Reference articles on history, science, culture and more
Encyclopedia

Devery Jacobs

Canadian First Nations actress (born 1993)

Image credit is listed at the end of this article.

Kawennáhere Devery Jacobs (born August 8, 1993) is a Canadian Mohawk actress. For her performance in Rhymes for Young Ghouls (2013), she garnered a Canadian Screen Awards nomination for Best Actress. 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.

01Career

Jacobs began acting in the late 2000s with roles in the television series The Dead Zone (2007) and Assassin's Creed: Lineage (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".

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."

Also in 2019, Jacobs played a recurring role as Lilith Bathory in the first and second season of the Netflix series The Order. From 2021 to 2023, she 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. In season 3, she directed episode 7, 'Wahoo!'.

In 2024 she was named as co-winner, alongside Lamar Johnson, of the Radius Award at the 12th Canadian Screen Awards. She also voiced Alasie in Ark: The Animated Series. 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.

02Personal life

Jacobs is Kanienʼkehá:ka (Mohawk) and a member of the Bear Clan. 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. Jacobs collaborates with Canadian filmmaker D. W. Waterson, who is also her partner, through their production company called Night is Y.

03Filmography

Year Title Role Note
2007 The Dead Zone Monique TV series
2008 South of the Moon Alexa Dumont Film
2009 Assassin's Creed: Lineage Claudia Auditore TV miniseries
2012 Exploding Sun Nourhan TV film
2013 The Blanketing Seniya Short film
Rhymes for Young Ghouls Aila As Kawennáhere Devery Jacobs
2013-2015 Mohawk Girls Lollipop TV series
2015 A Big Black Short Jess Short film
2016 The Sun at Midnight Lia
The Land of Rock and Gold Andrea
Running Eagle Judith Short film
Another WolfCop Daisy
Level 16 Vivien
The Walking Dead: Michonne Sam Video game
Stolen Director Short film
2018 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 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
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 also writer and director
2022 Spirit Rangers Wind Eagle Voice role
This Place Kawenniióhstha
2023 Backspot Riley Also producer
2023-2024 What If...? Kahhori Voice role; 4 episodes
2024 Echo Bonnie Miniseries
Ark: The Animated Series Alasie Voice role
2025 Oh. What. Fun. Donna
2026 Forbidden Fruits Bluebonnet

04Awards

Watch videos about Devery JacobsExplainers and documentaries on YouTube (opens in a new tab)

Sources and credits

This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article Devery Jacobs, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.

Images, from Wikimedia Commons:

Fathomly is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Wikimedia Foundation. Spotted a problem? Tell us.