Canadian-born American singer-songwriter, guitarist, political activist, and visual artist known especially for her use of music to promote awareness of issues affecting Native Americans. Orphaned as an infant in Canada when her mother, a Plains Cree, died in an auto accident, Sainte-Marie was adopted by an U.S. couple of Mi’kmaq ancestry and raised in Massachusetts & Maine. Her earliest days as a self-taught folk singer were spent shaking up the coffeehouses and consciousnesses in Greenwich Village and helping Joni Mitchell get discovered. Along with her lifelong commitment to and advocacy for Indigenous and Aboriginal people around the world, she has changed the education system from within, and maintained an unwavering passion for social justice, equality and the Earth mixed with her love of sound and songs. Her legacy is that of as an ever-curious, ever-evolving, and technologically pioneering musician, producer, composer and artist — despite her inability to read a note of music.

Filmography

• 2015The Doctrine of Discovery: Unmasking the Domination Code — Narrator
• 2010Buffy — Self, Musician
• 1996Buffy Sainte-Marie: Up Where We Belong — Main Artist
• Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child — The Spirit (voice)
• 1993The Broken Chain — Gesina 'Grandmother' / Seth's Wife
• 1990Where the Spirit Lives — Music, Original Music Composer
• 1985Broken Rainbow — Translator's Voice (voice)
• 1985Stripper — Music
• 1984Harold of Orange — Original Music Composer
• 1983The Great Spirit Within the Hole — Music
• 1979A Walking Tour of Sesame Street — Buffy (archive footage) (uncredited)
• Then Came Bronson — Tender Grass
• The Virginian — Nai'Be

Appearances as themselves (21)

• 2022Buffy Sainte-Marie: Carry It On — Self
• 2020Stronger Together, Tous Ensemble — Self
• 2018Stringman: The Jack Nitzsche Story — Self
• 2017Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked the World — Self
• 2013Greenwich Village: Music That Defined a Generation — Self
• On the Trail of Easy Rider: 40 Years On... Still Searching for America — Self
• 2010Saint Misbehavin': The Wavy Gravy Movie — Self
• 2006Buffy Sainte-Marie: A Multimedia Life — Self
• 1999Making a Noise: A Native American Musical Journey with Robbie Robertson — Self - Cree (archive footage)
• 1990Uranium — Self - Narrator (voice)
• 1980Walkabout to Hollywood — Self
• Austin City Limits — Self
• Dinah! — Self
• 1971As Long as the Rivers Run — Self
• The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour — Self
• 1967Festival — Self
• 1965The Creative Person: The Folksinger — Self
• Top of the Pops — Self
• The Merv Griffin Show — Self
• The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson — Self
• Kraft Music Hall — Self