The character arc of Lily Gladstone
A life drawn by Character Arc from the public record
Born on 2 August 1986 in Kalispell, Montana, and raised on the Blackfeet Reservation in Browning, of Piegan Blackfeet and Nez Perce ancestry on their father's side and European and Cajun on their mother's. Between then and now sit a wish at five to play an Ewok, a touring children's theatre company that cast them as an evil stepsister, a move to the Seattle area in middle school, a high school diploma in 2004, a fine arts degree from Montana, a feature debut in 2012, a breakthrough in an independent film in 2016, seven more years of small parts and stage work, a Scorsese lead in October 2023, a Golden Globe in January 2024 that nobody Indigenous had won before, and a day named after them by the Blackfeet Nation. The line below draws the story so far, in order.
Drag along the line to move, pinch or use the buttons to look closer. Tap the line to pluck it, or any mark for its card. Drawn from the public record of their life; the sources are at the foot of the page.
Who is Lily Gladstone?
Eleven years of small films. Then the lead in a Scorsese picture.
They were born in Kalispell and raised on the Blackfeet Reservation in Browning, Montana. The desire to play an Ewok, after watching Return of the Jedi at five, is what they point at as the start of wanting to act. One of their first acting experiences came when a touring children's theatre company arrived in their hometown and cast them as an evil stepsister in Cinderella. The family moved to the Seattle area during their middle school years to be closer to their grandmother, and there they joined a nonprofit youth theatre company and acted in student films.
They graduated from high school in 2004, took a fine arts degree at the University of Montana, and performed in a co-produced Native theatre piece in 2010. The feature debut came in 2012. Then came the part of the line most people skip over: four more years of small films, and a breakthrough in 2016 as a rancher in Kelly Reichardt's Certain Women, which won them two critics' awards and two nominations and did not make them famous.
What followed was seven years of the kind of work that keeps an actor in the trade rather than in the papers. An acting company at a Shakespeare festival in 2017. A hosting job on an educational video channel, explaining film production. A small role in another Reichardt film in 2019. A play at Yale Repertory Theatre in 2020. Television parts. It is eleven years between the first feature and the one everybody saw.
Martin Scorsese cast them as Mollie Kyle in Killers of the Flower Moon, released in October 2023. The performance was described as a highlight of the film. In January 2024 they won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture Drama, the first Indigenous person to win an acting Golden Globe, and became the first Native American nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress.
The recognition that came next is the part worth reading twice. On 26 March 2024 the Blackfeet Nation held Lily Gladstone Day, and at the event a society of Blackfoot women who hold the right to own headdresses transferred a stand-up headdress to them. There were also an Emmy nomination that year, a seat on the Cannes jury in May, and an invitation to join the Academy in June.
The moments
Lily Gladstone's timeline.
The 1980s
Born in Kalispell
Everyday. Two nations on one side of the family, and a reservation for a hometown.
The 1990s
They want to be an Ewok
Milestone, and it changed their direction. Five years old, and the whole plan is already set.
The family moves to Seattle
Everyday, and it changed their direction. A move for a grandmother, and a theatre company at the other end.
The 2000s
They finish high school
Milestone. Out of school, and straight at the thing they had wanted since five.
The 2010s
The Frybread Queen
Milestone. Native theatre, made by the people it is about.
A first feature film
Milestone, and it changed their direction. Twenty six years old, and a first film credit.
A national tour
Milestone. A tour, a different town every week, and no camera.
Certain Women
Milestone, and it changed everything. The critics saw it. Almost nobody else did yet.
A Shakespeare company
Everyday. A repertory season, and a teaching job on the side.
Stay with the small films, or leave
Crossroads, decided.
The paths laid out: keep taking the work, taken, or do something else. They played the lead in Killers of the Flower Moon and won a Golden Globe nobody Indigenous had won before.
A small part in First Cow
Everyday. Three years after the breakthrough, a small part.
The 2020s
Manahatta at Yale
Milestone. Back on a stage, in a play by a Native writer.
Killers of the Flower Moon
Milestone, and it changed everything. Eleven years after the first feature, the lead in a Scorsese picture.
A Golden Globe, and a first
Milestone, and it changed everything. The first time anybody Indigenous had held that award.
Lily Gladstone Day
Milestone, and it changed everything. A day named by their own nation, and a headdress handed over.
On the Cannes jury
Milestone. From the seats to the jury, in one year.
An Emmy nomination
Milestone, and it changed their direction. Film, then television, in the same twelve months.
In Memoriam
Milestone. A comedy, after all of that.
The Blackfeet Nation named a day after them and gave them a headdress, which is a different order of thing from an award. What they set moving is a line where the eleven quiet years are not the wait before the career, they are the career, and the famous part is what happened on top of it.
Your turn
Every line draws a unique story.
Theirs has eleven years between the first film and the one everybody saw. Yours is already further along than you think, and drawing it takes about five minutes.
Lily Gladstone: frequently asked questions
What people ask about their line.
What is Lily Gladstone's character arc?
What pronouns does Lily Gladstone use?
What made Lily Gladstone want to act?
What was Lily Gladstone's breakthrough?
What did Lily Gladstone win in 2024?
What is Lily Gladstone Day?
Where does this timeline of Lily Gladstone's life come from?
More character arcs
Lives that rhyme with their.
Sources
- Lily Gladstone, English Wikipedia biography.
- Award records for the Los Angeles and Boston critics awards in 2016, the Golden Globe in January 2024, the Academy Award nomination and the Primetime Emmy nomination.
- Blackfeet Nation records for Lily Gladstone Day on 26 March 2024 and the transfer of a stand-up headdress.
- Their own 2023 explanation of why they use both she and they, quoted in part on this page.
- A pledge they signed on a foreign policy question in September 2025 is in the record and is deliberately not drawn here.