Michael Greyeyes

Early Life & Education

Michael Greyeyes was born and grew up in Saskatchewan. He is the son of George and Jean Greyeyes. He was raised in Saskatoon and would regularly travel with his family to nearby Indigenous communities to attend powwows and other gatherings.

Did You Know?
Michael Greyeyes describes his name as common among his people. He mentions an ancestor from the Wyoming area of the US, who, upon arrival in Canada, adopted the name “Steele” because of his piercing steel-gray eyes. Many of his descendants adopted the name “Steele”, while others chose Greyeyes or Greyeyes-Steele, such as Mary Greyeyes Reid (the first Indigenous woman to join the Canadian Forces), and her brother David Georges Greyeyes-Steele, both of whom were from Muskeg Lake Cree Nation. Because of the prominence of the name “Greyeyes,” Michael likens it to being named “John Smith,” while noting non-Indigenous people tend to think of it as very unique.

Both of Greyeyes’ parents are from First Nations in Saskatchewan. George Greyeyes is from Muskeg Lake Cree Nation. Jean Greyeyes is from Sweetgrass First Nation.

At the age of nine, Greyeyes was accepted into the National Ballet School. Greyeyes’ interest in ballet started when his sister’s ballet instructor invited him to try out after overhearing him say that he thought it looked easy. He has stated he had not intended to apply to the National Ballet School. His sister, Phyllis, applied for both her and Greyeyes. As a result of his acceptance, he and his entire family moved to Toronto. Greyeyes has stated that his family moved to Toronto to support his dance career based upon his mother’s experiences of residential school. The loneliness of being separated from her family informed their decision to move with Greyeyes when he was accepted into the National Ballet School.

Greyeyes holds a master’s degree in fine arts from Kent State University’s School of Theatre and Dance. He completed his degree in 2003.

Dancing Career

During his time with the National Ballet School, Michael Greyeyes was one of only three Indigenous ballet dancers at the school. He performed in ballets such as The Nutcracker. Greyeyes graduated from the National Ballet School. He then worked as an apprentice with the National Ballet of Canada before being promoted to the corps de ballet in 1987. He then danced as a soloist with the company of choreographer Eliot Feld in New York City until the early 1990s.

Acting Career

It was while working for Eliot Feld that Michael Greyeyes injured his leg, forcing him to stop practising ballet and start looking for a new line of work. Greyeyes has stated that films with Indigenous characters in important, leading roles led him to seriously consider a career as an actor. He noted that prior to films like Dances with Wolves and Last of the Mohicans, most Indigenous characters he saw in film and television were caricatures that did not represent his lived reality. Greyeyes’ first role was in the television movie Geronimo. His second was that of the character Gooch in the film Dance Me Outside, which was particularly popular among Indigenous audiences. Greyeyes continued portraying famous Indigenous leaders, including Crazy Horse in a 1996 television movie, Tecumseh in a 2009 episode of PBS’ The American Experience, and Chief Sitting Bull in the film Woman Walks Ahead.

Some of his other notable appearances include as a Tlingit leader in the television miniseries Klondike, as Qaletaqa Walker in Fear the Walking Dead, Brett Woodard in the third season of True Detective, Jimmy Saint in V-Wars, Sam Gillis in Home Before Dark and Terry Thomas in Rutherford Falls.

Teaching Career

Michael Greyeyes is an associate professor in the Department of Theatre at York University’s School of Arts, Media, Performance and Design. He teaches physical performance and devised theatre. He has also served as a graduate program director. He has been reported as being a passionate educator who is blunt with his criticism and effusive with his praise.

Directing Career

In addition to his acting, dancing and teaching careers, Michael Greyeyes is also an acclaimed director. He was the founding artistic director of Toronto’s Signal Theatre in 2010. Signal Theatre is “…a company that engages in practice-based research to create live performance, exploring dance, opera, music, design and the spoken word.” Signal Theatre produces original works in a variety of performance mediums, including opera, music, dance, spoken word and design.

Greyeyes has numerous production credits to his name. He contributed to from thine eyes, a full-length dance theatre work that premiered at Toronto’s Harbourfront Centre in 2011. He was also part of A Soldier’s Tale, which was commissioned by the National Arts Centre for the Canada Dance Festival in 2014. Additionally, he collaborated with Indigenous playwright Yvette Nolan on Bearing, which looks at the legacy of the residential schools in Canada. In 2020, Greyeyes directed Pawâkan Macbeth, an Indigenous retelling of the story of Macbeth that was commissioned by the Stratford Festival.

Awards & Accolades

Michael Greyeyes has been nominated for numerous awards. In 2001, he won the First Americans in the Arts Award for ‘Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a TV Movie/Special’ for his role in The Lost Child. In 2022, he was twice nominated for Film Independent Spirit Awards, one for ‘Best Male Lead’ in the film Wild Indian, and another for ‘Best Male Performance in a New Scripted Series’ for Rutherford Falls. That year, he was also invited to join the Academy of Motions Picture Arts and Sciences. He was also nominated for ‘outstanding performance’ awards for the same roles at the 2021 Gotham Awards. In 2021, he won the Canadian Screen Award for best performance by an actor in a leading role for his performance in the film Blood Quantum (see also Jeff Barnaby).

Outside of his acting career, Greyeyes has also received nominations and awards for his dance and directorial career. He was nominated for a Dora Award, along will Cole Alvis, for his direction of Two Odysseys: Pimooteewin / Gállábártnit, a production of Indigenous opera with librettos in Cree and Sami. In 2021, Dance Collection Danse inducted Greyeyes into the DCD Hall of Fame.