The Canadian First Nations actor stars opposite Zahn McClarnon and Kiowa Gordon in the new AMC series.
When Lt. Joe Leaphorn (Zahn McClarnon) finds himself in the middle of a murder investigation near his remote Navajo Nation outpost, he knows who he can trust to have his back. And sometimes, he’s not certain that his new officer Jim Chee (Kiowa Gordon) is one of those people.
On the other hand, he has unwavering and altogether justified faith in Bernadette Manuelito, his longtime sergeant and associate, played by actor Jessica Matten in Dark Winds, the limited-run series premiering at 9 pm ET Sunday, June 12, on AMC.
If Matten looks a tad familiar, maybe you’ve previously seen the Canadian First Nations actor in such TV series as Tribal, Burden of Proof, and Frontier, or the recent feature film The Empty Man. A native of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, she is of Red River Metis-Cree descent — and a direct descendant of Cuthbert Grant, the Metis rebel leader famed for his participation in the 1816 Battle of the Seven Oaks in Western Canada.
And on top of everything else, she is an animated and entertaining conversationalist. Indeed, she’s so nice, she doesn’t once make a wisecrack while dealing with an interviewer whose cowboy hat partially disappears at various points throughout their tête-à-tête.
(Note: We will be Live Tweeting the premiere episode of Dark Winds at 9 pm ET Sunday, June 12, on AMC. Look for the hashtag #ciDarkWinds on AMC.)
