When millions of people see actor Duane Howard play Elk Dog, the lead native warrior in 20th Century Foxs mammoth film The Revenant, chances are that they will marvel at how such a riveting actor came out of nowhere. But Duane did not come out of nowhere; he came from the streets. Duane Howard is a First Nation born in the Nuu-chah-nulth (meaning along the mountains and sea) territory located on the west coast of Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada. The Howard family left the territory when Duane was only 3 to live in the nearby town Port Alberni. By the time he moved to Vancouver with his older sister at the age of 14 following his parents separation, Duane had already been using drugs and alcohol for four years. Duane lived on the streets from the age of 14 to 18 years old and had many close calls. Many times during this unimaginable period Duane considered not going on. After 13 years at the age of 23 Duane realized that he did not want his son to follow in his footsteps and so he simply got up and walked away from his dark life. Duane not only accomplished the enormous feat of becoming clean and sober, he went on to get his grade twelve education and in 1988 he received his diploma in Substance Abuse Counseling. Duane used his experience and his new education to work the rougher parts of Vancouver and towns across Canada making a difference in the lives of troubled youth and their families. In the early 1990s Duane realized that he wanted to make another change in his life when he discovered a passion for acting. Duane began as a background performer and then worked his way up to acquiring a stunt credit on the feature film The Scarlett Letter. Duanes credits grew from stunts to stunt acting to acting roles on shows such as the TV movies Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee and Goodnight for Justice: Queen of Hearts along with the popular TV series Arctic Air and more. Duane recently completed a starring role in a film titled The Sun at Midnight wherein, ironically, he fights to survive a bear attack.