Gary Farmer

Gary Farmer
Gary Farmer
	Farmer performing with Gary Farmer and the Troublemakers in 2012
Born	Gary Dale Farmer; June 12, 1953 (age 71); Ohsweken, Ontario, Canada
Alma mater	Syracuse University; Ryerson University;
Occupation(s)	Actor, musician
Years active	1976–present

Gary Dale Farmer (born June 12, 1953) is a First Nations actor and musician.^[1] He is perhaps best known for his role as Nobody in the films Dead Man (1995) and Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (1999), and for his role in Smoke Signals (1998). In his career spanning over three decades, Farmer received three Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male nominations.

He is widely recognized as a pioneer in the development of First Nations media in Canada and is the founding director of an urban Indian radio network, Aboriginal Voices Radio Network.

Early life and education

Farmer was born in Ohsweken, Ontario into the Cayuga Nation and Wolf Clan^[2] of the Haudenosaunee/Iroquois Confederacy.^[3]^[4]^[5] He grew up in the American city of Buffalo where his father worked as a crane operator.^[6] Farmer attended Syracuse University and Ryerson Polytechnic University, where he studied photography and film production.^[5]

Career

Acting

Farmer's first acting role was in the 1976 play On The Rim of a Curse, about the Beothuk.^[6] His first major television role was on the CBC's Spirit Bay. He subsequently played police captain Joe Stonetree on the syndicated TV series Forever Knight, and Chief Tom in the CBC first nations TV series The Rez. Farmer is best known for his role as spiritual Native American guide Nobody in Dead Man. Farmer reprised the role for a cameo in Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai, also directed by Jim Jarmusch.^[7]

Farmer has performed in both the film and television adaptations of Tony Hillerman's novels. He played "Cowboy" Albert Dashee (Hopi) in the 1991 film The Dark Wind, and Captain Largo (Navajo) in the television adaptations of Coyote Waits (2003) and A Thief of Time (2004).^{[citation needed]}

He played a supporting character Burt in the 2001 crime thriller The Score starring Robert De Niro, Marlon Brando, Ed Norton, Angela Bassett and Paul Soles. Farmer also appeared in two episodes of the popular children's television show Big Comfy Couch as Wobbly.^{[citation needed]}

Farmer played the role of Fagin in Twist, the 2003 independent adaptation of the Charles Dickens classic novel Oliver Twist, and the role of "Iktome" in the 2003 all Native American cast TV film Dreamkeeper, directed by Steve Barron. He also played Deputy Bob in Demon Knight. Other major roles included Henry Colville, with Kris Kristofferson, in Disappearances (2006) and Jack in Jimmy P: Psychotherapy of a Plains Indian (2013) by Arnaud Desplechin.^{[citation needed]}

He recorded the audiobook version of Louise Erdrich's 2012 novel The Round House, winner of the 2012 National Book Award for Fiction.

Farmer appeared in season 1 of the Sundance TV series The Red Road in 2014.^{[citation needed]}

In 2020, Farmer had brief appearances in the films First Cow and The Dark Divide.^[8]

Farmer appeared as the recurring character Uncle Brownie in the highly-acclaimed FX series Reservation Dogs from 2021-2023, and as Dan Twelvetrees in the Syfy series Resident Alien.

He was nominated for Independent Spirit Awards for his roles in the movies Powwow Highway, Dead Man, and Smoke Signals

Music

He also has a blues band called Gary Farmer and the Troublemakers. The band has released two CDs, Love Songs and Other Issues in 2007 and Lovesick Blues in 2009.

Other

Farmer is also a regular supporter of University of Nebraska Omaha Wambli Sapa Memorial Pow Wow, held a week before the Gathering of Nations Powwow. He makes appearances selling his CD's and occasionally giving speeches. University of Nebraska-Omaha (UNO) considers Farmer a "very good friend".^{[citation needed]}

Filmography

Film


Year	Title	Role
1984	Police Academy	Sidewalk Store Owner
1984	Overdrawn at the Memory Bank	Tooby
1987	The Believers	Mover
1987	The Big Town	Duke
1988	Blue City Slammers	Doug
1988	Powwow Highway	Philbert Bono
1989	Renegades	George
1990	Still Life: The Fine Art of Murder	Billy
1991	The Dark Wind	Cowboy Albert Dashee
1992	Forever Knight	Captain Joe Stonetree
1993	Ed and His Dead Mother	Big Lar
1994	Sioux City	Russell White
1995	Demon Knight	Deputy Bob Martel
1995	Dead Man	Nobody
1996	Henry & Verlin	Henry
1996	Lilies	Timothée
1998	Smoke Signals	Arnold Joseph
1998	Stolen Heart	Whitaker
1999	Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai	Nobody
1999	Touched	George
1999	Heater	Ben
2001	Delivering Milo	Max
2001	The Score	Burt
2001	Route 666	Shaman
2002	Skins	Verdell Weasel Tail
2002	Angels Don't Sleep Here	Lou Washington
2002	Adaptation	Buster Baxley
2003	The Big Empty	Indian Bob
2003	Twist	Fagin
2003	The Republic of Love	Ted
2004	Evergreen	Jim
2004	Sawtooth	Seven Thumbs
2005	3 Needles	Winker at Support Group
2006	Disappearances	Herny Coville
2006	One Night with You	Momo
2007	All Hat	Billy Caan
2007	Intervention	Bob
2008	Swing Vote	Curly
2009	Rejection	Albert
2009	The Timekeeper	Cook
2010	Good Neighbours	Roland Brandt
2010	Ink: A Tale of Captivity	Alderman
2010	A Windigo Tale	Harold
2011	A Bird of the Air	Charles Ballard
2011	California Indian	Rich Knight
2011	Foreverland	Moe
2012	Path of Souls	Eddie Benton Benai
2013	Jimmy P: Psychotherapy of a Plains Indian	Jack
2013	Winter in the Blood	Lame Bull
2015	Peter and John	Smoke
2019	The Incredible 25th Year of Mitzi Bearclaw	Oliver Yellowdog
2019	First Cow	Totillicum
2019	Blood Quantum	Moon
2019	Santa Fake	Santa Claus
2020	Cowboys	Robert Spottedbird
2020	The Dark Divide	Densmore
2021	Blood Brothers: Civil War	Smoke
2021	Run Woman Run	Self
2022	Quantum Cowboys	Calvin
2023	Hey, Viktor!	Gary

