Billy Merasty

Billy Merasty (born 1960) is a First Nations actor and writer of Cree descent.

Biography

Merasty is the ninth child of fourteen children born to Viola Marie Merasty and Pierre Merasty; the grandson of Joe Highway, a famous caribou hunter and champion dogsled racer; and the nephew of playwright Tomson Highway and dancer/choreographer/actor/director René Highway.

He moved to Toronto at the age of 18 in search of his uncle René Highway, who was at the time working for the Toronto Dance Theatre. At the age of 23, he launched his acting career after graduating from the Native Theatre School for aspiring First Nations artists. He then worked for the Native Earth Performing Arts for a long period.

Merasty has worked extensively on the stage and films as an actor and has written one play, Fireweed, produced in 1992. His second play, Godly's Divinia, is in development.

In 2010 Merasty received the Order of Manitoba (Order of the Buffalo Hunt) in recognition for his many years as an Aboriginal role model from Manitoba.