Sterlin Harjo discusses his Oklahoma roots and film experiences

So you're visiting with us from Oklahoma, where you grew up and still live. Most of everything you've done is set in Oklahoma. Your first movie, Four Sheets to the Wind. Young native kid in Oklahoma making his way. Reservation Dogs. Native teenagers getting into various kinds of trouble in Oklahoma. So I'm assuming a lot of this is autobiographical about you. Yeah, I mean, a lot of it is, you know, but I think Reservation Dogs was kind of like my childhood, you know? Really? You were, like, boosting trucks and stealing chips? Yeah. You know, like, there's not a lot to do in rural Oklahoma. Yeah, you got to do something with your. How about some crimes? Okay. Exactly. Yeah, exactly. But when you were growing up, I mean, as part of the native community, you must have been struck by the images you saw. I mean, like, did you ever see, like, any of the classic old Westerns? Yeah. Loved them. You know, it's so far removed from who I am and the people that I grew up with that it's so far from the truth that, like, I remember one time my dad calling me into the living room. He's like, hey, come here. There's a movie about us. And I went in there, and it was called, like, Seminole Wars. I'm part Seminole, one of the tribes that I'm from. And everyone was, like, dressed as Cheyenne warriors, and they all spoke Lakota, you know, so we had a good laugh at that. But then also, just the idea of being represented was like, wow, you know, like, because I didn't have a reservation dog growing up, you know? And your dad, you grew up in a small town in Oklahoma. Yeah. And your dad ran a Taekwondo studio? Yeah, he. Hard Joe's Martial Arts just. It just shuttered its doors a couple years ago. Really? Yeah, yeah. And, like, everyone took Taekwondo from my dad. He was doing kind of MMA before it became a thing because he kind of just, like, he loved Bruce Lee, and so he would just kind of Frankenstein martial arts together. Was it. Was the crime low in that town if everybody knew Taekwondo? Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, cuz no one wanted to mess with Haro's martial arts students. Yeah, I know. Were you a Haro's martial arts student as well as being a Harjo? Yes, I was. Yeah. Did. Were you good? Were you, like. Yeah, I was. What belt did you reach? I was number one in the state for a few years. Oh, yeah. Black belt. Oh. I got to brown belt because I. I wanted to be different, you know? Yeah, I know. I was like, I don't want to go all the way yeah. So right now, I think I discovered girls and football and things like that. And I was like, I'm not gonna. I have no time for this, dad. Yeah, so you can, like.