Zacharie Ittimangnaq

Kugaaruk (formerly Pelly Bay)

Zacharie Ittimangnaq was born in Kugaaruk, Nunvut, in 1909. Records only exist for a handful of his carvings, but he was a versatile artist who created small-scale sculptures in stone, bone, antler, and ivory.

Zacharie is best-known for playing Ootek in Never Cry Wolf (1983), which was an American film adaptation of Farley Mowat’s 1963 autobiography of the same name. Ootek was an Inuit elder who served as a mentor, guide, and companion to the film’s protagonist – a young government biologist sent into the wilderness to study the caribou population, the decline of which is believed to be caused by wolves. Never Cry Wolf was Disney’s first film to be released under Walt Disney Pictures and went on to win several awards and award nominations.