Carmen Moore – Biography

Carmen Moore, who is Wet’suwet’en First Nations on her father’s side, and Scots/Irish on her mother’s, was born on Christmas Eve 1972. Growing up on Canada’s West Coast was relatively uneventful and immediately after leaving Port Moody Senior Secondary in British Columbia, she began taking acting lessons at the Spirit Song Native Theatre Company.

Moore stayed there for nine months learning her craft, but began to go after roles in local theatre as soon as she felt she was ready. Little did she know the world of theatre would welcome her like a breath of fresh air. She gained recognition for her work almost immediately and was nominated twice for Vancouver’s Jesse Richardson Award: Best Supporting Actress in 1993 and Best Actress in 1996. After one of those performances, Moore was approached by an agent, which was another big step in her career. She made her film debut in Far from Home: The Adventures of Yellow Dog (1995), but all of her scenes ended up on the cutting room floor. Her next project was as the lead opposite Joey Lawrence in the made-for-television movie Brothers of the Frontier. Now represented by Jamie Levitt through Lauren Levitt and Associates in Vancouver, Moore has maintained a hectic pace, working almost continuously in episodic television. Just some of her credits over the past few years include appearances on The Commish, North of 60, Stargate, Police Academy: The series, Da Vinci’s Inquest, The Net, First Wave, Seven Days and UC: Undercover. More recently she played a character named Tri-Jema in a few episodes of Andromeda and was in an episode of Battlestar Galactica: The Resistance, but she has been able to land on-going roles too.

Moore played the part of Rita George in the CBC series, Nothing too Good for a Cowboy, and in 2001 landed the role of Deputy Molly on CBS’s Wolf Lake. In Canada, Wolf Lake aired on the Space Channel. Initially the role was to have been a relatively small part, but with each episode the writers gave her more to do and more lines of dialogue and her character grew substantially. Wolf Lake starred Lou Diamond Phillips, Graham Greene and Tim Matheson, who was onced married to Jennifer Leak. Another Northernstar, Mia Kirshner also had a regular role in this series. Moore next played Sherry Goodstriker, in CBC’s Tom Stone, which wasn’t

renewed after its initial good showing but she then found a home on Godiva’s for 19 episodes. In 2006 she had the lead in Carl Bessai’s Unnatural and Accidental, and in 2007 joined the cast of the TV series Flash Gordon.

Moore, pictured in the role of Leona Stoney on Blackstone, which began life as a made-for-TV movie that was the pilot of the subsequent series. Written, created, directed and produced by Ron E. Scott, Moore’s character was a recovered drug addict and alcoholic who became a counsellor in the city who was able too bring her healing back to her own community, shouldering the responsibility of caring for those around her. Shot in and around Edmonton, Alberta, Blackstone follows the lives of people living on the Blackstone reserve. In addition to Moore, the series costarred other well-known Indigenous Canadian actors including Nathaniel Arcand, Eric Schweig, Andrea Menard, Michelle Thrush, Roseanne Supernault, Steven Cree Molison, Ashely Callingbull, Michael Holden and Gordon Tootoosis, who passed away in July, 2011. Moore won the Leo Award in 2011 and for her work on Blackstone.

Episodic TV appearances in 2016 include roles on The Magicians, Bates Motel, Arrow, Chesapeake Shores and the final season of Motive.

Also see: Carmen Moore’s filmography