He was nominated for Independent Spirit Awards for his roles in the movies Powwow Highway, Dead Man, and Smoke Signals. Farmer also played the role of Fagin in Twist, the 2003 independent adaptation of the Charles Dickens classic novel Oliver Twist. He also played Deputy Bob in Demon Knight. Two of his latest major roles were Henry Colville, with Kris Kristofferson, in Disappearances (2006) and Jack in Jimmy P: Psychotherapy of a Plains Indian (2013) by Arnaud Desplechin.