Michelle St. John

Michelle St. John (born August 26, 1967) is a Canadian actress, singer, producer and director who has been involved in creative projects in theatre, film, television and music since the 1980s. Her directorial debut, Colonization Road, is a 2016 feature-length documentary that premiered at imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival. Career Michelle St. John grew up in Toronto, Ontario, as the stepdaughter of musician Wayne St. John and Jewish mother Rochelle (Gruskin) St. John. Michelle was born in Bakersfield, California on August 26, 1967. Her birth name was Michelle L. Richardson. Michelle began her career in film as an actress. One of her first roles was as the protagonist in the 1989 CBC film Where the Spirit Lives, for which she won a Gemini Award for Best Actress - Dramatic Program. In 1992, St. John won her second Gemini Award for Best Guest Performance in a Series by an Actor or Actress for her role as Merrily Swanson on E.N.G.. She has worked on many television series, including Northern Exposure and By Way of the Stars and she voiced the character of Nakoma in Disney’s 1995 animated film Pocahontas. In 1998, she had a cameo as Velma in Chris Eyre’s award winning Smoke Signals. The screenwriter, Sherman Alexie, describes the scene as a "trap door" for Indigenous audiences to fall through, while those less familiar with Indigenous culture will pass right by.