Vancouver (Mar 22/04) - They say you can be whatever you want to be. Annabella Piugattuk will tell you it's true.

The 20-year-old Inuk capped off a whirlwind year with a Genie nomination for her role in The Snow Walker.

The first thing Piugattuk did when she found out about her best supporting actress Genie nomination was call her mother.

Her mom, at work in Iglulik, was ecstatic.

"But she was even more happy when I told her I was coming home," said Piugattuk from Vancouver.

It's been nearly a year since Piugattuk has been back to Iglulik, but she returns to Nunavut this week to screen her movie in Rankin Inlet, Iqaluit and her hometown.

She's especially looking forward to showing the movie in Iglulik.

"They know me and they're more excited than anyone else on the planet about this movie," she said.

"I know they'll be really proud of me."

Piugattuk plays Kanaalaq, a young Inuit woman who teaches pilot Charlie (Barry Pepper) how to survive in the Arctic after their plane crashes.

She was cast in the role after casting director Jared Valentine spotted her at a dance in Iglulik. He gave her a script to study, but she already had a copy. Her mother had made her get one when the casting director came to town looking for someone to play Kanaalaq.

The tiny actress (she's one and a half metres tall -- or 4'11'') had the kind of vulnerability the producers were looking for -- a vulnerability that would highlight her character's ability to survive.

School takes priority

Piugattuk lives in Vancouver with her fiance and is working on completing her Grade 12 at the Native Education Centre.

While school takes precedence over auditions and interviews, the pressure on her time is increasing, with interview requests multiplying since the release of the movie and the award nomination.

"I had to drop math," she said.

She's not abandoning school, it just means it will take her a little longer to complete, she said.

She admitted she's starting to get tired of interviews, but she keeps on giving them as they're part of the job.

It's the same attitude that got her through the scene in the movie where she had to bite into a raw fish, and offer some to Pepper.

"It was the first fish I'd tried other than Arctic Char," she said.

"It was store bought, frozen and thawed. We had to do the scene two or three times and I spit it out every time, and had to rinse my mouth with water. I don't blame Barry (Pepper) for not wanting any."

Piugattuk knows she's lucky. She's doing what many teenagers in Nunavut would dream about: making major motion pictures, living in the big city and giving interviews to the press.

"I know a lot of people would like to do what I'm doing," she said.

Piugattuk isn't limiting her sights to acting.

She's thinking about becoming an elementary school teacher or a weather girl or maybe a fashion designer -- or why not even premier of Nunavut?

"Watch out Paul Okalik, here I come," Piugattuk said, laughing.