How did you get into acting?

I was in high school. A couple of my friends and I decided we had to be in a class together where we could fool around, and drama was it because we'd do improvs, beating each other up. They left a year later, and I stayed in and got a knack for it, and enjoyed the whole process.

So that was 10th grade?

I did that for a couple of years, and my aunt came across a casting agent looking for an actor for a film. I went in, didn't get the part, but I did an extra role. And while I was doing it, the director was in the process of doing another one and said that I should get into professional theater. So I went into class for about six months in a volunteer theater group, auditioned for plays and did about two a year. The fourth year the director called back, and I did my first movie of the week.

What movie was that?

Spirit Rider. I played Paul LeBlanc, who was a bad boy, an emotional guy. It was about repatriation of kids to the reservation.

What are the big lessons that you've learned about acting since then?

Number one is you can't lie to the camera. You've got to somehow get into a space where everything's a reality to the character. Personally, I've learned a lot about myself -- what I do in everyday life, how I drink coffee, how I talk to somebody. I've learned how my mechanics work and who I am, and how much emotion is inside me that I hold back.

What's your take on Jim Chee?

Jim Chee is trying to figure out how to balance the work of medicine man and of a police officer.... And that's pretty hard, because he's trying to live up to being the peaceful medicine man, but also the authoritative, in-your-face cop. So I have to figure out that fine line of emotion and expression. I can't blow up, because he's been learning for many years now how to be pretty cool. I'm trying to find that balance into the two.... Wes is the solid detective, so playing off him allows me to find that level.

So when you say "cool," that would be the medicine man?

He has to be this role model to the community, so if he loses his cool, a lot of people are going to be looking at him in disappointment. He doesn't want to disappoint anybody.

How is it working with Chris Eyre?

Working with Chris again has brought back a lot of memories from when I did Smoke Signals, because Smoke Signals was the first time I was real with my emotions to the camera and to my other fellow actors. It was a steppingstone for me and a learning experience -- allowing myself to let go of everything I have inside to give the best possible performance. So coming back I hoped I could show Chris that I've learned a lot more and I have a lot more to give. And I hope our knowing each other will help benefit the project.

Why was Smoke Signals the first time you learned that? You'd acted before that.

I never understood the realism of an imaginary circumstance. While I was doing Smoke Signals, I relied on my instinct and what I grew up with. I had this energy, but it was a one-dimensional thing. Now I know how to think like a character and respond more loosely, and not be the one yelling at somebody. There's a reason why you're yelling. What is it? So it's a little more complicated now.

With Smoke Signals, the character was so much like me growing up. I lost my parents, and I wish I'd had an opportunity to find out where they were. So I was reflecting on how I grew up, that feeling of abandonment. That whole film was a reality that I always held back and kept to myself. And working with Chris, he brought me out of it. I felt comfortable. I trusted him to take care of me if I ever broke down, which he did.

How did he bring you out of it?

He reflected a bit of his life, and that easily allowed me to talk about my life. He asked certain questions about how far I would go. Realizing the project and what it meant, I told him I'd give it my all.... Sometimes I needed him to talk to me, give voice to what I was feeling at the time as a character, so I can hear that echo and I [can] respond to it, because if somebody says, "Man, your dad died -- how do you feel?," automatically you're going to express what's coming. We were a team when we were working on a film, and I'm proud of it. ... I also liked the idea that Smoke Signals was an all-Indian project.... At Sundance it won the [Audience Choice] award, and after that people have given us a little credit, allowing us to do more projects on our own.

How does it feel to be working on this film?

What's nice about Skinwalkers is it's allowing an audience to see a different Indian perspective.... I think, for myself, I'm trying to put the Indian perspective in a different dimension. I don't want it to always be a Hollywood romanticism, running-in the-woods thing.... I'm hoping to play an Indian in the future -- Star Trek maybe. Or not Star Trek, but where are we in the year 2004? ... There's still a lot of stories that still need to be told, and this is one of them. Hopefully we can continue into another adventure of Jim Chee and Leaphorn.

What are the differences between the Saulteaux and the Navajo?

I'm Saulteaux Indian from up in Canada, and the difference from my tribe to the Navajo tribe is that our language is a whole different dialect. ... The Navajo have this drawl that is so difficult to learn. ... Back home it's a lot easier, a lot drier sound. ... The Navajos are so respected in the north because their culture, their language is still intact so strong, and their traditional ways still exist; they haven't been lost. Back home, a lot of us have fallen and picked ourselves up. There's some medicines out here that we use back home. We still have probably the same living conditions, meaning the government homes, and the land. But the Navajos have their huge land, which is cool. We share the same knowledge as to the love of Mother Earth and the respect for human beings and the four-legged, but to say we're the same, I can't really say that.

You said that the Navajo have held on to their culture better. Why is that?

I don't really know the history of the Navajo people. I'd like to know more. I think... their land has really kept them strong as a people. They've never really looked at success the way a lot of other people have. Their success is in their hearts and keeping their culture alive.

What happened with the Saulteaux?

The Saulteaux people, there was a time when... boarding schools took away a lot of the kids from their communities. It was the law. They'd come in, take your kids, and you're gone for nine months a year. The kids were stripped of their language, their culture, and their self. That went on for three decades. ... I'm a part of that whole destruction, and I'm learning my language and my culture. So I feel proud of who I am, but I'm still putting my puzzle together in my heart.

You talk about keeping your culture alive. How does this movie fit into that?

I'm hoping this film sends a message out to everybody that it's important to have a balance within yourself. It's important to let people see who you are. It's important for the world to know the Indian people out there and how we manage ourselves, to give that different perspective. I'm hoping that a lot of the young Indian kids can look up to us as role models and see that we are not corralled on our reservation location, that we are part of North America, the world out there. Hopefully, in the next 10 or 20 years, a lot of the kids can pursue being on the tribal police, pursue being a detective, pursue being a traditional medicine man, pursue keeping their culture alive, pursue being an Indian.