Cheri Maracle

Cheri Maracle is a Canadian actress and musician. Maracle is Mohawk/Irish of the Six Nations Grand River Territory. Maracle is a member of the Six Nations of the Grand River First Nation. She is also known as Sherie Maracle

Maracle was in seventh grade when she got hit with the acting bug, “It was a movement piece on the Creation story, Skywoman Falling From the Sky, and was performed by two actors; Rosa John, and her partner. I was struck by what they were doing and knew immediately that that was what I wanted to do. It was like I was hit by a lightening bolt…I knew.”

Maracle graduated from Prince Rupert Senior Secondary Class of 1989 in Prince Rupert, British Columbia.

Maracle currently resides in Brantford, Ontario.

When she was seventeen, Maracle moved to Vancouver to train in theater at Capilano College, 1991 to 1992 · Acting/Voice · Vancouver, British Columbia Theater, and Spirit Song Native Indian Theater School. Afterward she began building a professional career when she was only 20 years old as an indigenous performer in theater, film and music. You may have recognized her as ‘Misty Moon’ from the Canadian comedy series “Blackfly”, or from her role as ‘Mrs. Wolfe’ in the APTN drama “Moccassin Flats”.

Maracle has a theatre-trained background and has performed professionally for the past 20 years across Canada, the United States, and Europe.

She is best known for her roles in the television series Blackfly and Moccasin Flats, the 2007 film Tkaronto and stage productions of Tomson Highway's Ernestine Shuswap Gets Her Trout. In 2014, her performance as Sarah Bull on the APTN show Blackstone earned her a Canadian Screen Awards nomination.^[1]

Maracle was nominated for the prestigious K.M. Hunter Theatre award 2007, and 2014 for her body of theatrical work, and from 2006-2008 was an artistic associate of the Dora award winning Aboriginal women's theatre company, Turtle Gals.

Maracle's original music style is jazz fueled, percussion driven, layered with her trademark smooth sultry smokey vocals, at once evocative, haunting and unforgettable. Her recent release, jazz Cd, titled Ache of Love, reflects her passion for fiery torch driven diva inspired songs, and is her most complex writing so far.

As a musician, she has performed as a backing vocalist for Jerry Alfred and the Medicine Beat, Tamara Podemski and Sandy Scofield, and as both a lead and supporting vocalist for Tiyoweh and The Showbiz Indians.

Maracle has been performing with her quartet in the last three years at various jazz and blues festivals across the country. She also frequently performs original compositions and contemporary and classic Jazz standards, locally, with her piano partner of 12 years, Brendan Peltier. Together they incite an enveloping and inviting expressive sound that keeps them being invited back to perform at festivals, and gin-joints across Canada.

Maracle also performs a one-woman musical about the life of Mohawk poet Pauline Johnson. Throughout the run of this production Maracle has developed a great respect for the writer, “She was an insanely talented artist, and a really brave woman in her art and in her life. A trailblazer. A woman ‘before her time’. The more I study her, the more respect I gain for her, and the more understanding, passion, and empathy I have for her and the challenges she faced back then.”

She appeared in Prince Rupert on March 10, 2015 to visit the school and teach students about the business of acting.

Maracle now has a recurring role on Degrassi: Next Class as Ms. Cardinal, the mother of Grace Cardinal.

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