Biography
Canadian-born American singer-songwriter, guitarist, political activist, and visual artist known especially for her use of music to promote awareness of issues affecting Native Americans. Orphaned as an infant in Canada when her mother, a Plains Cree, died in an auto accident, Sainte-Marie was adopted by an U.S. couple of Mi’kmaq ancestry and raised in Massachusetts & Maine. Her earliest days as a self-taught folk singer were spent shaking up the coffeehouses and consciousnesses in Greenwich Village and helping Joni Mitchell get discovered. Along with her lifelong commitment to and advocacy for Indigenous and Aboriginal people around the world, she has changed the education system from within, and maintained an unwavering passion for social justice, equality and the Earth mixed with her love of sound and songs. Her legacy is that of as an ever-curious, ever-evolving, and technologically pioneering musician, producer, composer and artist — despite her inability to read a note of music.
Filmography
Cast Credits
Buffy Sainte-Marie: Carry It On
Character: Self
MOVIE • 2022
Stronger Together, Tous Ensemble
Character: Self
MOVIE • 2020
Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked the World
Character: Self
MOVIE • 2017
The Doctrine of Discovery: Unmasking the Domination Code
Character: Narrator
MOVIE • 2015
Greenwich Village: Music That Defined a Generation
Character: Self
MOVIE • 2013
On the Trail of Easy Rider: 40 Years On... Still Searching for America
Character: self
TV • 2011
Saint Misbehavin': The Wavy Gravy Movie
Character: Self
MOVIE • 2010
Buffy
Character: Self
MOVIE • 2010
Buffy Sainte-Marie: A Multimedia Life
Character: Self
MOVIE • 2006
Making a Noise: A Native American Musical Journey with Robbie Robertson
Character: Self - Cree (archive footage)
MOVIE • 1999
Buffy Sainte-Marie: Up Where We Belong
Character: Main Artist
MOVIE • 1996
Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child
Character: The Spirit (voice)
TV • 1995
The Broken Chain
Character: Gesina 'Grandmother' / Seth's Wife
MOVIE • 1993
Uranium
Character: Self - Narrator (voice)
MOVIE • 1990
Broken Rainbow
Character: Translator's Voice (voice)
MOVIE • 1985
Walkabout to Hollywood
Character: Self
MOVIE • 1980
A Walking Tour of Sesame Street
Character: Buffy (archive footage) (uncredited)
MOVIE • 1979
Austin City Limits
Character: Self
TV • 1975
Dinah!
Character: Self
TV • 1974
As Long as the Rivers Run
Character: Self
MOVIE • 1971
Crew
