DeLanna Studi is a proud citizen of the Cherokee Nation. She has over 25 years of experience as a performer, storyteller, educator, facilitator, advocate, and activist. Her theater credits include the First National Broadway Tour of Tony Award, and Pulitzer Prize-winning play August: Osage County, Off-Broadway’s Gloria: A Life (Daryl Roth Theatre), Informed Consent (Duke Theater on 42nd Street), and Regional Theaters (Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Portland Center Stage, Cornerstone, and Indiana Repertory Theater). DeLanna originated roles in over twenty World Premieres, including fourteen Native productions. A pivotal moment in her career was writing and performing, And So We Walked: An Artist’s Journey Along the Trail of Tears, based on retracing her family’s footsteps along the Trail of...
DeLanna Studi is a proud citizen of the Cherokee Nation. She has over 25 years of experience as a performer, storyteller, educator, facilitator, advocate, and activist. Her theater credits include the First National Broadway Tour of Tony Award, and Pulitzer Prize-winning play August: Osage County, Off-Broadway’s Gloria: A Life (Daryl Roth Theatre), Informed Consent (Duke Theater on 42nd Street), and Regional Theaters (Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Portland Center Stage, Cornerstone, and Indiana Repertory Theater). DeLanna originated roles in over twenty World Premieres, including fourteen Native productions. A pivotal moment in her career was writing and performing, And So We Walked: An Artist’s Journey Along the Trail of Tears, based on retracing her family’s footsteps along the Trail of Tears with her father. And So We Walked has been produced throughout the country and was the first American play chosen for the Journees Theatricales de Carthage in Tunisia, Africa. Recently, it made its Off-Broadway debut at Minetta Lane, where it was recorded for Audible. As a playwright, she has been commissioned by The Theatre Company, Theatre for One (New York and Chicago), and a new play for Period Piece. In film and television, DeLanna stars in the Peabody Award-winning Edge of America, Hallmark’s Dreamkeeper, Goliath, Shameless, General Hospital, and Reservation Dogs. She is a recipient of the Butcher Scholar Award, Mapfund Grant, and Cherokee Preservation Grant. Since 2007, she has served as the SAG-AFTRA National Native Americans Committee chair. She is the Artistic Director of Native Voices at the Autry, the only Equity Theatre in the country devoted to developing and producing plays written by Native American playwrights. Under her leadership, Native Voices and the Autry received their first Mellon Grant. DeLanna is a 2022 United States Artists Fellow. DeLanna is a current NNPN Board Member.