Isabel Deroy-Olson stars alongside Lily Gladstone in her 1st feature film

At 19, Isabel Deroy-Olson is starring in her first feature film, Fancy Dance, coming to Apple TV+ June 28.

She plays Roki, a teen on a Seneca-Cayuga Nation reservation in the U.S. who is being cared for by her aunt Jax (Lily Gladstone), since her mother disappeared. They set out on the road to find Roki's mother, hoping to meet up with her at the next powwow. 

Their search examines the jurisdictional complexities between on-reserve and off-reserve authority in seeking justice for missing Indigenous women, and children in foster care.

Deroy-Olson, a citizen of the Tr'ondëk Hwëch'in First Nation in Yukon and the Ebb and Flow First Nation in Manitoba, said she connected with her character immediately.

"I read the script and immediately fell in love with it," she said.

"My mom read it first, and we sat down at the breakfast table the next day and just started crying because it's such a nuanced and grounded film, and it just feels so real." 

The film premiered at Sundance in 2023.

Roki is three years younger than Deroy-Olson but she said she still sees herself in the character.

"I love those roles with characters who are very few in words, but just have so much to say," said Deroy-Olson.

"That quiet presence is so intentional. She's just this beacon of hope and light in a film where we're covering such heavy topics and such important topics that are so real to our communities. It's so important to keep that joy and that laughter there because that's so important to us."

She said working with Gladstone was a dream and that it's been amazing to see all the recognition Gladstone's received since Killers of the Flower Moon. Gladstone won a Screen Actors Guild award and received an Oscar nomination for her role as Mollie Kyle. 

Gladstone, she said, created a welcoming environment on set which helped calm the jitters of a fledgling actor. 

"She really is my auntie now," she said.

Song adapted

Singer and songwriter Theresa Bear Fox was approached by one of the film's writers to use her song Sky World in Fancy Dance.

Bear Fox, who is from Akwesasne, a Kanien'kehá:ka (Mohawk) community that straddles the Quebec, Ontario and New York state borders, said she wrote it as a medicine song for a 911 memorial in 2001. It was adapted by musician Supaman for missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls in 2017.

Since writing it, she said she receives messages about the good it's done for people who've listened to it.

"I always would get emails about how it helped; it's helping them through their mother's loss or their father's loss," she said.

Bear Fox and Deroy-Olson said they hope the film brings more awareness to missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.

"Honestly, if you're in North America, you're on Indigenous land and so it's something that you should know about and so I hope that the film really prompts that desire to learn," said Deroy-Olson.