Biography
Elaine Miles is an American actress. She was born on 7 April 1960 in Pendleton, Oregon, and is an enrolled citizen of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation with Cayuse and Nez Perce ancestry.
Miles began acting after accompanying her mother, Armenia Miles, to an audition for Northern Exposure. She was offered the role of Marilyn Whirlwind, which she played across all six seasons from 1990 to 1995. The series brought her a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series. Subsequent film roles include Lucy in Smoke Signals (1998), the housekeeper in Mad Love (1995) and Florence in The Last of Us (2023). She has also appeared in Wyvern (2009) and other independent films, and performs traditional dancing and stand-up comedy.
