| Devery Jacobs | |
| Birth Date: | 8 August 1993 |
| Birth Place: | Kahnawake, Quebec, Canada |
| Other Names: | Kawennáhere Devery Jacobs |
| Occupation: | Actress |
| Years Active: | 2007–present |
| Known For: | Rhymes for Young Ghouls, Mohawk Girls, American Gods, The Order, Reservation Dogs |
Kawennáhere Devery Jacobs (born August 8, 1993) is a Canadian actress. For her performance in Rhymes for Young Ghouls (2013), she garnered a Canadian Screen Awards nomination for Best Actress.[1] In 2023 and 2024, for her role on Reservation Dogs, she was nominated for a Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Actress in a Comedy Series.[2] [3]
Jacobs began acting in the late 2000s with roles in the television series The Dead Zone (2007) and (2009). In 2013, she played the lead character in Rhymes for Young Ghouls, which premiered at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival. For her work in the film, Jacobs was nominated for a Canadian Screen Award for Best Actress in a leading role. The following year, she appeared in the music video for A Tribe Called Red's "Sisters".[4]
In 2019, in the second season of American Gods, Jacobs played a young Cherokee college student, Sam Black Crow, who identifies as "two-spirited". In an interview, she said that Neil Gaiman (author of the novels on which the series is based) advocated strongly for her to be cast in the role, but noted, "I identify as queer, and not two-spirited, because I'm Mohawk and we don't have that."[5] [6]
Also in 2019, Jacobs played a recurring role as Lilith Bathory in the first and second season of the Netflix series The Order.[7] Since 2021, she has played a leading role on the acclaimed TV series Reservation Dogs about a group of Indigenous teenagers growing up on a reservation in rural Oklahoma. For the role, she was nominated for a Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Actress in a Comedy Series in 2023. In season 2, she also joined the writer's room of the show.[8] In season 3, she directed episode 7, 'Wahoo!'.[9]
In 2024 she was named as co-winner, alongside Lamar Johnson, of the Radius Award at the 12th Canadian Screen Awards.[10] She also voiced Alasie in . In an interview by The Eastern Door, she noted she began recording for the role in summer 2020, with sound equipment shipped from Los Angeles to her apartment in Toronto, calling the process "at bit chaotic," but described the show's story as "really beautiful" and the Inuk character (Alasie) she voices, as comic relief, like a "little kid sister who can sometimes be annoying, but is really silly." She also revealed that she has recorded most of the lines for Alasie before she voiced Kahhori in What If…? season 2 and described the ability to "have fun with the role with letting myself be free" while voicing acting, and the witnessing the creative process on Ark: The Animated Series.[11]
Jacobs is Kanien'keha:ka (Mohawk).[12] At the time of her performance in Rhymes for Young Ghouls, Jacobs was a student at John Abbott College, studying correctional intervention. She identifies as queer.[13] Jacobs collaborates with Canadian filmmaker D. W. Waterson, who is also her partner, through their production company called Night is Y.[14] [15]
| Year | Title | Role | Note | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | data-sort-value="Dead Zone, The" | The Dead Zone | Monique | TV series |
| 2008 | South of the Moon | Alexa Dumont | Film | |
| 2009 | Claudia Auditore | TV miniseries | ||
| 2012 | Exploding Sun | Nourhan | TV film | |
| 2013 | data-sort-value="Blanketing, The" | The Blanketing | Seniya | Short film |
| Rhymes for Young Ghouls | Aila | As Kawennáhere Devery Jacobs | ||
| 2013–2015 | Mohawk Girls | Lollipop | TV series | |
| 2015 | data-sort-value="Big Black Short, A" | A Big Black Short | Jess | Short film |
| 2016 | data-sort-value="Sun at Midnight, The" | The Sun at Midnight | Lia | |
| data-sort-value="Land of Rock and Gold, The" | The Land of Rock and Gold | Andrea | ||
| Running Eagle | Judith | Short film | ||
| Another WolfCop | Daisy | |||
| Level 16 | Vivien | |||
| data-sort-value="Walking Dead: Michonne, The" | Sam | Video game | ||
| Stolen | Director | Short film | ||
| 2018 | data-sort-value="Lie, The" | The Lie | Britney Ismali | |
| 2019 | Blood Quantum | James | As Kawennáhere Devery Jacobs | |
| Cardinal | Sam Duchene | As Devery Jacobs | ||
| Rustic Oracle | Older Ivy | As Kawennáhere Devery Jacobs | ||
| 2019–2020 | data-sort-value="Order, The" | The Order | Lilith Bathory | TV series; recurring role |
| 2019–2021 | American Gods | Sam Blackcrow | TV series; recurring role | |
| 2021 | Rutherford Falls | Jess Wells | TV series; recurring | |
| data-sort-value="73rd Primetime Emmy Awards, The" | The 73rd Primetime Emmy Awards | Self (Presenter) | TV special | |
| Bootlegger | Mani | |||
| We Burn Like This | Chrissy B | |||
| 2021–2023 | Reservation Dogs | Elora Danan | TV series; main role[16] also writer and director | |
| 2022 | Spirit Rangers | Wind Eagle | ||
| This Place | Kawenniióhstha | |||
| 2023 | Backspot | Riley | Also producer[17] | |
| What If...? | Kahhori | Voice role; 2 episodes[18] | ||
| 2024 | Echo | Bonnie | Miniseries[19] | |
| Alasie | Voice role[20] | |||
| TBA | Oh. What. Fun. | Post-production |
| 2014 | Canadian Screen Awards | Best Actress in a Leading Role | Rhymes for Young Ghouls | [21] | |
| 2016 | Whistler Film Festival | Best Performance in a Canadian Film | The Sun at Midnight | [22] | |
| 2017 | American Indian Film Festival | Best Actress | [23] | ||
| Yorkton Film Festival | Best Aboriginal Film | Stolen | [24] | ||
| ImagineNATIVE Film and Media Arts Festival | Ellen Monague Award for Best Youth Work | Rae | [25] | ||
| 2018 | Palm Springs Shortfest | [26] | |||
| 2021 | Gotham Awards | Outstanding Performance in New Series | Reservation Dogs | [27] | |
| 2023 | Critics' Choice Television Awards | Best Actress in a Comedy Series | |||
| 2024 | Critics' Choice Television Awards | ||||
| Television Critics Association Awards | Individual Achievement in Comedy | [28] |