Jessica Matten facts for kids

Jessica Matten is a Canadian actress and film producer.

Early life and education

Matten was born in Edmonton, Alberta. She is of Red River Métis and Cree heritage through her mother and British-Chinese through her father.

From the age of six, she assisted with her mother's First Nations modeling agency around Canada. She also worked for her father in marketing for several years before becoming an actor.

Matten graduated from the University of Alberta with a science degree in human ecology.

Career

Matten appeared in five international/Native People’s television series in eight years including Discovery Canada and Netflix series Frontier starring Jason Momoa and CW Network and CBC drama series Burden of Truth. In 2020, Matten began starring in Tribal on the APTN Network. She plays the newly appointed chief of an indigenous police force in Alberta, Canada. She was also an associate producer on the series.

She also previously starred in the short film A Red Girl’s Reasoning which received an award at the Imagine NATIVE Film Festival. In 2020, Matten appeared in the horror movie The Empty Man for Disney/20th Century Fox studios.

In 2022, Matten began co-starring in the TV crime drama series Dark Winds. She plays Sergeant Bernadette Manuelito, the only female police officer on the Navajo reservation.

Other activities

Matten is a co-founder of The Counting Coup Indigenous Film Academy (“CCIFA”), an educational environment for creative work, where emerging and aspiring First Nations, Metis and Inuit artists can gain expertise and experience in film. She is also the President of 7 Forward Entertainment, an Indigenous-owned production company based on the West Coast of Canada.

Personal life

Matten is a direct descendant of Cuthbert Grant, the first rebel Métis leader, known for the Battle of Seven Oaks in Canada.

Partial filmography