Ty DeFoe

Ty DeFoe is an Ojibwe and Oneida performance artist, activist, and writer based in New York. He grew up in Wisconsin within the Ojibwe and Oneida communities of his parents. DeFoe is two-spirit, a term used across many Native American nations to describe gender fluidity, non-traditional gender roles, or queerness, and he serves as a member of the youth council at the East Coast Two-Spirit Society.

DeFoe's performative life began in toddlerhood, when he learned to hoop dance. He continues to incorporate hoop dancing into his performances alongside eagle dancing, puppetry, and other art forms. He holds degrees from the California Institute of the Arts, Goddard College, and New York University's Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program at Tisch School of the Arts, and he is a member of the Dramatists Guild of America.

His theatre work spans writing, producing, and performing, with credits that include Clouds are Pillows for the Moon, In the Cards, Heather Henson's Flight: A Crane's Story, Tick, Tick, and Honor + Family. In June 2018, DeFoe made his Broadway debut in the premiere of Young Jean Lee's Straight White Men, in which he and Kate Bornstein portrayed stage versions of themselves as interlocutors of indeterminate gender. He has also collaborated with indigenous organizations including the Alaska Native Heritage Center and the Hawaiian Playwrights Initiative.

Together with Lakota playwright and choreographer Larissa Fasthorse, DeFoe co-founded Indigenous Direction, a consulting firm that assists organizations and individuals seeking to create accurate work by, for, and with Indigenous peoples. The Guthrie Theater is among its clients. DeFoe received a Grammy Award for Best Native American Music Album for his contributions to Come to Me Great Mystery: Native American Healing Songs, an album featuring the work of several Native American musicians.

Among his recognitions, DeFoe was a finalist for the inaugural Barbara Whitman Award in 2021 and was named a United States Artists Fellow in 2026. He is also featured in the book 50 Key Figures in Queer US Theatre, with a profile authored by theatre scholar Courtney Elkin Mohler.