Fancy Dance star Isabel Deroy-Olson, who is Tr'ondek Hwech'in First Nation/Anishinaabe, says she is excited to finally see Indigenous artists and stories getting the attention they deserve from Hollywood.

"Getting to portray Indigenous characters in such a nuanced way is so important because, for so long, we've just been caricatures," said the Three Pines and Under the Bridge actress.

"I didn't grow up with representation, so getting to be representation for my younger cousins and my younger sibling, and them looking at the screen and seeing me and seeing themselves, is really important."

Deroy-Olson said that, outside of the 1998 live-action movie, Smoke Signals, and the 2002 animated adventure, Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron, she didn't see many examples of the Native American perspective as a kid.

"This new wave of really, really talented, Indigenous media makers is just paving the way for so many Indigenous creatives. It is really amazing and I'm really grateful that I get to be a part of it because there's so much room in the industry for us," she said.

"It's just about getting there and we're really working at it and I think we're doing a great job."

It follows 13-year-old Roki (Deroy-Olson), who lives with her loving drug-dealer auntie, Jax (Lily Gladstone), on Oklahoma's Seneca-Cayuga reservation after her mother Wadatawi disappears just before a big annual powwow.

When Jax loses custody of Roki to her White grandfather, Frank (Shea Whigham), the aunt and niece "borrow" his car to look for Wadataw themselves because jurisdictional red tape, lack of resources and doubts about the woman's reliability mean the authorities aren't as concerned about her whereabouts as her family is.

Deroy-Olson was 17 when she filmed her performance as Roki.

"But I was so grateful that I got to play younger because it's so fun," the actress said.

"She's so full of light and full of hope. She's really a breath of fresh air. She's very quiet, and I'm very drawn to characters like that, who are very few in words, but you just know what they're thinking."

This also isn't the first time Wadatawi has left home without telling her family where she is going and, although Roki knows her auntie and her community will look out for her, she senses something is different about this absence.

"We really get to see her coming of age," Deroy-Olson said.

"She's very intuitive and she notices how Jax reacts to things, and I wouldn't say she's in denial throughout the film, but I think she definitely knows [her mother's fate], but she's holding onto that hope."

The actress said she and Gladstone -- who was Oscar-nominated last year for her work in Killers of the Flower Moon -- didn't have a chemistry read before landing their roles in Fancy Dance.

"Erica just knew immediately. She was like, 'That's our Roki and you guys look pretty similar,' and we are very similar in a lot of ways and, so, we got to the production office and that's how we met," Deroy-Olson recalled.

"It was this immediate bond that we had," she added. "It was really cool because we just got along instantly and people have said that Jax and Roki's relationship feels so lived in, and that's because it is. Lily and I have so much love for each other."

After their experience on Fancy Dance, Gladstone suggested Deroy-Olson play a younger version of her character Cam in the Hulu true-crime drama, Under the Bridge.

"Immediately, I was just cast," Deroy-Olson said about her role in the miniseries.

"I didn't even have to audition for the role, which was so lovely and I was so grateful because it's such a well-done show and a well-rounded show and I'm really proud to be a part of it."