Cara Gee

Cara Gee, actor (born 18 July 1983 in Calgary, AB). Ojibwe actor Cara Gee started out in notable Toronto theatre productions before receiving an American Indian Movie Award and a Canadian Screen Award nomination for her lead role in the First Nations drama Empire of Dirt (2013). She then starred in CBC’s Strange Empire (2014–15) and Disney’s The Call of The Wild (2020). She is perhaps best known for her role as Camina Drummer on the popular science fiction series The Expanse (2015–22).

Early Life and Education

Cara Gee (pronounced like the letter g) was born in Calgary but moved near Bobcaygeon, Ontario, at the age of five. Her family later relocated to Newmarket, Ontario. Gee attended several high schools before finding her true passion while attending the last one, Huron Heights Secondary School in Newmarket. She was looking for what she considered an “easy OAC” (Ontario Academic Credit — formerly a fifth year of high school offered in Ontario) when she enrolled in a drama class. She was already planning a career in arts management at the time — she began organizing punk concerts when she was a teenager — but changed plans when she discovered her love of acting.

Her skills as an actor were immediately apparent. She won a prize for her very first role during her final year at Huron Heights. Gee then studied acting and minored in English at the University of Windsor, where she graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 2007.

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Early Career

Cara Gee first came to prominence acting in notable theatre productions in Toronto. She appeared in Daniel MacIvor’s Arigato, Tokyo, Tomson Highway’s The Rez Sisters, Louise Dupré’s Tout Comme Elle, Margaret Atwood’s The Penelopiad, Cliff Cardinal’s Stitch, and Birdtown and Swanville’s 36 Little Plays About Hopeless Girls.

Gee made her feature film debut in 2013 with her acclaimed performance in Peter Stebbings’s Empire of Dirt, a drama about three generations of Cree women dealing with intergenerational trauma. Gee was nominated for a Canadian Screen Award for her lead performance. She also won the Best Actress Award at the 2014 American Indian Film Festival. The film received a special jury award at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) in 2013, where Gee was named one of TIFF’s annual rising stars. She was similarly feted at the 2018 Whistler Film Festival, where she was named one of four Stars to Watch.

Career Highlights

In 2020, Cara Gee had a leading role opposite Harrison Ford in the Disney film The Call of the Wild. She portrays a dogsledder who delivers mail across the Yukon. To prepare for the role, and to make it as authentic as possible, Gee requested the production company hire a Tlingit woman whose grandmother was a dogsledder in the 1920s as a cultural consultant.

Gee has also enjoyed success on television. She landed a leading role in CBC TV’s critically acclaimed but short-lived Strange Empire (2014–15), a Western set in 1869 with a predominantly female cast. She then appeared in Inhuman Condition for 11 episodes in 2016. She has also appeared in Canadian favourites such as Republic of Doyle and Letterkenny.

Gee is best known internationally for her principal role in the science fiction series The Expanse (2015–22), where she plays Camina Drummer. She also voiced Drummer in the video game based on the show.