Hosting aboriginal awards show really is day at the Beach for actor

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Manitoba actor Adam Beach got his big break in Squanto: A Warrior’s Tale. (SUPPLIED PHOTO)

FOR  Adam Beach, this is all about the victories.

The Manitoba-born actor, who knows more than most about overcoming obstacles and achieving far beyond what was believed possible, says returning home to co-host the 16th annual National Aboriginal Achievement Awards (which air Saturday at 8 p.m. on Global and 10 p.m. on APTN) provides an opportunity to join in a celebration that focuses on the positives at a time when too much of the news about Canada's native population tends toward the negative.

"The awards give us a validation that tells us that we are a success," Beach said in an interview just hours before the dress rehearsal for the show, which was taped March 6 in Winnipeg. "We will always have good and bad, but the tendency of some particular media is always to bring out the negative, because that negative stuff makes for good 'news.'

"This is a time to celebrate the successes that aren't really acknowledged in the media most of the time.... It's a celebration of the fact we've overcome all that pressure, all those negatives, and these are the success stories."

This year's field of 15 NAAA recipients includes a teenage dancer from rural Manitoba (Special Youth Award winner Chelsea Lavallée), a veterinarian from Norway House (Candace Grier-Lowe), an Olympic swimmer from Quebec (Adam Sioui), a politician from the Far North (Nunavut's first premier, Paul Okalik) and a social worker from Nova Scotia (Joan Glode).

The 2009 NAAA Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to Rev. Stan Cuthand of the Little Pine First Nation in Saskatchewan. An expert in Cree language and culture, Cuthand facilitated the involvement of his people in the province's decision-making process, helped draft the first constitution of the Federation of Saskatchewan Indians and became the first person to teach Cree at the university level.

The elaborate 90-minute show, which is co-hosted by actor/politician Tina Keeper, features musical contributions from rocker George Leach, local artists Eagle & Hawk, rising star Janet Panic and a rousing finale by the Métis Fiddlers and Asham Stompers.

Beach said he takes inspiration from the accomplishments of the NAAA recipients, and hopes his own against-the-odds success provides a boost for those who tune in Saturday's two-network broadcast.

"My role in this show is to represent myself as a role model; to represent myself as a success, as someone who has lived in Winnipeg, who has been touched by the gang infrastructure, who has had the struggles of living in and dealing with the issues of the North End, and who has accomplished something when everyone was against the idea of even trying," he said. "I think it's a success story that people can relate to."

Beach, now 36, is a product of Vogar whose parents both died tragically -- in the span of 41 days -- when he was eight years old. Raised, along with his two siblings, in Winnipeg by his aunt, Beach became interested in acting during his teens and landed a few small roles in local productions before a huge, unexpected break -- the starring role in the Disney-produced 1994 feature Squanto: A Warrior's Tale -- catapulted him to Hollywood stardom.

Since then, Beach has remained in constant demand, carving out a steady career that includes character roles in such independent films as Dance Me Outside and Smoke Signals, supporting parts in Hollywood blockbusters like Windtalkers and Flags of Our Fathers and TV appearances in PBS's Skinwalkers, HBO's Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee and the locally produced CBC miniseries Cowboys and Indians: The J.J. Harper Story.

Beach also landed a co-starring role in the NBC drama Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, but left the show after just one season.

"(Doing a network series) is a hard grind, and I wasn't used to being stationed in one place for so long," Beach explained. "At the same time, I was going through a separation and divorce, so there was a lot of personal stress. In the end, my heart wasn't in it.

"But being on a top show like that helped catapult the image of who we are; basically, in one year, that show did what I've been trying to do for 15 years."

Beach recently completed work on a lacrosse-themed movie called Warriors and is currently focused on helping to launch NTV (Native Television), an aboriginal-focused online TV project.

"Basically, we will have a sovereign nation in cyberspace," he said. "We've got big plans to change the world."

brad.oswald@freepress.mb.ca

TV WORTH WATCHING:

The Great Food Revolution: A Citizen's Guide to Eating in the 21st Century (CBC, tonight at 8) -- this two-part, four-hour documentary series (which concludes March 26) examines how appetites, attitudes and the complex process of supply and demand have changed during the past couple of decades and explores how new technology and exploding global population will affect food production in the future. 

Chuck Jones: Memories of Childhood (TCM, Tuesday at 7 p.m.) -- This documentary tribute to the legendary Warner Bros. animator features one of the last filmed interviews with Jones and clips from his classic Bugs Bunny cartoons.

TV ON DVD:

Andy Richter Controls the Universe: The Complete Series (release date March 24) -- Conan O'Brien's former-and-soon-to-be-again sidekick's first foray into TV-series stardom deserved a better fate than the first-season cancellation that befell it. Richter plays a frustrated writer whose imagination provides much better endings to his stories than his mundane real life ever could.

NOT-QUITE-TV PICK:

Penn Says (Crackle.com) -- Self-described atheist and libertarian Penn Jillette -- better known as the tall, loudly vocal half of the comical-magic duo Penn & Teller -- delivers no-holds-barred rants on everything from politics, religion and the war on drugs to the proper pronunciation of Dr. Seuss's name.

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition March 19, 2009 E8