Wesley Studi is a Native American actor and film producer.
27 Facts About Wes Studi
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Wes Studi has garnered critical acclaim and awards throughout his career, particularly for his portrayal of Native Americans in film.
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Wes Studi has appeared in Academy Award-winning films, such as Dances with Wolves and The Last of the Mohicans, and in the Academy Award-nominated films Geronimo: An American Legend and The New World.
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Wes Studi is known for portraying Sagat in Street Fighter.
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Wes Studi was born in a Cherokee family in Nofire Hollow, Oklahoma, a rural area in Cherokee County named after his mother's family.
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Wes Studi is the son of Maggie Studie, a housekeeper, and Andy Studie, a ranch hand.
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Wes Studi attended Chilocco Indian Agricultural School for high school and graduated in 1964; his vocational major was in dry cleaning.
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At the age of 17, Wes Studi enlisted in the Oklahoma National Guard and had his basic combat training and advanced individual training at Fort Polk, Louisiana.
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Wes Studi volunteered for active service and went to Vietnam with A Company of the 3rd Battalion 39th Infantry, 9th Infantry Division, where he served for 12 months.
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Wes Studi participated in the Wounded Knee Incident at Pine Ridge Reservation in 1973.
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Wes Studi stated in an interview that he first began acting while attending Tulsa Community College, after returning from his service in Vietnam.
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Wes Studi had a role in the play The Royal Hunt of the Sun for the American Indian Theater Company.
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Wes Studi appeared in his first film, The Trial of Standing Bear, in 1988.
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Wes Studi is known for his roles as ruthless Native American warriors, such as a Pawnee in Dances with Wolves, and the Huron Magua in The Last of the Mohicans.
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In 1993 Wes Studi had the lead in Geronimo: An American Legend.
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Wes Studi played the superhero Sphinx in the 1999 comedy film Mystery Men.
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In 2002, Studi brought to life the character of Police Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn, for a series of PBS movies based on Tony Hillerman's novels set in the Southwest among the Navajo and Hopi.
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In 2005, Wes Studi portrayed a character based on chief Opechancanough, leader of the Powhatan Confederacy in Virginia, in the film The New World directed by Terrence Malick.
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In 2009, Wes Studi appeared as Major Ridge, a leader of the Cherokee before the Native American removal to Indian Territory, in Trail of Tears.
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Wes Studi played Eytukan, the chieftain of a Na'vi tribe, but did not have any dialogue in English.
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Wes Studi played Cheyenne chief Yellow Hawk in a starring role in the 2017 film Hostiles.
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At the 90th Academy Awards, Wes Studi introduced a tribute to military movies, and gave part of his speech in the Cherokee language, of which he is a fluent speaker.
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Wes Studi is the second Native American actor to present at the Academy Awards.
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From his first marriage, Wes Studi has a daughter, Leah, and a son, Daniel.
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Wes Studi married Maura Dhu, and they moved their family to a farm near Santa Fe, New Mexico, in the early 1990s.
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Wes Studi serves as honorary chair of the national endowment campaign of the Indigenous Language Institute in Santa Fe.
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Wes Studi endorsed Senator Bernie Sanders for President in the 2016 US presidential election.