Cara Gee gives commanding women a purposeful stillness and a forceful voice. We rate the vulnerability she finds beneath that authority, though The Call of the Wild offers only a limited introduction to her work.
Fi1m perspective
As Camina Drummer in The Expanse, Cara Gee can make standing still look purposeful. Her voice supplies the force; her movements are economical enough that we notice them. The quieter moments allow vulnerability into a performance that might otherwise have settled for fierceness. It is good, controlled acting, particularly when Drummer’s confidence gives way to uncertainty.
Her screen career began with the lead in Empire of Dirt (2013), followed by the Western series Strange Empire (2014–2015). The settings change, but the repeated demand is clear: Gee is often asked to play women who must lead or survive, frequently among outsiders. Drummer, whom she played from 2017 to 2022, brought wider recognition and grew from a recurring part into a main role under showrunner Naren Shankar. That longer television role provides more opportunity to see her quieter work than a supporting appearance in a busy adventure film.
The Call of the Wild (2020) casts her as Françoise in an effects-heavy family adventure. Gee consulted a Tlingit adviser for the sled-dog role, and that care over the character’s background is worth noting. Her grounded presence is welcome in a film whose central animal never quite stops looking animated. We were caught up in the sled sequences, whose liveliness briefly overcame that distraction. Yet the softened wilderness allows too little danger, and the supporting part gives us less opportunity to see the shifts between command and vulnerability that distinguish Drummer.
Levels (2024), directed by Adam Stern, gives her a science-fiction lead as Ash. The recurring emphasis on leadership and survival makes sense, but it also risks keeping her within a narrow set of expectations. We would welcome more of the intimate work that makes Drummer convincing. Consider The Call of the Wild for the sled sequences and Harrison Ford’s restrained warmth, with reservations about its softened wilderness. For Gee herself, start with The Expanse.
Biography
Cara Gee is a Canadian actress of Ojibwe descent. She graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Acting from the University of Windsor in 2007 and began her career as a stage actress in Toronto, appearing in productions including Margaret Atwood’s The Penelopiad and Tomson Highway’s The Rez Sisters.
Gee is known for playing Camina Drummer in the television series The Expanse (2017–2022). Her other credits include the lead role in the film Empire of Dirt (2013), for which she received a Canadian Screen Award nomination, Françoise in The Call of the Wild (2020), and roles in the series Strange Empire (2014–2015) and Sweet Tooth (2021).
