Lily Gladstone, born on August 2, 1986, in Kalispell, Montana, is an American actress of Blackfeet, Nez Perce, and European descent. Raised on the Blackfeet Reservation, her early life was deeply rooted in her Indigenous heritage.

Her great-great-grandfather was Kainai Nation chief Red Crow, and she is descended from the first cousin of British Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone. Her desire to become an actress was sparked at the age of five after watching Return of the Jedi.

Her journey in the performing arts began with a role as an evil step-sister in Cinderella at the Missoula Children's Theatre. She later moved to the Seattle area during her middle school years and continued to pursue acting through Stone Soup Theatre.

She graduated from Mountlake Terrace High School in 2004 and went on to earn a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Acting/Directing from the University of Montana in 2008.

Her career took off with her feature film debut in Jimmy P: Psychotherapy of a Plains Indian (2012). She gained critical acclaim for her role as a reclusive rancher in Kelly Reichardt's Certain Women (2016), which earned her several awards, including the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress.

Lily Gladstone continued to collaborate with Reichardt in First Cow (2019) and received praise for her performance in Martin Scorsese's Killers of the Flower Moon (2023), where she portrayed Mollie Kyle, an Osage woman who survived the Osage Indian murders.

Her achievements have been groundbreaking, making her the first Native American to win the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama and to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress. Her performance in the crime drama miniseries Under the Bridge (2024) earned her a nomination for a Primetime Emmy Award.