Anna Lambe Is TV’s New North Star

An acting career wasn’t on Anna Lambe’s radar as a kid—Iqaluit, her hometown, wasn’t exactly teeming with film sets. So imagine Lambe’s surprise when, in 2015, the spotlight came to her: the producers of The Grizzlies, a 2018 film about a real-life lacrosse team from Kugluktuk, Nunavut, held open auditions in 25 northern communities, including Iqaluit. Lambe’s high school drama teacher—an early supporter—urged her to try out and, out of 600 teens, she was cast as Spring, the team’s only female player. “I was young and sporty,” she says. “It just made sense for the role.”

Believing The Grizzlies to be just “a one-off thing,” in 2018, Lambe enrolled in the international development program at the University of Ottawa, hoping to one day return home and work with an NGO. “I had no expectation that I was going to start acting again,” she says. But just a week into her first semester, The Grizzlies premiered at TIFF. The following year, Lambe was nominated for best supporting actress at the Canadian Screen Awards. While on the festival circuit, Lambe, who is Inuk, discussed issues that disproportionately affect Indigenous communities—like food insecurity and high teen suicide rates—with high-ranking Canadian diplomats. Acting, she realized, was an artistic outlet with impact. 

In 2019, Lambe landed her second major gig, as the rebellious Sarah in CBC’s Trickster, followed by a recurring role as Kayla Malee, a young mother and nurse, in True Detective: Night Country, set in pitch-dark Alaska. Lambe’s next project, though, was proof-positive of her range—a natural ability to toggle, chameleon-like, between the dramatic and comedic. After pursuing the role “desperately,” Lambe was cast as Siaja, a self-proclaimed modern Inuk woman and the protagonist of North of North, a new coming-of-age comedy co-produced by CBC and Netflix, in partnership with APTN. (One-off who?)

The series, created by The Grizzlies producers Stacey Aglok MacDonald and Alethea Arnaquq-Baril, is shot in Iqaluit, transformed into the fictional Arctic community of Ice Cove. Lambe says that, right away, she found Siaja relatable—fiery, witty, messily navigating life after divorce and working a thankless job as an assistant to the town’s white community-
centre facilitator. “I was excited to see a story about the North that was funny and light,” she says. Lambe even made up a game, trying to identify which real-life Iqaluit residents, if any, might have inspired Siaja’s neighbours.

With North of North slated to stream globally on Netflix this spring, Lambe, now 24, is thrilled to show the world her home the way it truly is—full of complex, hilarious, flesh-and-blood people, not stereotypes. Soon, she’ll finish her degree and, someday, hopes to write and direct her own projects. For the moment, she’s crossing her fingers that her show gets a second season. “The world’s a bit wild right now,” she says. “I’d love a little more joy.”

Pop quiz

Comfort Watch: Bridget Jones’s Diary. “Bridget was a massive reference of mine for Siaja,” Lambe says. “I love her impulsivity and awkwardness.”
Must-read: Split Tooth by Tanya Tagaq, Lambe’s True Detective co-star
On-set Snack: Two slices of plain toast (or topped with butter, almond butter or jam)
Inuit Fashion Inspo: Parkas from Victoria’s Arctic Fashions and slippers and earrings by Sapangak (which is run by Lambe’s cousin)
“I Made It” Moment: The 2024 Emmys.“You never really expect to end up there, especially when you’re a small-town girlie,” Lambe says. “Seeing Meryl Streep was shocking.”

This story appears in the April 2025 issue of Maclean’s. You can buy the issue here, subscribe to the magazine here or send a gift subscription here.