Larissa FastHorse (Rosebud Sioux Tribe, Lakota) grew up in South Dakota. Her first career was as a ballet dancer and choreographer; however, she always loved to write. In Los Angeles she became involved with the Native American film community and spoke at film festivals and panels. In 2000 she was a delegate to the United Nations in Geneva, speaking on the power of film for Indigenous peoples.
Larissa then chose to widen her experience by working in feature film and television development, first at Universal Pictures and then as the creative executive for Latham Entertainment at Paramount. During that time Larissa also produced a short film that has screened at festivals all over the globe.
Larissa decided it was time to go out on her own to write and direct projects she has a passion for. From her apartment in Santa Monica she has written a variety of projects while also serving as a panelist and nominator for The Film and Video Fellowships (formerly Rockefeller). Larissa's original short story, MEETING MOM, can be heard on Public Radio International's show, Primary Sources. The piece expresses Larissa's surprising feelings after meeting her birth mother.
Larissa's feature script, LAZARUS RISES, received a Sundance Institute/Ford Foundation Fellowship and grant that funded a staged reading directed by Larissa. The story is an autobiographical metaphor that follows three disabled American Indian Veterans on a road trip across South Dakota with the blind guy at the wheel. In 2006, Larissa completed a fellowship with the Fox Diversity Writer's Initiative Program, and this past season she wrote and co-created a new drama series for The N Network.
