Native Tucsonan Jon Proudstar has acted in nearly 50 motion pictures and television shows. Working alongside actors such as Tim Roth, Javier Bardem, Kurt Russel, Val Kilmer, Viggo Mortenson, and Zahn McClarnon. Jon’s training began with actor Val Kilmer introducing him to Method Acting on the set of Gore Vidal’s BILLY THE KID. He continued his training in LA at Theatre Theatre. The following year he began intense film acting training with the renowned Acting Coach Joan Darling. In 1998 Jon was one of ten Native Americans chosen for the Sundance Film Institute’s Writers Lab. In 2005, Jon was selected for the prestigious Sundance Film Institute Director’s Lab where he participated as an actor. During the Directors Lab, Jon was mentored by Ed Harris, Phillip Seymore Hoffman, and Stanley Tucci, as well as Robert Redford. Returning from Sundance Jon would write, direct, produce, and star in his award-winning short “Dude Vision” for an astonishing budget of only $147.00. Also in 2005, Jon won the Robert DeNiro/Tribeca Film Festival Screen Writers Competition for his screenplay “Up the River.” (Co-written by Andre Cox) Jon has also appeared in four Independently produced films that have been selected for The Sundance Film Festival: the cult hit BODIES, REST, AND MOTION (1996), Goodnight Irene (2006), FOUR SHEETS TO THE WIND (2008) and BARKING WATER (2009). Recent work from 2022 - 2024 includes Reservation Dogs, the PBS Ken Burns documentary The American Buffalo, and the feature films: BLOOD RELATIVES, THE SEA FOLK, LAST STOP IN YUMA COUNTY, DEEP WOODS, SENDERO, THE HEART STAYS, THE YEAR OF THE DOG, and the short film “Second Sunrise”.