New Moon actress Tinsel Korey (aka Emily, Sam’s Fiancee) recently visited LaPush and Neah Bay school to speak to the Mekah children -
Tinsel Korey, the beautiful girl who plays the Makah character Emily in the upcoming “Twilight” series movie “New Moon” came to share her experience with Makah children on Thursday, Sept. 9 in the Neah Bay school gymnasium.
Korey is one of the Anishinaabe people, of the Great Lakes region. She was accompanied by her publicist, Jackie Jacobs, a Lumbee from North Carolina, and the Navajo photographer and videographer, Yazzie, who was documenting her tour of local tribal areas and towns associated with the book series.
Yazzie had also auditioned for the movie, in answer to a casting call that asked for “native Americans.” Korey herself doesn’t look like a Makah, but in a movie industry where native peoples have been played by everyone from Germans to Italians – and sometimes still are – the fact that the native characters are natives of any sort is a major step forward.On a leg of the tour to the West End, Korey visited the Quileute village at LaPush. She soon realized that many of the tourists who were walking on Rialto beach, right beside the town, thought that the Quilleute nation was an imaginary invention of the Twilight series author, Stephenie Meyer.
Korey decided readers outside tribal society needed to know that the Quilleute are real people, with their own emotions and culture.
Korey said, “I was taught by my grandparents and ancestors we have a responsibility to share our gifts with our youth.”
