), she was offered the role of Marilyn Whirlwind instead. In the series, which was produced from 1990 to 1995 and is set in the fictional city "Cicely in Alaska ", she embodied the Indian office hours of the protagonist Doctor Fleischman.

Instead, Miles mother played the mother of her series character Marilyn Whirlwind.

Together with the rest of the ensemble, she was nominated in 1995 for the Screen Actors Guild Awards in the category "Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series".

She gained respect in the Native American community for not only portraying a Tlingit woman, but also campaigning to portray her figure culturally correct. Miles was named "Native American Woman of the Year" in 1993 and in 1995 she was honored with the First Americans in the Arts Award, which coincided with the presentation of the Screen Actors Guild Awards.

After Alaska , of all places , Miles had guest roles in television productions as well as in independent films such as Tortilla Heaven , Smoke Signals , Skins and The Business of Fancydancing .

She also toured several times with her own dance and stand-up comedy program and was master of ceremonies at various powwows .

With her comedy colleague Drew LaCapa, she published the exercise video RezRobics , which deals with increased diabetes mellitus in Native Americans and combines traditional pow wow dance, martial arts and aerobics with nutritional advice; both encourage people to freely copy the video , which is also available on YouTube , and to distribute it among friends and relatives within the Indian reservations.

Filmography

  • 1990–1995: Alaska of all places ( Northern Exposure , TV series, 106 episodes)
  • 1994: Bill Nye the Science Guy (TV show, two episodes)
  • 1995: Mad Love (Mad Love)
  • 1996: The Rez
  • 1996: Pandora's Clock - Killer viruses aboard the 747 ( Pandora's Clock , miniseries)
  • 1998: Dead Don't Lie ( Scattering Dad , TV movie)
  • 1998: Smoke Signals
  • 2002: The Business of Fancydancing
  • 2002: Skins
  • 2003: Images of Indians: How Hollywood Stereotyped the Native American (documentary)
  • 2007: Tortilla Heaven
  • 2008: Fry Bread Babes
  • 2009: Wyvern - The Return of the Dragons ( Wyvern , TV movie)
  • 2012: Universal VIP (short film)
  • 2012: By the Salish Sea (short film)
  • 2014: Four Quarters
  • 2015: Fishing Naked
  • 2019: Juanita

literature

  • Darren Burrows: Northern Exposed ( en ), 1st edition, Film Farms, USA 2013, ISBN 978-0615943626 , p. 228.

Source references

  1. ↑ a b c Catherine Taylor: Marilyn Speaks! A Conversation with Elaine Miles , Radiance Magazine. Fall 1993. 
  2. ↑ a b c d e Biography: Elaine Miles . Comcast . Archived from the original on May 1, 2006. Retrieved September 26, 2009.
  3. ↑ February 2010 Coyotecooks Blog ( en )
  4. ↑ The Inaugural Screen Actors Guild Awards ( en ) Screen Actors Guild Awards. Retrieved December 19, 2014.
  5. ↑ Rez Robics . Archived from the original on February 9, 2009.

Web links

Commons : Elaine Miles  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files
personal data
SURNAME Miles, Elaine
BRIEF DESCRIPTION US-american actress
DATE OF BIRTH April 7, 1960
PLACE OF BIRTH Pendleton , Oregon