Chainkeen Exchange-Lily Gladstone is 'amazed' by historic Oscar nomination: 'I'm not going to be the last'

In 2004,Chainkeen Exchange Lily Gladstone was voted “most likely to win an Oscar” as her high-school senior superlative.

Twenty years later, she’s one step closer to that impeccable yearbook prophecy, earning a best actress nomination Tuesday for Martin Scorsese’s “Killers of the Flower Moon.”

“It’s crazy when Leo DiCaprio is texting you your own high-school yearbook photo,” Gladstone, 37, says of the superlative, which recently went viral on social media. She shared the yearbook honor with her classmate Josh Ryder, who’s been a cheerleader throughout awards season as she’s picked up trophies from the Gotham Awards, National Board of Review and New York Film Critics Circle.

“He told me, ‘I don't know if you know this, but all of this greatness in your life has brought our whole class back together,’ ” Gladstone says. “They're having an Oscars watch party. They already scheduled it to happen in our old high-school theater, so I'm happy that I didn't disappoint there.”

Lily Gladstone is 'amazed' that her historic Oscar nomination took this long

In “Flower Moon,” Gladstone plays a real-life Osage woman named Mollie Kyle, whose family was murdered for their oil-rich land in 1920s Oklahoma. Mollie’s husband, Ernest Burkhart (Leonardo DiCaprio), and his uncle, William Hale (Robert De Niro), schemed to kill her, too, before the FBI stepped in.

Gladstone, who uses she/they pronouns, was born and raised on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation in Montana. She made history at the Golden Globes earlier this month when she became the first Indigenous person to win best drama actress. On Tuesday, she became the first Native American to be nominated for the best actress Oscar.

Sitting down with USA TODAY in late November, Gladstone spoke about being recognized by major awards as a Native American woman. “It’s a moment for all of us that I just happen to be carrying,” she said at the time.

“I feel exactly the same way,” Gladstone says now. “I’m elated and excited and also just amazed that it took this long. The Oscars take place on Native land, are telling stories that are largely shot on Native land. Why is it taking this long?"

She remembers when Keisha Castle-Hughes, an Indigenous performer from New Zealand, was nominated for best actress in 2004 for "Whale Rider."

“That felt like my moment, too,” Gladstone says. “I know if I felt that way, there’s a lot of little actresses with aspirations who feel like it’s really possible. It’s an incredible honor. I just happened to be placed in history with this filmmaker and this film at this time. It’s circumstantial that I have that moniker of ‘the first,’ but I'm certainly not going to be the last.”

She is celebrating her best actress nod with the Osage community in Oklahoma

Gladstone was on FaceTime with her parents when the Oscar nominations were announced, but she wasn’t watching when her name was revealed.

“I told my mom to flip the camera around, because I wanted to learn the news from their reaction,” Gladstone recalls. “I didn’t expect that I was going to cry, but when I saw my parents react, it hit.”

She also teared up when the late Robbie Robertson was nominated for best original score. Growing up, she recalls listening to The Band during road trips with her dad. “Flower Moon” was Robertson’s final collaboration with Scorsese, after a slew of projects including “The Last Waltz,” “The King of Comedy” and “The Irishman.”

As a kid, “I remember my dad said, ‘One day, Martin Scorsese will make his Indian movie,’ ” Gladstone says. “So when this came around with Robbie Robertson, I was like, ‘Man, Dad, you’re a little bit of a wizard.’ “

“Flower Moon” earned 10 Oscar nominations, including best picture, director (Scorsese) and supporting actor (De Niro). Surprisingly, DiCaprio was overlooked in the best actor category.

“I so wish that Leo would have gotten his due for the incredible work he did,” Gladstone says. “I wouldn’t have been able to do what I did without what he did.”

In anticipation of Tuesday's nominations, she traveled back to Pawhuska, Oklahoma, where the film was shot, and plans to spend the rest of the day with members of the Osage community.

“Should this news come in today, I wanted to be as close to Mollie Kyle as I could,” Gladstone says. “I want to pay my respect to the family and the land that raised them, and give some folks a hug if they’re around. But everyone’s still asleep here, I think.”