Unforgettable moments with Cherokee actor Wes Studi

Wesley “Wes” Studi (born December 17, 1947) is an award-winning full-blood Native American actor and film producer from Nofire Hollow in the Cherokee Nation, Oklahoma, and who has won critical acclaim for his portrayal of Native Americans in film.

He has appeared in Academy Award-winning films, such as Dances with Wolves (1990), The Last of the Mohicans (1992), and the Academy Award-nominated films Geronimo: An American Legend (1993) and The New World (2005). He is also known for portraying Sagat in Street Fighter (1994) and appeared in the NBC series Kings and in Avatar (2009).

Studi was born Wesley Studi in Nofire Hollow, Oklahoma, a rural area in Tahlequah named after his mother’s family. He is the son of Maggie Studie, a housekeeper, and Andy Studie, a ranch hand.Until he attended grade school, he spoke only Cherokee at home

Studi became politically active and participated in the Wounded Knee Incident at Pine Ridge Reservation in 1973.

He taught Cherokee language and syllabary and helped found a Cherokee-language newspaper.

Geronimo: An American Legend Our guy stars in this biopic of the great Apache rebel, directed by master of the Western Walter Hill from a script by John Milius. Studi shines as a proud warrior unwilling to accept a life of subjugation and boredom on a newly established reservation. He rallies his people around him and wins the admiration of even his bitterest enemies, including pursuing soldiers played by Robert Duvall, Gene Hackman and Matt Damon.

Dances with Wolves Kevin Costner’s passion project follows a traumatized Civil War soldier (Costner) who wins the respect of a tribe of Sioux while assigned to a remote outpost in Indian country. A young Wes Studi makes his first major film appearance as the fiercest member of a party of Pawnee warriors who scalp a passing Union messenger, leaving Costner’s character alone at his new post without reinforcements for the duration of his stay.