Buffy Sainte-Marie

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.

Movies & TV Shows

1. The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962) — Self
2. Top of the Pops (1964) — Self
3. The Virginian (1962) — Nai'Be
4. Austin City Limits (1975) — Self
5. Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked the World (2017) — Self
6. Festival (1967) — Self
7. Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child (1995) — The Spirit (voice)
8. Broken Rainbow (1985) — Translator's Voice (voice)
9. The Merv Griffin Show (1962) — Self
10. Greenwich Village: Music That Defined a Generation (2013) — Self
11. The Broken Chain (1993) — Gesina 'Grandmother' / Seth's Wife
12. Kraft Music Hall (1958) — Self
13. The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour (1969) — Self
14. Then Came Bronson (1969) — Tender Grass
15. Dinah! (1974) — Self
16. Saint Misbehavin': The Wavy Gravy Movie (2010) — Self
17. Buffy Sainte-Marie: Carry It On (2022) — Self
18. Stronger Together, Tous Ensemble (2020) — Self
19. Buffy (2010) — Self
20. Making a Noise: A Native American Musical Journey with Robbie Robertson (1999) — Self - Cree (archive footage)
21. Buffy Sainte-Marie: Up Where We Belong (1996) — Main Artist
22. Uranium (1990) — Self - Narrator (voice)
23. As Long as the Rivers Run (1971) — Self
24. Buffy Sainte-Marie: A Multimedia Life (2006) — Self
25. The Doctrine of Discovery: Unmasking the Domination Code (2015) — Narrator
26. Walkabout to Hollywood (1980) — Self
27. A Walking Tour of Sesame Street (1979) — Buffy (archive footage) (uncredited)
28. The Creative Person: The Folksinger (1965) — Self
29. On the Trail of Easy Rider: 40 Years On... Still Searching for America (2011) — Self