CULVER CITY, Calif. – Thirty years ago, she was a girl called Hatter Fox. Now she’s a filmmaker, singer/songwriter, and entrepreneur who plans to create the first Indian television network.

Joanelle Romero, an actress of Apache/Cheyenne descent, has accomplished many things in her life. In 1977, she was the first person to star in a movie about a contemporary American Indian woman. Only three such movies have been made since then, she said: ”Lakota Woman,” ”Naturally Native” and ”Imprint.”

In 2006, Romero introduced the Red Nation Television Channel. So far, the channel is Web-based, with content such as syndicated news, documentaries and music videos. But her goal is more ambitious than offering multimedia on the Net. ”We want to be – we will be the next Indian HBO/CNN,” she declared.

Other groups are also trying to develop the first real Native TV network. The contenders include Native American Television and American Indian Television. But Romero isn’t worried about the competition. They may have more corporate sponsors and flashier Web sites, she says, but she has the content and the industry contacts.

From actress to producer

After her breakthrough in the made-for-TV movie ”A Girl Called Hatter Fox,” the networks began grooming Romero for her own series. She guest-starred in shows such as ”Hill Street Blues,” ”Cutter to Houston,” and ”Murder, She Wrote.” But she wanted to be a feature-film actress.

The roles eventually dwindled. ”I got tired of being stuck in a tipi and saying we want more stew beef,” she said. ”I didn’t study acting at the Lee Strasberg studio to be in a tipi the rest of my career.”

An anecdote shows how tough the going was. Romero was up to play the mother in a mother/daughter combo with her own daughter, who was also in the business. ”I’m an actress. She’s an actress. Let’s play mother and daughter,” she said. ”What a great PR thing, right? But they said I was too sexy. So I didn’t get the role.”

In 1991, Romero founded Spirit World Productions, her own production company. In 1994, she produced and starred in ”Home, Home on the Rez,” the first American Indian drama series set in the United States. In 2000, she wrote, directed, and produced the award-winning documentary, ”American Holocaust: When It’s All Over I’ll Still Be Indian.”

Celebrating Red Nations

In 1995, Romero founded Red Nation Celebration, a nonprofit dedicated to educating people about Indians through the performing arts. This led to the establishment of the first American Indian Heritage month in Los Angeles in 2006. It also led to a Native music radio program and the Red Nation Television Channel.

The need for such a channel is obvious, according to Romero. ”We’re not on prime-time television, and we’re not in mainstream radio. For our grandchildren’s grandchildren, we need to have our image [available].”

Indians are like the elephant, or perhaps the big buffalo, in the room, Romero said. They suffuse our history and culture, but they’re invisible in the media. That’s what she wants to change.

”The point is that the Red Nation Television Channel is a vehicle and a venue for our Indian people to go to watch. And for the general public to go to and experience who ‘Indian’ is, what ‘Indian’ sounds like, what our sense of humor is, what our culture is about.”

Stepping up to the plate

Only one thing is missing, Romero said: ”Investors. We need the godfathers to step up to the plate. The godmothers to step up to the plate. To believe in our people. Believe in the people who are doing it.”

But she isn’t waiting for money. ”If I waited for funding, none of this stuff would’ve ever happened. The American Indian heritage month, the television channel, the radio show, the first American Indian holocaust film.” If you want to get something done, she said, ”You just have to do it.”

”I’ve known this lady for like a decade or so,” said Jay Tavare, a Native actor who has appeared in ”Cold Mountain” and ”Into the West.” ”And she is truly an ambassador for the Red Nation. Her tireless efforts have been phenomenal.”

Seated at a McDonald’s not far from Hollywood, Romero said there are three kinds of people: First, the ”dreamers and doers” who get things done; second, the people who ”step in and try to take over” after something is finished; and third, the ”yapping dogs” who sit on the sidelines.

”I’d rather be the dreamer and the doer,” she said. Because when people ”try to get credit for something they didn’t create, it always slaps them in the face anyway. It always fails. It’s not their vision so it doesn’t work.

”And who wants to be [a] yapping dog?” Romero said. ”I don’t.”

For more information on Romero’s endeavors, visit Red Nation Celebration at www.rednation.com.