Canadian actor Gary Farmer was born on June 12, 1953 in Ohsweken, Ontario. Born into the Cayuga nation of Native Americans, he studied photography and film production at the Syracuse University in Syracuse, New York, and the Pyerson Polytechnic University in Toronto, respectively. He launched his acting career in 1983, starting with roles on Canadian television productions; he took his first major role a year later, in the series Spirit Bay.

Farmer’s work throughout most of the 1980s centered on films, with occasional roles on television. In 1992, he became a regular on the short-lived syndicated series Forever Knight. He would gain wider recognition in 1995, with his role as a spiritual Native American guide named Nobody in the film Dead Man—a role that he would late reprise in another film, Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai. He used his later work as a means to pay tribute to his Native American heritage, being a major contributor to films and television shows that tackled it.

Apart from his advocacy, Farmer also appeared as a regular in several television shows. After a recurring role in the Canadian series Moose TV, he joined the cast of the CW’s short-lived series Easy Money. It was swiftly cancelled because of low ratings.