By Eli Funaro
Reservation Dogs actor D’Pharoah Woon-A-Tai has been cast in the movie Warfare. The new film from A24 follows a NAVY SEALS mission in the Iraq War. The movie will be directed by Alex Garland (Civil War, Annihilation) and Iraq War Veteran Ray Mendoza, who also wrote the script. The film is based on Mendoza’s experiences as a NAVY SEAL during the war in 2006.
D’Pharoah Woon-A-Tai will be portraying the onscreen persona of Ray Mendoza in Warfare. Along with other rising actors such as Will Poulter, Joseph Quinn, Charlie Melton and Michael Gandolfini, the film is intended to be a real time, boots on the ground, visceral portrayal of modern combat.
D’Pharoah Woon-A-Tai is a young Native Amercan actor who is from the Anisininew tribe and has been making a name for himself in the film industry. With roles in Beans and Fitting In, Woon-A-Tai is one of the bigger names in Native Media. His breakout role as Bear in the highly successful show Reservation Dogs, has gained him more exposure. Woon-A-Tai’s seems to be taking advantage of that success with his role in Warfare.
This new film is giving Indigenous actors like D’Pharoah Woon-A-Tai a chance to shine in an industry where Native Americans are often overlooked and dismissed. As much as Hollywood tends to promote diversity and inclusion, Indigenous people are still mostly invisible from mainstream media. Native actors are often shoe-horned into stereotypical historical roles decked out in buckskin feather costumes, or in some cases, losing Native roles to actors with no Indigenous heritage. Woon-A-Tai’s casting in Warfare continues to expand his body of work and hopefully will lead to more opportunities for Indigenous actors.
Warfare is set to release in early 2025.