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1983	American Playhouse	Tooby	Episode: "Overdrawn at the Memory Bank"
1985	The Undergrads	Castro	Television film
1986	Philip Marlowe, Private Eye	Masters' Bodyguard	Episode: "Spanish Blood"
1986	Doing Life	First Prisoner	Television film
1986	Unnatural Causes	—
1986	Christmas Eve	Jody
1988	Miami Vice	Wilson	Episode: "Bad Timing"
1988	9B	Harry Derek	Episode: "Dropout"
1989	Friday the 13th: The Series	Rick	Episode: "Wedding Bell Blues"
1990	Sparks: The Price of Passion	Pete	Television film
1990	China Beach	Dreamwalker	Episode: "Strange Brew"
1991	Plymouth	Todd	Television film
1992	E.N.G.	Detective Brant	2 episodes
1992–1994	Forever Knight	Capt. Joe Stonetree / Detective Norton	23 episodes
1993	Street Legal	Allan Michaels	Episode: "Conduct Unbecoming"
1993	Blown Away	Anderson	Television film
1993	The Big Comfy Couch	Wobbly	2 episodes
1994	The Adventures of Dudley the Dragon	Tiny / Big Giant	Episode: "Dudley Meets a Tiny Giant"
1996	Moonshine Highway	Hooch Wilson	Television film
1997	Promised Land	Conrad Shorty	Episode: "The Outrage"
1997	Ghostwriter	Jake Rizzo	Episode: "Past Tense"
1998	The Pretender	Vincent LaPahie	Episode: "Hope & Prey"
1999	Justice	Lou Belcourt	Television film
2000	The Virginian	Buster	Television film
2001	The West Wing	Jack Lone Feather	Episode: "The Indians in the Lobby"
2001	Dice	Ernie Ross	6 episodes
2002	The Job	Injun Joe	Episode: "Soup"
2002	Screech Owls	Thomas	Episode: "Sacred Ground"
2002	Skinwalkers	Captain Largo	2 episodes
2003	Lord Have Mercy!	Marty C. Martyn	2 episodes
2003	Odd Job Jack	George Twotrees	Episode: "Go West Young Ryder"
2003	Dreamkeeper	Iktome	Television film
2003	Mutant X	Dr. Marcus	Episode: "The Taking of Crows"
2003	A Thief of Time	Captain Largo	Television film
2003	Coyote Waits	Captain Largo	Television film
2004	The Chris Isaak Show	Larry	Episode: "The Family of Man"
2006	One Dead Indian	Judas George	Television film
2006	Doomstown	Detective Jeff Norstrom
2006	Indian Summer: The Oka Crisis	Alan Montour
2007	Moose TV	Gerry Keeshig	8 episodes
2007	Elijah	Ray	Television film
2008	The Border	Reserve Police Chief	Episode: "Gray Zone"
2008–2009	Easy Money	Shep	7 episodes
2012	Blackstone	Ray Delaronde	8 episodes
2013, 2017	Longmire	Aaron Two Rivers	2 episodes
2014–2015	The Red Road	Mac	6 episodes
2015–2016	Zoo	Anik	2 episodes
2017	Guilt Free Zone	Milo	4 episodes
2019	Blackwater	Charles Goodman	Episode: "Pilot"
2021–2024	Resident Alien	Dan Twelvetrees	26 episodes
2021	Rutherford Falls	Earl	2 episodes
2021–2022	Reservation Dogs	Uncle Brownie	7 Episodes
2022	Our Flag Means Death	Chief Mabo	Episode: "A Damned Man"
2022	The English	John Clarke	2 Episodes
2023	The Curse	James Toledo	Episode: "Pressure's Looking Good So Far"

References

^ "Gary Dale Farmer". The Canadian Encyclopedia. Retrieved August 24, 2018.
^ "The Scene" Archived 2007-09-30 at the Wayback Machine, HeraldTimesScene.com; accessed December 26, 2015.
^ "Gary Farmer is a member of the Cayuga nation within the Haudenosaunee" Archived 2006-12-17 at the Wayback Machine, bcc.ctc.edu; accessed December 26, 2015.
^ Gary Farmer profile Archived 2013-09-11 at the Wayback Machine, NativeNetworks.si.edu; accessed December 26, 2015.
^ ^a ^b Gary Farmer Biography, yahoo.com; accessed December 28, 2015.
^ ^a ^b Zekas, Rita (July 1990). "Gary Farmer is bringing it to the stage and screen". Secwepemc News. p. 7.
^ Suarez, Juan (2007). Jim Jarmusch. Urbana: University of Illinois Press. p. 128. ISBN 9780252096075.
^ "Cast". The Dark Divide. Retrieved 2020-09-26.