Caleb is a rescue dog who had bounced between foster homes for years because he was reportedly “too much dog”—is there such a thing? He eventually landed in the loving care of Cathy and Gregg Pittman of the Performing Animal Troupe. The Year of the Dog marks Caleb’s feature-film debut. Rumors of Brando reincarnated floated around set.

Rob landed his first movie role at 15 in the Oscar-nominated film starring Ethan Hawke, Snow Falling on Cedars. He’s been hooked since then. More recently, he has had speaking roles in the Syfy series Z Nation and the critically acclaimed film Mickey and the Bear, which premiered at Cannes and SXSW film festivals. He wrote, directed, produced, and starred in the multi-award-winning short film Method, which premiered at the Chelsea Film Festival, where Academy Award-winning screenwriter Paul Haggis (Crash, Million Dollar Baby) awarded Rob the Best Original Screenplay award. Rob was also nominated for Best Actor and Best Director at the Beaufort International Film Festival. He is an alum of the MFA Acting program at the Actor’s Studio Drama School in New York. Some of Rob’s more esoteric life highlights include backpacking into Egypt two weeks before the war in Iraq, consulting Bhutan on its public advertising policy, and traveling to Haiti after the 2010 earthquake to write an article for Rolling Stone magazine.

Michael Spears’s role as Otter in Dances with Wolves (1990) catapulted him into film, music, and public speaking. Throughout his career, he has worked alongside Hollywood veterans, such as Kevin Costner, Bill Pullman, Pierce Brosnan, Gary Oldman, Christian Slater, Alicia Silverstone, and Jim Caviezel. Some of Spears’s career highlights since Dances with Wolves include his role as Dog Star in Spielberg’s 2005 miniseries Into the West and his role as Tenkill in Angels in Stardust (2014), for which he received critical acclaim in The New York Times. In 2014 and 2015, Spears played Savanukah in Colonial Williamsburg’s open-air stage production of The Beloved Women of Chota, the first Indigenous-centric production of its kind for Colonial Williamsburg. Spears also works in the film industry as a technical adviser for Native American cultures, soundtrack recording artist, and voiceover actor. When not filming, he travels as a keynote speaker on topics such as indigenous health and wellness, mental health, and Lakota spirituality.

Jon Proudstar is a veteran actor of forty-two productions. He is currently a reoccurring character on FX/Disney’s Reservation Dogs (Sterlin Harjo, Show Runner, Taika Waititi, Exec Prod.) Jon had six big releases in 2021, which include Reservation Dogs, The Heart Stays, Wastelander, Deep Woods, and Mammoth. A product of the Sundance Institute’s 1997 Native American Writers Lab, Proudstar was chosen for the 2005 Directors Lab, where he worked alongside Ed Harris, Stanley Tucci, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, and Robert Redford. Some of Proudstar’s more notable films are Bodies, Rest & Motion (1993 Cannes Film Festival), Skinwalkers (PBS), Barking Water (Sterlin Harjo, Dir.), and Four Sheets to the Wind (Sterlin Harjo, Dir.). Jon trained at Los Angeles Theatre and with legendary acting coach Joan Darling.

Theatrically trained Alyssa Groenig is a seasoned dramatic actress. She made her debut on a national tour with the Montana Rep before taking her talents to Los Angeles, where she pursued comedy, studying with The Groundlings and acting coach Jeffery Brooks. Aside from her theatrical endeavors, which included the roles of Margot in The Diary of Anne Frank, Ophelia in Othello, performed at the Whitmore Lindley Theatre, and numerous comedy and improv projects, Alyssa has worked as a voiceover actress, walked a runway, and produced a t-shirt line. She currently resides in Kansas City with her dog Anniston and has served on the board for the Kansas City Women in Film.

Jeff Medley was born and raised in Mexico, Missouri. He spent four years in the navy as an esoteric eavesdropper prior to university, where he obtained a degree in geography because it was quick and easy. Because of severe stage fright in childhood, he didn’t consider acting until his mid-30s when he played a very aggressive leper in a 2008 community theater production of Jesus Christ Superstar. It’s been mostly up since then, with Jeff amassing over 20 film and television credits, including six films slated for release in 2022, with roles alongside stars such as Nicholas Cage.

Born and raised in Bozeman, Montana, Aaron C. Finley’s career has spanned from coast to coast as a professional actor and singer. Educated at Pacific Lutheran University in Seattle, he quickly became a top-tier talent in the Pacific Northwest. Aaron made his Broadway debut in 2013, starring as Drew Boley in Rock of Ages. Since then, he has appeared in four Broadway shows, including the Tony Award-winning smash hit Moulin Rouge, where currently, as a swing, he regularly performs the lead role of Christian. He has also been performing pops symphony concerts across North America, celebrating the music of the 1980s and Phil Collins.

An accountant by day, Cat has been involved in theatre and live music performance since she was a young child, traveling and assisting her musician father. She has worked as an extra in scores of films and has had speaking and signing roles in numerous Montana theatre and film projects including the feature film: Take Two (Christian flick) and White Christmas performed at the historic Ellen Theatre in Bozeman Montana.

We have a special guest cameo by reality-TV star Abram Boise. His career launched with MTV’s Road Rules: South Pacific. He was also a winner of The Inferno and The Inferno 3 and a finalist on The Inferno 2 and Cutthroat. He also competed on The Gauntlet, Battle of the Sexes 2, The Island, Battle of the Exes, and Battle of the Bloodlines, all national reality-TV shows.

The Year of the Dog is Logan’s first acting role. And he absolutely nailed it. We are so proud of him. The world is on notice. Logan Hanley is coming!