First for Native actor

Tamara Podemski Wins Special Jury Award at SundanceSinger-actress Tamara Podemski, one of the three fabulously talented Podemski sisters (the others being Jennifer and Sarah) accomplished something really, I mean beaucoup impressive this week. She won the biggie—the Special Jury Prize for Acting at the Sundance Film Festival for her role as Miri in Sterlin Harjo’s feature film, Four Sheets to the Wind. Tamara was chosen, surpassing dozens of more famous actresses, for her “fully realized physical and emotional” turn as the effed-up, hard-living, hard-drinking sister in Harjo’s drama.

But less known, and certainly less reported in the mainstream press, is the fact that Tamara is the first North American Native to ever take away Sundance acting honors. The first.