Wayne Lavallee

Wayne Lavallee is a Métis actor and singer-songwriter from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.[1]

He began his career with Vancouver's Spiritsong indigenous theatre company in 1990.[2] His stage roles have included productions of Drew Hayden Taylor's alterNatives[3] and The BuzGem Blues.[4]

Concurrently with his acting career he also performed as a musician in the Vancouver area, later releasing the album Green Dress in 2004.[5] The album won the Canadian Aboriginal Music Award for album of the year in 2004,[6] was a Juno Award nominee for Aboriginal Recording of the Year at the Juno Awards of 2005,[7] and won the Canadian Folk Music Award for Aboriginal Songwriter of the Year at the 2nd Canadian Folk Music Awards in 2006.[8]

His followup album Trail of Tears, released in 2009, won the awards for Best Male Artist, Best Rock Album and Best Acoustic Folk Album at the 2010 Aboriginal Music Awards,[9] was a Juno nominee for Aboriginal Album of the Year at the Juno Awards of 2010,[10] and a Canadian Folk Music Award nominee for Aboriginal Songwriter of the Year at the 6th Canadian Folk Music Awards.

In recent years he has composed music for theatre, film and television, including the films The Road Forward,[11] Red Snow,[12] Bones of Crows,[13] Broken Angel,[14] and Lay Down Your Heart, the television series Dr. Savannah: Wild Rose Vet, and Taylor's stage play Cerulean Blue.[15] He received a Canadian Screen Award nomination for Best Original Song at the 11th Canadian Screen Awards in 2023 for "You Are My Bones", a song cowritten with Marie Clements and Jesse Zubot for Bones of Crows.[16]

  1. ^ Niki Graham, "Lavallee proud of his musical heritage". North Shore News, November 26, 2004.
  2. ^ Shelley Arnusch, "Lavallee unplugged". Pique Newsmagazine, June 10, 2005.
  3. ^ Peter Birnie, "Digging in the darkness: Playwright Drew Hayden Taylor seems happiest when his work enters the uncomfortable space surrounding his First Nations heritage". Vancouver Sun, November 4, 1999.
  4. ^ Peter Birnie, "Straight-ahead comedy looks at true love". Vancouver Sun, April 2, 2004.
  5. ^ Janine Toms, "Wayne Lavallee, Green Dress". Exclaim!, January 1, 2005.
  6. ^ "Aboriginal music winners named". Orillia Packet and Times, November 29, 2004.
  7. ^ "Juno nominees". North Bay Nugget, February 8, 2005.
  8. ^ "Veteran Lang tops Canadian folk awards". CBC News, December 11, 2006.
  9. ^ Graham Rockingham, "Hat trick for Lavallee at Aboriginal Music Awards". Hamilton Spectator, November 27, 2010.
  10. ^ "Juno nominations for northern musicians". CBC North, March 3, 2010.
  11. ^ Michael D. Reid, "A quest for Indigenous rights, in song; Marie Clements'The Road Forward is a surprisingly entertaining documentary on B.C. Aboriginal activism". Victoria Times-Colonist, November 17, 2017.
  12. ^ Janet Smith, "Marie Clements's Red Snow takes a head-spinning trip through the Arctic and Afghanistan". The Georgia Straight, March 11, 2020.
  13. ^ Stuart Derdeyn, "Zubot shifts from touring musician to film composer". Vancouver Sun, October 1, 2022.
  14. ^ Tyler Treese, "Exclusive Broken Angel Trailer Previews Indigenous Drama". Coming Soon, October 7, 2022.
  15. ^ Shawn Conner, "Indigenous and non-Indigenous alike, on bus to Dead Rat River". The Province, October 7, 2021.
  16. ^ John R. Kennedy, "Ian LeFeuvre Up For 2 Canadian Screen Awards". iHeartRadio Canada, February 22, 2023.