Lily Gladstone Made History as the First Indigenous Woman to Win a Golden Globe

Lily Gladstone just made history at the 2024 Golden Globe Awards. In accepting the award for best performance by a female actor in a motion picture (drama) for their portrayal of Mollie Burkhart in Killers of the Flower Moon, Gladstone became the first Indigenous woman to win a Golden Globe.

The actor, who uses she/they pronouns, gave a heartfelt acceptance speech, which began in Blackfeet language. They reflected on the groundbreaking nature of the win. “This is a historic one,” Gladstone said. “It doesn’t belong to just me.”

Lily Gladstone accepts award for Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Motion Picture Drama for “Killers of the Flower Moon” at the 81st Golden Globe Awards held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on January 7, 2024 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Rich Polk/Golden Globes 2024/Golden Globes 2024 via Getty Images)Rich Polk/Golden Globes 2024/Getty Images

Gladstone, who, per the Oklahoman, was born and raised on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation in Montana, also paid sartorial tribute to their tribe by wearing earrings made by Blackfeet designer Lenise Omeaso of Antelope Women Designs, according to InStyle. The jewels added some sparkle to their look (by Valentino), which included a strapless white gown and a theatrical black opera coat. Gladstone’s co-star, Leonardo DiCaprio, also gave a nod to the Osage Nation, the tribe whose story is told in Killer of the Flower Moon, with a pin affixed to his tuxedo.

After beginning their heartfelt speech in Blackfeet language, they shared the below:

“I love everyone in this room right now, thank you. I don’t have words. I just spoke a bit of Blackfeet language, the beautiful community nation that raised me, that encouraged me to keep going, to keep doing this.

I’m here with my mom, who, even though she’s not Blackfeet, worked tirelessly to get our language into our classroom so I had a Blackfeet language teacher growing up. This award belongs to—and I hope I don’t get counted down too fast because this [win] is a historic one. I’m so grateful that I can speak even a little big of my language, which I’m not fluent in, up here, because in this business, native actors used to speak their lines in English and then the sound mixers would run them backwards to accomplish native languages on camera.

This is a historic win. It doesn’t belong to just me. I’m holding it right now, I’m holding it with all my beautiful sisters and the film at this table over here and my mother, Tantoo Cardinal, [I’m] standing on all of your shoulders. Thank you, thank you, Marty, thank you Leo, thank you Bob. You are all changing things. Thank you for being such allies, thank you Eric. Thank you Chief Standing Bear.”

Then, Lily Gladstone spoke Osage before a final thank-you:

I’m at a loss for what else to say. Thank you to Apple. Thank you my manager and my agent, Jill and Sasha. Thank you to all of you. And this is for every rez kid, every little urban kid, every little Native kid out there who has a dream, who is seeing themselves represented and our stories told by ourselves in our own words, with tremendous allies and tremendous trust from with and from each other. So thank you all so much!”