'I had almost given up on acting': Reservation Dogs star Devery Jacobs on her path to success

From the time Devery Jacobs (Reservation Dogs, Blood Quantum) was a kid, she dreamed of being an actor.

"I was always a ham," she tells Q's Tom Power on today's show. "I have home videos from when I was a kid that I would write and direct and star in. I even made the credits and all that, very embarrassingly."

Following her passion, Jacobs joined a community theatre in Kahnawá:ke, the Mohawk reservation where she grew up, and booked a few commercials in Montreal — but acting for a living didn't seem realistic to her. Instead, she planned to go into social work. It wasn't until she landed the lead role in Jeff Barnaby's 2014 film Rhymes for Young Ghouls that she felt like her dream was actually possible.

"I had almost given up on acting," Jacobs says. "And then Jeff Barnaby's Rhymes had come across my email for an audition. It was the first time I had ever read a script like that. It was the first time I saw myself in a character … and it was the first time I had ever really worked with a writer-director who is Indigenous before. It blew me away."

Following her work on Rhymes for Young Ghouls, Jacobs saved up her money and moved to New York to give acting a serious shot, but she found that she was only getting auditions for "stereotypical Pocahontas-type roles."

"I remember having to call my agent up to say, 'If I'm going to do a sex scene, it can't be in a bed of furs or in buckskin, like, that just feels too icky to me,'" she recalls. "That was kind of what I was dealing with."

After meeting a director who prompted her to start thinking about her dream projects, Jacobs says she had "an existential crisis." She then came up with a list of all the stories she resonated with and why.

"That was when I first tried my hand at writing and directing," she says. "I quickly realized that I think I am a storyteller, regardless of the medium, regardless of what side of the lens I'm on. But I definitely see myself shifting between all of those states, whether it's as an actor, producer, director or writer."

Recently at the Canadian Screen Awards, Jacobs was honoured with the Radius Award, which recognizes a Canadian in the entertainment industry who's making waves globally

"Getting this award means so much because it makes me reflect on that time and how far I've come these past 11 years," she says.

Her latest starring role is in the film Backspot, which is about a gymnast named Riley who's fighting with the limitations of her body and mind to place on an elite cheerleading squad. Jacobs co-produced the film alongside a few producers including Elliot Page.

As for what's next, Jacobs says she just wants to keep telling stories that she's passionate about, whether that's in front of or behind the camera.

"One of my friends … said to me the other month that she just wants to become a worthy elder, and I think that was something that really resonated with me," Jacobs says. "I would love, in the time that I have here, to become a worthy elder in this industry — a queer elder, an Indigenous elder, a Mohawk elder, and somebody who leaves this industry a better place than when I first came into it."

The full interview with Devery Jacobs is available on our podcast, Q with Tom Power. She also talks about Backspot and her grueling years as a former gymnast. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

Interview with Devery Jacobs produced by Lise Hosein.