Georgina Lightning

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Georgina Lightning: Film director and screenwriter

Born: July 4, 1963, Edmonton Alberta

Nickname: Georgie

Height: 5′ 4″ (1.63 m)

Georgina Lightning brings a long track record of creative experience in the film industry as an actor, producer, director and acting coach on such projects as: Dreamkeepers, Backroads, Johnny Greyeyes, Christmas in the Clouds, Tecumseh, the Oath and Smoke Signals among countless others. Lightning has also guest starred in T.V. episodes of Walker, Texas Ranger and West Wing.

Lightning's directorial debut Older Than America has won over 23 awards to date and is inspired by stories told to her by many of her family members and friends who attended the Indian Boarding schools. Most recently Lightning co-founded Tribal Alliance Productions, a production company committed to producing media that matters told from a native prospective. A long time advocate of Native Indian advancement in the film industry, Lightning also formed Native Media Network, a group dedicated to the promotion and advancement of Native Indian talent.

- IMDb Mini Biography By: Marsha Trainer

Born in Edmonton, Alberta, she is an enrolled member of the Samson Cree Nation. She was raised off-reserve, near the Samson community in Edmonton, Alberta.

In 2007, she was featured in Filmmaker Magazine as one of 25 New Faces of Independent Film. In 2010 she was the recipient of the "White House Project- Epic-Award for Emerging Artist". She co-founded Tribal Alliance Productions, partnering with executive producer Audrey Martinez, as a means to create opportunities for Native American, First Nations, and other Indigenousfilmmakers.

In 2008, Lightning directed, wrote, and starred in the supernatural thriller film Older Than America, becoming the first North American Indigenous Woman to direct a major feature film. The film won several major awards at film festivals. She based the film on her father's experience with the Canadian Indian residential school system and other personal family stories.

Lightning is an outspoken advocate for First Nations and Native American causes, working towards a greater appreciation and awareness of the intrinsic value of North American Indigenous cultures to not only Indigenous people themselves, but to society in general. Her three children are either currently or previously working actors. They are Crystle Lightning, Cody Lightning, and William Lightning.

At the 9th Canadian Screen Awards in 2021, she received a nomination for Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for her performance in Trickster.