Jessica Matten is one of the most compelling and multifaceted talents to emerge from Canadian entertainment in the past decade. Known far beyond her role as Sergeant Bernadette Manuelito on AMC’s critically acclaimed Dark Winds, she is a model, producer, wellness advocate, and tireless champion for Indigenous communities. Born in Edmonton, Alberta, Matten has built a career that blends artistic excellence with genuine purpose, making her a truly unique figure in North American television.
Profile Summary
| Detail | Information |
| Full Name | Jessica Matten |
| Date of Birth | November 30, 1985 |
| Age (2026) | 40 years old |
| Birthplace | Edmonton, Alberta, Canada |
| Nationality | Canadian |
| Ethnicity | Red River Métis, Saulteaux-Cree, British, Chinese |
| Height | 5 feet 10 inches (178 cm) |
| Weight | Approximately 59 kg (130 lbs) |
| Occupation | Actress, Producer, Model, Wellness Advocate |
| Notable Roles | Dark Winds, Frontier, Tribal, Rez Ball |
| Net Worth (2026) | Estimated $2–3 million USD |
| Partner | Brendt Thomas Diabo (rumored) |
| Production Company | 7 Forward Entertainment |
| Education | B.Sc. in Human Ecology, University of Alberta |
Who is Jessica Matten?
Jessica Matten is a Canadian actress, fashion model, film producer, and Indigenous wellness advocate. She is best recognized internationally for playing Sergeant Bernadette Manuelito, the only female sergeant on a Navajo reservation police force, in AMC’s award-winning crime drama Dark Winds. Before that role catapulted her to global recognition, she earned a loyal following through her performances in Netflix’s Frontier alongside Jason Momoa and as the star and associate producer of APTN’s Tribal.
What sets Matten apart from many of her peers is the depth of her off-screen commitment. She has spent over two decades working with Indigenous communities across Canada, focusing on suicide prevention, addiction counseling, and youth empowerment. She is the president of 7 Forward Entertainment, an Indigenous-owned production company, and co-founder of the Counting Coup Indigenous Film Academy, an initiative that provides paid film training to emerging First Nations, Métis, and Inuit artists.
Her ancestry is equally remarkable. Matten is a direct descendant of Cuthbert Grant, the first rebel Métis leader celebrated for the Battle of Seven Oaks, one of the pivotal events in Canadian Métis history.
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How Old is Jessica Matten? Age and Birthday
Jessica Matten was born on November 30, 1985, in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. As of 2026, she is 40 years old. Her zodiac sign is Sagittarius, a detail she shares with many of the passionate, free-spirited characters she tends to portray on screen.
She celebrated her milestone 40th birthday in November 2025. Matten began her professional journey at an unusually young age, modeling as a child through her mother’s First Nations modeling agency, Mystique Models, and she entered professional acting in her mid-twenties after establishing a strong foundation in wellness, advocacy, and community work.
Jessica Matten’s Height, Weight, and Body Measurements
Jessica Matten has a striking physical presence that has served her well across both modeling and demanding on-screen roles.
| Measurement | Detail |
| Height | 5 feet 10 inches (178 cm) |
| Weight | Approximately 59 kg (130 lbs) |
| Body Measurements | 34-25-35 inches |
| Eye Color | Brown |
| Hair Color | Brown |
| Bra Size | 34B |
Her lean, athletic build reflects years of dedication to fitness, martial arts training, and physical preparation for action-heavy roles. Matten maintains her physique through high-intensity circuit training and weightlifting, disciplines rooted in her background as a competitive martial artist.
Career
Early Modeling and Education
Jessica Matten’s introduction to the public eye came not through acting, but through modeling, and it started at just six years old. She helped her mother, Therese Ducharme, run Mystique Models, a First Nations modeling agency. This early immersion in the world of presentation, image, and storytelling planted seeds that would later bloom into a full acting career.
Academically, Matten pursued formal education with impressive discipline. She earned a Bachelor of Science in Human Ecology from the University of Alberta, and later studied fashion at both Central Saint Martins and the London College of Fashion. This combination of scientific grounding and artistic education gave her a rare breadth of perspective that she channels into both her advocacy work and her creative output.
She also ran a monthly wellness magazine called Active Cree, distributed to 60,000 readers across 10 communities in the James Bay region of Northern Ontario, a significant grassroots media effort that demonstrated her early drive to empower Indigenous communities.
Television Breakthrough
Matten’s professional acting career began in earnest in her mid-twenties. She made early appearances in Canadian productions before landing her first truly significant television role in Blackstone, a APTN drama about life on a First Nations reserve. The role gave her a platform to demonstrate her acting range and cultural credibility.
Her mainstream breakout came in 2016 when she was cast as Sokanon in Frontier, the Netflix and Discovery Canada series starring Jason Momoa. The period drama, set during the fur trade era, featured Matten in a recurring role across multiple seasons, exposing her to a global audience and earning her recognition as one of Canada’s most exciting Indigenous performers.
