Arigon Starr's Biography

Arigon Starr is an enrolled member of the Kickapoo Tribe of Oklahoma. She grew up on the road as part of a military family. Her parents, Ken and Ruth Wahpecome (Creek-Cherokee-Seneca) supported her artistic expressions, encouraging her to learn as much as possible about music, composition, art, and drama. Starr relocated to Los Angeles, where she worked behind the scenes at entertainment companies like Viacom Productions and Showtime Networks. In 1996, she left her corporate job behind and became a full-time musician.

Starr’s first CD, Meet the Diva, was named Best Independent Recording at the Second Annual Native American Music Awards. Her second release, Wind-Up, was released in 2000. This CD contained the hit “Junior Frybread,” which was named Song/Single of the Year at the Fourth Annual Native American Music Awards. In 2002, Wacky Productions released her third CD, Backflip, which featured Grammy-nominated country act BR549. Starr’s fourth CD, The Red Road – Original Cast Recording was named the Best Contemporary CD at the 15^th Annual First Americans in the Arts Awards and features a Who’s Who of musical guest stars from Los Angeles and Nashville. Additionally, Arigon was named “Songwriter of the Year” by the Native American Music Awards and received a nomination for “Best Country CD” from Canada’s Aboriginal Peoples Choice Awards.

Starr’s music has taken her around the world. She has toured the United Kingdom, including stops in London and the famous West Yorkshire Playhouse in Leeds, in addition to appearances at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, the Gathering of Nations Pow-Wow, and at venues like Sky City and Isleta Casinos in New Mexico, the Gilcrease Museum in Tulsa, the University of Washington, Seattle and the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, DC and New York City.

Starr has also gained fame and garnered awards for her acting skills. She’s been awarded two First Americans in the Arts Awards, the Maverick Award from the Los Angeles Women’s Theater Project, and a Wordcraft Circle of Native Writers Award. Native Voices at the Autry has featured her in several productions, including lead roles in Equity productions of The Buz’Gem Blues, Please Do Not Touch the Indians and Kino & Teresa. Arigon Starr’s is the playwright, composer and performer in The Red Road, a wild, wacky musical comedy which Native Voices at the Autry world-premiered at the Autry National Center on March 30, 2006. The play garnered rave reviews from the Los Angeles Times and Daily Variety. Additionally, Starr has appeared on television in Showtime’s comedy, Barbershop: The Series and ABC’s General Hospital.

Native Voices at the Autry and the Native Radio Theater project have teamed with Starr for Super Indian, a radio comedy series she created which was taped before a live audience. The program was nationally broadcast by Native Voice One, the Native American Radio Service.

Super Indian will be launched as a full-fledged comic book/graphic novel later in 2008. The project is being written, penciled, inked and digitally colored by Arigon Starr.

Starr continues to write, act and perform and is represented by Kristene Wallis at the Wallis Agency. Starr is a member of the Screen Actors Guild, Actors Equity, and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists.