Oneida man decided 2023 would be a year of change. Now, he's featured in Netflix film.

Shekóli (“hello” in Oneida) and yaw^ko ("thank you") for reading the First Nations Wisconsin newsletter.

Early in 2023, Cheyenne James Spotted Eagle Elm (Oneida) was wondering what to do with his life. He decided to take the initiative and told his therapist and a friend: This is going to be the year I give everything a try.

His therapist told him, "You can’t be the person to tell yourself: 'No’.” That struck a chord with him.

The next day, his grandmother, Celene Elm, who works as the planning director for the Oneida Nation, sent him a casting call ad for an upcoming movie called “Rez Ball” that was being produced by Lebron James. Cheyenne Elm, now 24, also saw the ad on Instagram and Facebook and thought it was no coincidence that the opportunity arrived a day after he decided he was going to try new things.

“I took that as a sign and decided to do it,” he said.

Elm landed a role as an assistant basketball coach to one of the main stars of the film, Jessica Matten, who plays the head coach of a Navajo high school boys basketball team.

Filming took place in spring 2023 in multiple locations in New Mexico. Elm worked two of the six weeks of filming.

“It was an insane experience, but every individual was amazing,” he said. “I felt so comfortable even though it was a different world for me.”

Elm grew up in the Green Bay area and is a graduate of De Pere High School.

On the set, he met some up-and-coming Indigenous actors, as well as some who have become quite famous, especially in Indian Country, including Dallas Goldtooth.

“He was so nice,” Elm said of Goldtooth.

It turns out that Goldtooth’s dad is friends with Elm’s grandmother, so that created an avenue of conversation for them.

Elm appears in a few scenes in the film and has a line.

Elm said the experience was great for him, overall, and is now thinking about other roles, or even a career, in acting.

“I think I’ve found an avenue to express,” he said. “(Acting is) definitely something I’m pursuing.”

Rez Ball is currently streaming on Netflix. It’s a story about a Navajo basketball team having to overcome the suicide death of one of their star players as they face other teams around the state. The film touches on several tough issues in Indian Country, including high suicide and alcoholism rates.

But Rez Ball also is an inspirational story about Indigenous teens finding their "warrior spirit."

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About me

I'm Frank Vaisvilas, the Indigenous affairs reporter for USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin based at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel . I cover Native American issues in Wisconsin. You can reach me at 815-260-2262 or fvaisvilas@gannett.com , or on Twitter at @vaisvilas_frank .

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Oneida man decided 2023 would be a year of change. Now, he's featured in Netflix film.