In 2018, she added to her television credits with an appearance in the CW and CBC legal drama Burden of Truth, further solidifying her reputation as a versatile dramatic actress.
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Tribal and Dark Winds Success
In 2020, Matten took on what was arguably her most personal professional role at that time. She starred as the newly appointed chief of an Indigenous police force in Alberta in Tribal, which aired on the APTN Network. Crucially, she did not just act in the series, she served as associate producer, demonstrating her growing ambition to shape Indigenous narratives from behind the camera as well.
The landmark moment in her career arrived in 2022 when she joined AMC’s Dark Winds as Sergeant Bernadette Manuelito. Produced by legendary names including Robert Redford and George R.R. Martin, the show is set on a Navajo Tribal Police reservation in the 1970s. Matten’s portrayal of the fiercely determined Bernadette earned consistent critical praise, and the series has since been renewed for a fourth season in 2026. In 2024, she also appeared in Netflix’s Rez Ball, further broadening her streaming presence.
Film Work
Beyond television, Matten has accumulated a respectable film portfolio. In 2020, she starred in The Empty Man, a horror film produced by Disney and 20th Century Fox Studios, marking her entrance into major Hollywood film productions. Her film work demonstrates the same versatility and commitment to authentic characterization that defines her television performances.
Voice Acting
In a career milestone set for 2026, Jessica Matten will voice Katara in the animated feature Avatar: Aang, The Last Airbender, scheduled for release on October 9, 2026. This role represents a significant expansion into voice acting and introduces her to an entirely new audience of animation fans worldwide.
Production Company
Matten is the president of 7 Forward Entertainment, an Indigenous-owned production company based on the West Coast of Canada. Through this company, she is actively developing original content, including a television series about an Afro-Indigenous rapper, that centers Indigenous voices and stories. She is also a co-founder of the Counting Coup Indigenous Film Academy (CCIFA), which partners with institutions like Old Sun College to offer paid film and stunt training to emerging Indigenous creators.
What is Jessica Matten’s Net Worth?
As of 2026, Jessica Matten net worth is estimated at approximately $2 to $3 million USD. This wealth has been accumulated across multiple professional streams:
- Television salary, Her work as a series regular on Frontier, Tribal, and Dark Winds (now in its fourth season) represents her primary income source.
- Film appearances, Roles in productions like The Empty Man and Rez Ball have contributed additional earnings.
- Modeling and brand work, Her background in fashion modeling and brand partnerships continues to supplement her income.
- Production ventures, Revenue generated through 7 Forward Entertainment and associated projects.
- Voice acting, Her upcoming role in the Avatar: Aang film adds a new income stream.
Her net worth has grown by an estimated $1 million between 2024 and 2026, reflecting the rapid acceleration of her career trajectory.
Is Jessica Matten Married? Partner and Relationship Status
As of 2026, Jessica Matten is not married. She has no publicly known husband or children and is famously private about her romantic life.
Her only known relationship is with Brendt Thomas Diabo, a Mohawk actor, musician, and artist. The two are believed to have connected around 2016 while both appeared in Frontier, Diabo played Aki while Matten played Sokanon. They have reportedly been together for approximately a decade, though neither has made public statements confirming the relationship.
Matten’s reticence about her personal life appears to be a deliberate choice, allowing her advocacy and creative work to remain front and center in her public identity.
Family Background
Jessica Matten comes from a family as rich and layered as her own career. Her mother, Therese Ducharme, is a celebrated Métis activist, performer, and former model who ran Mystique Models, the First Nations modeling agency where Matten began her public life at age six. Mother and daughter have delivered a joint speaker series called “Indigenous Women Breaking Barriers: A Mother and Daughter Story” across North America.
Her father has British and Chinese ancestry, giving Matten her distinctive mixed heritage of Red River Métis, Saulteaux-Cree, British, and Chinese roots. Her parents’ love story is also notable, according to reports, her father recovered from a serious injury and coma, after which her mother vowed to marry him if he healed. He did, and the family that followed became the foundation of Matten’s identity and values.
Most strikingly, Matten is a direct descendant of Cuthbert Grant, the first rebel Métis leader who led the Métis people in Canada’s Battle of Seven Oaks. This ancestral connection to one of Canadian history’s most significant Indigenous figures is something Matten speaks about with visible pride.
Jessica Matten’s Wellness Work and Advocacy
Jessica Matten’s wellness and advocacy work is not a side project, it is the engine that drives everything else she does. Over a span of more than 20 years, she has worked with Indigenous communities across Canada, focusing on:
- Suicide prevention programs, particularly for youth
- Addiction counseling and community healing
- Advocating for justice for missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls (MMIWG)
- Breaking cycles of intergenerational trauma
- Youth empowerment through employment in the arts
She has worked with communities on reservations across Canada, including time spent on the Siksika Nation in Alberta where she partly grew up. Matten has also served as a speaker and advisor on issues affecting Indigenous youth, and she co-runs Lemon Cree, a wellness nonprofit operated with her family.
