It was like I was really performing to people. We had like 150 extras and it was a five-camera setup. “It was just a really powerful moment because I really did feel it when I was on stage. “I looked up and said ‘I want this performance to be for my ancestors,’ Lewitski says. When he walked on stage for his big scene, he didn’t feel alone. So with his grandmother’s help, he took a deep dive into the music, beliefs and drumming of his Mohawk ancestry for the first time. But the culture had been in the background when growing up in northwest Calgary, not a focus.

He had been to a few powwows and had some native friends. Of mixed French, Ukrainian and Mohawk background, the actor was not born on a reserve. It took him to Winnipeg and his maternal grandmother. Before cameras began rolling in Toronto, he had gone on his own mission to explore his ancestry. Without giving too much away about the futuristic sci-fi series, the scene involved a frenzied drum performance by his character, Apollo, whose hands are at least partially guided by a cultural awakening that connects him to his native heritage. Phillip Lewitski says he felt some ancestral guidance when it came time to film his climactic sequence in CBC Gem’s Utopia Falls. Postmedia may earn an affiliate commission from purchases made through links on this page. Reviews and recommendations are unbiased and products are independently selected.

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