Tamara Podemski is an Anishinaabe/Ashkenazi multi-disciplinary artist born and raised in Toronto. She is a graduate of the Claude Watson School for the Performing Arts where she studied dance, theatre and music throughout its 10-year program. 

For over 25 years, her work has spanned across all mediums with such credits as 

Dance Me Outside, The Rez, Ready or Not, North of 60, Rabbit Fall, Heartland, Cracked, and numerous theatre productions, most notably as a member of the Original Canadian Cast of Rent, as well as playing Maureen in the Broadway Company of Rent. She made her biggest mark in 2007 at the Sundance Film Festival when she received the Special Jury Prize for Acting for her role in Sterlin Harjos Four Sheets to the Wind. The same role won her an Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress, which she proudly lost to fellow nominee, Cate Blanchett. In 2011, Tamara was nominated for a Jessie Theatre Award for her performance in Marie Clements play The Edward Curtis Project and in 2012, she returned to the big screen opposite Benjamin Bratt in Anita Dorons The Lesser Blessed.  

Her most recent performance in Colleen Wagners Governor General Award-Winning play The Monument was hailed as one of the 10 Best Theatre Productions of 2018 by the Globe and Mail.  

As a community worker, Podemski has travelled to three different continents sharing her cultural and creative experiences through hands-on workshops, keynote addresses and panel discussions. She is a passionate teacher and advocate for the arts, developing programs to empower the voices of youth and women through songwriting, dancing and storytelling. Having grandparents who are both Holocaust survivors and Residential School survivors, she speaks openly about issues of intergenerational trauma, reconciliation, inherited legacies and the importance of creating safe spaces for dialogue, education and collaboration. 

Podemski is the writer and story producer of the television documentary series Future History, which celebrates the reclamation and revitalization of Indigenous Knowledge. Season Two is currently streaming on CBC Gem. She also co-stars in CBCs hit drama Coroner, which returns for Season 2 in January 2020. 

In 2020, she will return to the stage to star in Keith Barkers This Is How We Got Here, which was nominated for the 2018 Governor Generals Literary Award in Drama.