MISTY UPHAM
Misty Upham, born in Kallispell, Montana, grew up in south Seattle, the fourth of five children. She began her career at the age of thirteen when she joined a community theater group, Red Eagle Soaring. What began as a summer workshop soon turned into a full-time job. By the age of fourteen she was writing and directing short skits and performing on tours throughout the northwest. In the next four years she would be accepted to several Seattle theater companies, all while attending high school. Her first break came in 2001 when she landed the role of Mrs. Blue Cloud in Chris Eyre's sophomore project SKINS, where she portrayed a victim of domestic abuse on the Pine Ridge reservation. Upham additional credits include: Eyre's EDGE OF AMERICA, Rick Stevenson's EXPIRATION DATE, ABC's DREAMKEEPER and also starred in her same role as Lila across Melissa Leo in the short, FROZEN RIVER.

Recently nominated for the "Best Supporting Female" Spirit Award, Misty Upham will participate in a discussion after the screening of FROZEN RIVER at the National Geographic headquarters on March 5th at 7 p.m.

Click here for more information and to purchase tickets

Photograph courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics

Fresh off the heels of garnering Sundance's Grand Jury Prize for Best U.S. Drama for her film Frozen River, All Roads Seed Grant Recipient Heather Rae, (Trudell, 2005) who was the producer on the project, is basking in the glow of landing a distribution deal with Sony Pictures. Sony's acquisition of the film, about two single mothers--one a Mohawk Native American the other not--in upstate New York who become involved in human trafficking across the frozen St. Lawrence River that straddles the U.S.-Canadian border, is especially significant as this has been an uncharacteristically slow season of deals at Sundance this year.