Anna Lambe is over the tired tropes about Indigenous communities, and more specifically, Inuit culture. So, the 25-year-old actor is flipping the script on those stereotypes, too often perpetuated by people who've never set foot near her Arctic hometown of Iqaluit, Nunavut (Canada's northernmost city). That's where the Native-led Netflix comedy North of North was filmed and where she regularly returns to stay connected to her culture.
And Lambe is just getting started. She has big dreams for her own career, but also for Indigenous film and television more broadly. This year, she was thrust into the spotlight, representing not only her community but Inuit communities as a whole — an impossible ask for any actor, let alone a budding one.
But she has taken that tall order in stride, making it her mission to bring accurate representation to the screen while also inviting audiences to embrace the beautiful diversity and deep wisdom of Indigenous cultures. Below, we speak to Anna Lambe as part of Teen Vogue's New Hollywood Class of 2025.
Anna Lambe: I'm just really proud that throughout the incredibly intense process of this year, in talking about North of North and other projects, I've always done my best to center the actual community behind this work and the actual community it takes to create a show like this. I'm a big believer that all boats rise, and that we need to support one another to create the path. We need to widen the pathway versus just making it longer. I feel really proud that I can look back on this year and feel like I got to share my experiences as an Inuk and uplift my community in the public eye.
AL: It was my first time doing comedy, which was a massive challenge for me. I consider myself a deeply unfunny person. I'm not the person in the center of the room who wants to perform and make people laugh; I'm very quiet and reserved. But [my character] Siaja is that person; she's bubbly and extroverted and kind of awkward. Pushing myself into the world of comedy terrified me — it literally kept me up at night.
During the first few weeks of filming, there were many times when I didn't know if I was the right person for this role. But with the momentum and support from the team, I started to recognize my capabilities as a comedic actor and began to understand the timing, pacing, and tone. North of North has its own really specific tone; it doesn't go pure sitcom or clowny or dramedy. It's a mixture, while also being its own unique thing.
So I definitely learned to give myself some credit for my capabilities. Honestly, I've never felt very comfortable calling myself an actor; I always more so just felt like I acted. It can be so easy to second-guess yourself and feel like, I don't know if I know how to act. But after North of North, I finally feel comfortable calling myself an actor.
AL: It's incredibly important to show not only that we're still here, but that we exist in such a broad range of ways. For a long time, people didn't think Indigenous people existed or thought we were all the same. We're creating such specific stories about our unique cultures and showing that, even though our communities are similar to non-Indigenous communities, we do have specific ways of living.
As Indigenous film and television continue to grow, we have more narrative autonomy than ever before. We have more control over how our stories are being told. Our representation within media is becoming more and more accurate. Behind the camera, so many of our productions are making a massive effort to bring in Indigenous crew and open up doors of opportunity to be part of this industry.
I'm really excited to see what Indigenous film and television looks like five, 10 years from now, because we're starting to take up space — and I want to keep taking up so, so much space.
AL: Many people see Inuit and people of the North as this caricature — these tiny groups of Eskimos living in igloos on a frozen landscape with nothing around them for hundreds of miles. It's so important to show that we're bold, thriving communities. We're tired of being othered, forgotten, or ignored.
There's always been this line connecting Inuit to the rest of the world, so we've stayed up-to-date with mainstream culture and world happenings. It's just never been reciprocated. Now with North of North and similar shows, we're showing that we're very much here.
We feel the same things you do and have similar experiences to you. We all have relationship issues; we all have family issues. We all are just trying to figure out who we are and who we want to be. Yes, we might look a little different than you, we might live slightly differently than you do, but we very much understand you.
And it's important that you understand us as well. We have so much knowledge to share, especially in a time of climate catastrophe, which has been a much faster process for us in the Arctic. Our worldview is so deeply embedded in understanding the connection between humans, animals, the land, and the water. Knowing that we exist and that we are like you is important, but so is understanding that our special knowledge can really inform the way we move forward in the world.
AL: In 2026, we'll be filming season two of North of North, which I'm so unbelievably excited about. I got to shoot a feature film called Heart of the Beast [with Brad Pitt] in New Zealand back in May, which will hopefully come out in 2026.
Then, this summer, I shot a psychological thriller called In the Heart of the South that will hopefully be ready to hit the festival circuit next year. It's a dark, bold conversation about identity and community that we haven't really gotten to have with Indigenous film yet.
Talking about Indigenous identity often requires a lot of explaining for non-Indigenous audiences who don't necessarily understand how difficult it is to be a racialized person in this world, and so much of a script gets set aside for that. This film allows the audience to do some thinking and doesn't hold their hand. I really hope it helps shift things in Indigenous film and television so we don't always feel like we have to over-explain everything to non-Indigenous people.
I've also been working through a lot of feelings about working in Indigenous film and television, in terms of how the industry treats me and how the public perceives me; I get quite frustrated when people see me as an Indigenous person first and as Anna second. It's a systemic issue that I think a lot of Indigenous people experience. Yes, I'm a proud member of an Inuit community, but I would also love to get to be like any other non-Indigenous actor and not be pinned to a specific niche. Because we don't only have value in that niche; we have value to the industry as a whole.
We're moving toward this massive turning point with representation in film and television, and it's incredibly exciting and beautiful to be part of that change. But I'm also so excited for the generation that won't feel the pressure of having to represent an entire people in an industry — because that's pretty intense.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
.jpg)
.jpg)