Agricultural News
Wes Studi to be Inducted into the Hall of Great Western Performers
Mon, 15 Apr 2013 14:59:02 CDT
Celebrated Native American Actor Wes Studi will be inducted into the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum's Hall of Great Western Performers April 20, 2013, in Oklahoma City. Only the second Native American to receive the honor, Studi is best known for his roles in "The Last of the Mohicans," "Dances with Wolves," "Heat," and James Cameron's "Avatar."
Studi will be inducted during the museum's annual black-tie Western Heritage Awards, honoring artists in 16 categories of Western music, literature, television and film. Other 2013 inductees include the late Robert Mitchum, Leo Carillo and Duncan Renaldo.
"As a kind of cowboy myself, I'm honored to join such esteemed company - pioneers who brought the West alive in film and music," says Studi, who once ran a horse ranch and trained horses professionally. "I grew up watching many of these folks and to be considered a peer is humbling."
Portraying action and adventure on the screen comes honestly for Studi. A full blood Cherokee, Studi was born in Nofire Hollow, Okla., in 1946 as the eldest son of a ranch hand. Drafted into the Army after high school, he served 12 months in South Vietnam and was nearly killed by friendly fire. After an honorable military discharge, Studi became involved with Native American politics, marching on Washington, D.C. in 1972 and taking part in the Wounded Knee occupation at the Pine Ridge Reservation in 1973, where he was arrested.
In an effort to convert his youthful rage into positive motivation to help his people, Studi attended Tulsa Junior College, where he helped start a Cherokee newspaper and began teaching the Cherokee language professionally. He later attended Tahlequah University, continuing his efforts to positively support the Cherokee Nation.
Studi didn't discover acting until 1983 when he joined The American Indian Theatre Company in Tulsa. Five years later he landed his first film role in "Powwow Highway" and made his TV debut in the ABC-TV movie, "Longarm."
His big break however came in 1990 when he landed the role of the Pawnee warrior in "Dances with Wolves." Two years later Studi landed Magua in "The Last of the Mohicans" and hasn't looked back.
Now with nearly 80 television and film credits, Studi recently completed "Road to Paloma," with Jason Momoa, due to be released later this year, and will begin shooting "A Million Ways to Die in the West" this summer with Seth MacFarlane, Liam Neeson and Charlize Theron.
When not acting, Studi, who lives in Santa Fe, N.M., with his wife, singer and actress Maura Dhu, is an accomplished sculptor, musician and activist.
Studi joins 92 other inductees in the Hall of Great Western Performers since 1958, including Jay Silverheels, best known as Tonto in the long running television series "The Lone Ranger"; cowboy icons John Wayne, Clint Eastwood and James Stewart; and musicians Roy Rogers, Reba McEntire, and Bob Nolan.
For induction into the Hall of Great Western Performers, the museum requires actors to have made significant contributions to the perpetuation of the Western film, radio or theatre and project the traditional Western ideals of honesty, integrity and self-sufficiency.
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