{{Short description|American actress (born 1959)}} {{more footnotes|date=March 2013}} {{use mdy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox person | name = Sheila Tousey | birth_name = Sheila May Tousey | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1959|06|4}} | birth_place = Keshena, Wisconsin, U.S. | years_active = 1992–present | occupation = Actress | education = University of New Mexico, Albuquerque (BA)<br>New York University (MFA) }}
'''Sheila May Tousey''' (born June 4, 1959) is a Native American actress.
==Biography== Born in Keshena, Wisconsin in 1959, Tousey is a stage and film actress of Menominee and Stockbridge-Munsee descent. She was raised on both Menominee and Stockbridge-Munsee reservations. Tousey began dancing as a small child.<ref>{{cite web|title=Sheila Tousey|url=http://www.mohican-nsn.gov/Community/Artists/sheilatousey.htm|website=Stockbridge-Munsee Community Band of Mohican Indians|publisher=Mohican Nation|accessdate=13 September 2015|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130428094328/http://www.mohican-nsn.gov/Community/Artists/sheilatousey.htm|archivedate=28 April 2013}}</ref>
She did not perform on stage until she attended Albuquerque's University of New Mexico. She initially entered the university's law program, planning to specialize in federal contracts and Native American law, but later changed her major to English. At the time, she started taking theater arts courses. After graduating, Tousey enrolled in the graduate acting program at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. She directed her first play, ''An Evening at the Warbonnet,'' at the University of New Mexico in 1994.<ref name=ICTMN>{{cite news|last1=Pond|first1=Roscoe|title=From Hollywood, Tracking Actress Sheila Tousey|url=http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2003/12/04/hollywood-tracking-actress-sheila-tousey-89665|accessdate=13 September 2015|work=Indian Country Today|publisher=ICT Media Network|date=December 4, 2003}}</ref>
Tousey has become a professional dancer and actress. Her first movie role was in ''Thunderheart'' (1992), and she appeared in ''Medicine River'' that same year.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Aleiss|first1=Angela|title=Making the White Man's Indian: Native Americans and Hollywood Movies|url=https://archive.org/details/makingwhitemansi00alei|url-access=registration|date=2005|publisher=Praeger Press|location=Westport, CT|page=[https://archive.org/details/makingwhitemansi00alei/page/156 156]|isbn=978-0-275-98396-3 }}</ref> Her succeeding roles have been in a variety of characters, including appearances on ''Law & Order''. Beginning in 2002, she has appeared in four movies adapted from Tony Hillerman mystery novels, which feature Native Americans of the Southwest.<ref name=NMAI>{{cite web|title=Sheila Tousey|url=http://filmcatalog.nmai.si.edu/person/1653/|website=National Museum of the American Indian|publisher=Smithsonian Institution|accessdate=13 September 2015}}</ref>
==Filmography== {| class="wikitable" ! colspan=4 style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Film |- ! Year ! Title ! Role ! Notes |- | 1992 | ''Thunderheart'' | Maggie Eagle Bear | Last surviving cast |- | rowspan="2"|1993 | ''Medicine River'' | Louise Heavyman | |- | ''Slaughter of the Innocents'' | Agent Lemar | |- | 1994 | ''Silent Tongue'' | Awbonnie/Ghost | |- | 1995 | ''Lord of Illusions'' | Jennifer Desiderio | |- | 1996 | ''Grand Avenue'' | Mollie | |- | rowspan="2"|1997 | ''Song of Hiawatha'' | Nokomis | |- | ''Sparkler'' | Hurricane | |- | rowspan="2"|1999 | ''Ravenous'' | Martha | |- | ''Wildflowers'' | Martha | |- | rowspan="2"|2000 | ''Backroads'' | Grace Nelson | |- | ''The Other Side'' | Edna | |- | 2001 | ''Two Grey Hills'' | Nellie Begay | |- | 2002 | ''Skinwalkers'' | Emma Leaphorn | |- | rowspan="2"|2003 | ''Dreamkeeper'' | Janine | |- | ''Coyote Waits'' | Emma Leaphorn | |- | 2004 | ''A Thief of Time'' | Emma Leaphorn | |- | rowspan="3"|2005 | ''Johnny Tootall'' | Agnes | |- | ''Into the West'' |Older Thunder Heart Woman | |- | ''Christmas in the Clouds '' | Mary | |}
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * {{IMDb name|0869721}} * {{IOBDB name|502}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tousey, Sheila}} Category:1960 births Category:Living people Category:People from Keshena, Wisconsin Category:Actresses from Wisconsin Category:Menominee people Category:University of New Mexico alumni Category:20th-century Native American people Category:21st-century Native American people Category:20th-century Native American women Category:21st-century Native American actresses Category:Native American people from Wisconsin