Ajuawak Kapashesit
Ajuawak Kapashesit is an actor, screenwriter, playwright, and director for stage and screen. His acting credits include the short films Shinaab (Sundance 2017, TIFF 2017) and Shinaab part II (TIFF 2018, Sundance 2019), and the feature films Indian Horse (TIFF 2017), Once Upon a River (Bentonville Film Festival 2019), and Indian Road Trip (Whistler Film Festival 2020). His television credits include Bad Blood Season 2 (CityTV/Netflix) and Outlander Season 4 (Starz/Sony).
His short plays have been performed in Minneapolis and Los Angeles where he was a finalist at Native Voices at the Autry’s Short Play Festival in 2017. In 2018, he was chosen as an Indigenous Film Opportunity Fellow with the Sundance Film Institute and was a finalist for the Sundance Indigenous Filmmaker’s Fellowship.
In 2020, he was a story editor and contributing writer for the sketch comedy show, Tallboyz, for CBC. His short story, A Fresh Start, was a finalist in the Imagining Indigenous Futurisms short story competition in 2020 and was selected for publication in the anthology, Before the Usual Time published by Latitude 46 that year.
He is an alumnus of the CBC Actor's Conservatory at the Canadian Film Centre and was a Mentee in the National Institute for Directing and Ensemble Creation in 2017 and 2018 with Pangaea World Theatre in Minneapolis.
Currently, Ajuawak is a Vision Maker Media Shorts Fellow for the short film Seeds that he is co-writing and co-directing with Morningstar Angeline. He is of Anishinaabe, Cree, and Jewish descent.
His short plays have been performed in Minneapolis and Los Angeles where he was a finalist at Native Voices at the Autry’s Short Play Festival in 2017. In 2018, he was chosen as an Indigenous Film Opportunity Fellow with the Sundance Film Institute and was a finalist for the Sundance Indigenous Filmmaker’s Fellowship.
In 2020, he was a story editor and contributing writer for the sketch comedy show, Tallboyz, for CBC. His short story, A Fresh Start, was a finalist in the Imagining Indigenous Futurisms short story competition in 2020 and was selected for publication in the anthology, Before the Usual Time published by Latitude 46 that year.
He is an alumnus of the CBC Actor's Conservatory at the Canadian Film Centre and was a Mentee in the National Institute for Directing and Ensemble Creation in 2017 and 2018 with Pangaea World Theatre in Minneapolis.
Currently, Ajuawak is a Vision Maker Media Shorts Fellow for the short film Seeds that he is co-writing and co-directing with Morningstar Angeline. He is of Anishinaabe, Cree, and Jewish descent.
