Oji-Cree actor D'Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai wore a red painted hand print on his face at the Emmy Awards on Sunday to draw attention to the crisis of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women.

The Canadian First Nations star of show 'Reservation Dogs' took to the red carpet in an all-black suit and the stark red symbol to shine a light on violence against women across north America.

According to the National Crime Information Center, in 2016, there were 5,712 reports of missing Native American and Alaska Native women and girls, but the US Department of Justice's federal missing person database, NamUs, only logged 116 cases.

The campaign group, Native Hope, said: "A red hand over the mouth has become the symbol of a growing movement, the MMIW movement."

"It stands for all the missing sisters whose voices are not heard. It stands for the silence of the media and law enforcement in the midst of this crisis. It stands for the oppression and subjugation of Native women who are now rising up to say No More Stolen Sisters."

Native Hope notes that many Native Americans in the US do not live on the tribal lands or reservations (only 22 per cent) and many have a lifestyle of transience between tribal and state lands.

"This presents a variety of crucial issues involving reporting policies, jurisdictional complications, and communication and coordination problems between agencies. Native Americans residing in urban areas have few resources linked to their culture and tribal community," the group said.

"Many Urban Indians, people living in cities, fall into a 'pipeline of vulnerability': people of colour, people experiencing poverty, people coming out of the foster care system, people lacking resources or family, people isolated emotionally, physically or psychologically."

Woon-A-Tai was nominated for his first Emmy for outstanding actor in a comedy series for his performance as Bear Smallhill in Reservation Dogs.

The FX program follows a group of Indigenous teens in Oklahoma who want to make their way to California.

Earlier this year, Woon-A-Tai told Variety that the show has taught him "how important it is that we are the ones to tell our stories for us".

"Nobody should tell our stories on our behalf. That's been going on for too long. We've had too much misrepresentation because of it. Moving forward, I am very much going to stick with telling Native stories through the Native lens," he said.