Her partnership with AMC Networks, announced in late 2025, formalized the relationship between her advocacy work and her entertainment career, creating a structural framework for expanding Indigenous representation in film and television beyond symbolic gestures.
Martial Arts and Stunt Work
One of the lesser-known but genuinely impressive dimensions of Jessica Matten’s talent is her background in competitive martial arts. She holds training in multiple disciplines and has used this expertise directly in her on-screen work.
Her physical competence proved particularly valuable in Dark Winds, where Sergeant Bernadette Manuelito regularly engages in physically demanding confrontations. Matten’s ability to perform combat sequences with authenticity adds a layer of credibility to her portrayal that pure acting training alone could not provide.
She co-founded the Counting Coup Indigenous Film Academy specifically to include stunt combat training as a core component of the curriculum, ensuring that the next generation of Indigenous performers has access to the same physical skill sets that she herself has developed.
Her fitness regime centers on high-intensity circuit training and weightlifting, disciplines she maintains rigorously to stay prepared for demanding roles.
Social Media Presence
Jessica Matten maintains an active and purposeful presence on social media, primarily through Instagram (@jessicamatten), where she had approximately 77,000 followers as of early 2026.
Her feed reflects her values and career simultaneously, offering:
- Behind-the-scenes content from Dark Winds and other productions
- Fashion photography rooted in her modeling background
- Advocacy content highlighting Indigenous rights and representation issues
- Updates on the Counting Coup Film Academy and 7 Forward Entertainment
- Personal glimpses into her life in both Canada and Los Angeles
Her social media approach is notably substance-driven rather than image-driven, an authentic extension of the advocacy and storytelling she pursues in every other area of her work.
Fast Facts About Jessica Matten
- Born November 30, 1985, in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
- 40 years old as of 2026; Sagittarius
- Direct descendant of Cuthbert Grant, the first rebel Métis leader
- Started modeling at age six through her mother’s agency, Mystique Models
- Holds a B.Sc. in Human Ecology from the University of Alberta
- Studied fashion at Central Saint Martins and London College of Fashion
- Plays Sergeant Bernadette Manuelito in AMC’s Dark Winds (Season 4, 2026)
- Will voice Katara in Avatar: Aang, The Last Airbender (October 9, 2026)
- President of 7 Forward Entertainment
- Co-founder of Counting Coup Indigenous Film Academy
- Over 20 years of Indigenous community advocacy work
- Rumored partner: Brendt Thomas Diabo
FAQ’s
What is Jessica Matten best known for?
She is best known for playing Sergeant Bernadette Manuelito in AMC’s Dark Winds and Sokanon in Netflix’s Frontier alongside Jason Momoa.
How old is Jessica Matten in 2026?
Jessica Matten is 40 years old in 2026, having been born on November 30, 1985.
What is Jessica Matten’s net worth?
Her net worth is estimated between $2 and $3 million USD as of 2026, earned through acting, production, modeling, and wellness ventures.
Is Jessica Matten Indigenous?
Yes. She is of Red River Métis and Saulteaux-Cree descent on her mother’s side and is a direct descendant of Cuthbert Grant, a celebrated Métis leader.
Who is Jessica Matten’s partner?
She is rumored to be in a relationship with Mohawk actor and musician Brendt Thomas Diabo, whom she met on the set of Frontier around 2016.
What is Jessica Matten’s height?
Jessica Matten stands 5 feet 10 inches (178 cm) tall.
What production company does Jessica Matten run?
She is the president of 7 Forward Entertainment, an Indigenous-owned production company based on the West Coast of Canada.
Is Jessica Matten in Avatar: The Last Airbender?
Yes. She will voice the character Katara in the animated film Avatar: Aang, The Last Airbender, releasing on October 9, 2026.
Does Jessica Matten have children?
No publicly known children. She has maintained privacy around her personal life.
What university did Jessica Matten attend?
She earned a Bachelor of Science in Human Ecology from the University of Alberta, and later studied fashion at Central Saint Martins and the London College of Fashion.
Conclusion
Jessica Matten’s story is proof that a career built on authentic purpose can be both critically celebrated and commercially successful. From modeling at age six in her mother’s First Nations agency to voicing an iconic character in a global animated film franchise in 2026, her journey covers extraordinary ground. Her roles in Dark Winds, Frontier, and Tribal have made her one of the most recognizable Indigenous actresses on North American screens. But it is her advocacy work, two decades of youth empowerment, trauma counseling, and Indigenous storytelling through 7 Forward Entertainment and the Counting Coup Film Academy, that defines who she truly is.
With a net worth approaching $3 million, a fourth season of Dark Winds underway, and the Avatar film on the horizon, Jessica Matten’s most defining chapters may still be ahead of her.
