Michaela Washburn

Michaela Washburn hails from the prairies and is now based in North Bay, Ontario. A proud Métis artist of Cree, French, Irish, and English ancestry, Michaela’s pronouns are she/her/they/them, and he/him when they’re in drag. Washburn’s practice spans theatre, television, film, audiobooks, spoken word, writing, hosting, clown, improvisation, stand-up and workshop facilitation.

Select theatre credits include: This Is How We Got Here (Native Earth), Almighty Voice and His Wife (Soulpepper), Guarded Girls (Tarragon/Green Light Arts), Grace (Nightwood). Having won a Dora Mavor Moore award for her multifaceted performance as Métis leader Louis Riel in Confederation & Riel (VideoCabaret/Soulpepper), Michaela has also garnered multiple nominations including the 2023 Johanna Metcalf Performing Arts Prize, the 2021 and 2018 Ontario Arts Council Indigenous Arts Award and the 2011 K.M. Hunter Artist Award for Theatre.

A published author, her performance and written work has been shared internationally; including festivals and stages in Wales, Aruba and across Canada and the United States. Select film and television credits include: Skymed, Pretty Hard Cases, Burden of Truth, Just One Word, The River You Step In.

After winning the The 2021 Sharon Enkin Plays for Young People Award for the play she co wrote with Carrie Costello and Joelle Peters titled Frozen River (nîkwatin sîpiy), Washburn is proud to say it is now available through Playwrights Canada Press. Currently, this collective is working on their next collaboration, Going Under, a play about teen suicide.