A Study of Wes Studi

I’m quite confident in asserting that Wes Studi (b. 1947) has had the most enviable career of any Native American actor in the history of motion pictures in terms of plum assignments.

After playing small roles in Powwow Highway(1988), Dances With Wolves (1990), and The Doors (1991), Studi went on to play Magua in The Last of the Mohicans (1992), the title character in Geronimo: An American Legend (1993), Famous Shoes on The Streets of Laredo (1995), Red Cloud in Crazy Horse (1996), Lt. Joe Leaphorn in a series based on Tony Hillerman mysteries (2002-2003), Opechancanough in The New World(2005), Black Kettle on Into the West (2005), Wovoka in Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee (2007), Buffalo Hump on Comanche Moon (2008), Eytukan in Avatar (2009), and Cochise in A Million Ways to Die in the West (2014 — okay, that one’s not so enviable).

A full blooded Cherokee and direct descendent of Cherokee leader Nancy Ward (ca. 1738-ca. 1823), Studi grew up in Nofire Hollow, Oklahoma. Until elementary school he spoke only his native tongue at home. He later went on to teach Cherokee, and to co-found a newspaper in the language. Studi served a year-long tour in Vietnam, and participated in the Second Wounded Knee at Pine Ridge in 1973. He started acting while attending Tulsa Community College.

Other credits include Longarm (1988), The Trial of Standing Bear (1988), Ned Blessing: The Story of My Life and Times (1993), The Broken Chain (1993), Street Fighter (1994), Heat (1995), Mystery Men (1999), The Lone Ranger (2003), Seraphim Falls (2007), Older Than America (2008), The Only Good Indian (2009), the Trail of Tears episode of We Shall Remain (2009), Kings (2009), Hell on Wheels (2011-2012), Penny Dreadful (2016), Hostiles (2017), Badland (2019), A Love Song (2022), and Reservation Dogs (2023)

In 2017, Studi became the second Native American to present at the Oscars (after Will Rogers), and in 2019 he was the very first Native American to receive his own honorary Oscar. The New York Times named him one of the 25 greatest actors of the 21st century. Not sure if I’d go THAT far, but he is a national treasure, whose name more Americans ought to know.

VERY FUN FACT: his wife, Maura Dhu Studi is the only child of Jack Albertson!

His official website is here.