In addition to his music career, the Seminole Tribe of Florida’s Doc Native has been busy living the “Hollywood” life. He wrote and starred in a short action film and recently joined the cast of two feature length films that will start filming in Miami and Minnesota in the next few months.

“Ghost” was directed by Adam Conte (Oneida and Mohawk) and written by Native, Conte and Raquel McCloud (Ojibwe from Red Lake Nation). Native played the lead character Sam Huff, who he named after his great grandfather.

“It’s a John Wick type action movie with fight choreography and stunts,” Native said. “We had an all Native cast and crew including a number of Seminoles. The Osceola Brothers scored some music, my sisters Petra and Coral [Battiest] did the makeup for the film and Everett Osceola helped with locations and production.”

The eight-minute independent film was filmed in locations in Broward County in 2024. The story is about a father who was an assassin for the underworld and wanted to get out of the business to live a normal life with his daughter.

“It was so difficult to choreograph the fight scenes since we aren’t professionals,” Native said. “It’s like a dance but you have to trust that you and your partner won’t hurt each other.”

It took only two days to film, but months of preparation. Native’s wife, McCloud, has a military background and taught the cast how to hold guns properly and clear a room of criminals. After filming, it took another six months to edit. In all, it took the film over a year to go from script to final product.

Native has submitted “Ghost” to various film festivals and it was screened in February at the Native Reel Cinema Festival in Hollywood, where it received positive feedback from the community and tribal members.

“We would love to turn it into a feature film,” Native said. “We want people in the industry to see Natives are capable of many genres of movies.”

In addition to his own film, Native will be featured in two feature length films. The first, “Day 1”, starts filming in Miami in August. It is a thriller directed by Dave Clark in which Native plays the role of TJ, an influencer who is best friends with the lead character. Another film will be filmed in Minnesota in October.

“Ghost Lake” might be a supernatural thriller, but Native hasn’t seen the script yet. It will be directed by Ginew Benton (Ojibwe).

“We’re proud to welcome Doc Native to the cast of “Ghost Lake” as the Native Smuggler, a role that calls for both edge and depth, and Doc brings both in full,” Benton wrote on an Instagram post July 9. “As a performer and advocate, Doc Native continues to amplify Native visibility across media and music, and we’re honored to have him join this Indigenous-led vision.”

Native has a long list of acting roles under his belt including “Marvel’s Echo” (Ancestor #9), “Don’t Let It In” (Lead – Chris), “Borders” (Lead – Shadow Wolf Agent John), “Ghost” (Lead – Sam Huff), “Mixtape” (Manager Gabriel), “People of the West” (Lead – Chief Augustine), “Mary Margaret Road Grater” (Big Wheel Guy) and commercial for the Seminole Tribal Fair & Indigenous Arts Festival.

As for his music career, Native has some new music coming out in the fall. His music is on YouTube and social media sites. “Ghost” is on YouTube at https://youtu.be/vUXUBolgF_o.