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Eric Schweig | |
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| Born | Ray Dean Thrasher 19 June 1967 Inuvik, Northwest Territories, Canada |
| Occupation | Actor/Artisan/Outreach Worker |
| Years active | 1985-present |
| Children | 2 foster children |
Eric Schweig (born Ray Dean Thrasher; 19 June 1967 [1] ) is a Canadian Inuvialuk actor best known for his role as Chingachgook's son Uncas in The Last of the Mohicans (1992).
Schweig was born in Inuvik, Northwest Territories. He is of mixed race (Inuit, Portuguese, German, and Senegalese). [2] He is the oldest of seven children, who were all adopted out as part of the Canadian government's failed attempt at forcing Inuit and First Nations children to assimilate into white society. Schweig's biological mother died of alcoholism in 1989. He never met her. "She didn’t drink a drop of alcohol until we were taken away," says Schweig. "We were part of the whole assimilation program—forcibly taken away, although my adoptive parents told me I wasn't." [3] Schweig was adopted at six months of age by an English-speaking German-French family. [4] He spent his childhood in Inuvik until he was six, when his family moved to Bermuda. They later moved back to Canada.
"I eventually grew tired of living in a prison without walls and ran away when I was 16. What transpired between then and now has been a roller coaster of alcohol, drugs, violence, failed relationships, despair and confusion. Who am I? Where do I come from? Where is my family? Where do I belong? When life's mystery has been shattered by strangers watching over you, a lot of these questions are lost." [5]
Schweig ran away to Toronto, Ontario, where he supported himself by framing houses. In 1985, he was part of the cast of The Cradle Will Fall, an experimental adaptation of Frank Wedekind's Spring Awakening produced by Theatre of Change at the Actor's Lab; this was his first experience as an actor. In 1987, at twenty years old, he was approached by a producer who suggested he audition for a role in the movie called The Shaman's Source (1990). With little formal education or experience he won the role. The film launched his career in the film industry.
Schweig's numerous screen credits (over thirty) include his portrayal of Uncas in the epic motion picture The Last of the Mohicans (1992) and Pike Dexter in the movie Big Eden (2000), for which he won the Grand Jury Prize at the Outfest film festival. In 1992, he was cast as Black Thunder in the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation mini-series By Way of the Stars . Among his period film credits since The Last of the Mohicans, Eric became the famous Mohawk leader Joseph Brant/Thayendanegea for TNT's telefilm The Broken Chain (1993), playing for the first time the main character in a movie (Schweig appeared with Wes Studi again for this motion picture). It was shot primarily in North Carolina. He starred in Disney's The Scarlet Letter and Tom and Huck with Amy Wright in 1995. In 1996 he appeared as a Comanche protagonist, Buffalo Hump, in the Larry McMurtry miniseries Dead Man's Walk. More recently, he played the lead role in films addressing more contemporary issues facing aboriginal and Native American people: Skins (2002), Cowboys and Indians: The J.J. Harper Story (2003) and One Dead Indian (2006).
During the 1990s, Schweig began carving masks as a natural extension of his artistic expression. Since his childhood, Eric found he was emotionally pre-disposed to carving small objects out of wood (figures, kayak, etc.). Under the tutelage of artist Vern Etzerza, he studied traditional Pacific Coast carving before directing his talent specifically towards custom and traditional Inuit Spirit Masks, in collaboration with master carver Art Thompson. His collection of masks are not only successful attempts to reconnect with his heritage and with Inuit art, but his carvings are also necessary labours of psychological resilience facing a traumatized childhood. As a disastrous consequence of this uprooting and abuse, Schweig struggled for many years with alcohol abuse. He has stated that Big Eden (2000) was the first movie in which he was entirely sober. His fame as an actor gives him the opportunity to share his life's experience in numerous speaking engagements in Canada and the United States of America. He is able to make large audiences aware of aboriginal issues, including adoption, the foster care system, addictions, and suicide. He currently resides in Vancouver BC working at Vancouver Native Health's "Positive Outlook" program where residents of the city's downtown eastside who are HIV positive can gain access to health care, hot meals, and social programming to maintain community connections.
In 2017, Eric adopted two foster siblings. When asked about the transition to fostering, Eric said, "I went from 30 years of bachelorhood to Mr. Mom overnight. Everything changed, I went from only having to consider myself for every decision to centering everything on my foster kids. It was a real 180". Eric now lives in Vancouver with his son and daughter.
In 1993, he came in 5th on People magazine's 50 Most Beautiful People list.
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1987 | The Shaman's Source | Robert Crow | |
| 1992 | By Way of the Stars (TV mini-series) | Black Thunder | |
| The Last of the Mohicans | Uncas | ||
| 1993 | For Love and Glory (TV) | Moses Moon | |
| The Broken Chain (TV) | Joseph Brant / Thayendanegea | ||
| 1994 | Due South (Pilot) | Inuit Hunter | |
| Squanto: A Warrior's Tale | Epenow | ||
| Pontiac Moon | Ernest Ironplume | ||
| 1995 | 500 Nations (TV) | (voice) | |
| Follow the River (TV) | Wildcat | ||
| The Scarlet Letter | Metacomet | ||
| Tom and Huck | Injun Joe | ||
| 1996 | Red River (TV) | Napoléon | |
| Dead Man's Walk (TV) | Buffalo Hump | ||
| 2000 | Big Eden | Pike Dexter | |
| 2002 | Skins | Rudy Yellow Lodge | |
| 2003 | Mr. Barrington | Samuel | |
| Cowboys and Indians: The John Joseph Harper Story (TV) | Harry Wood | ||
| The Missing | Club Foot El Brujo / Pesh-Chidin | ||
| 2005 | Into the West | Sitting Bull | |
| It Waits | Joseph Riverwind | ||
| Shania: A Life in Eight Albums (TV) | Jerry Twain | ||
| 2006 | One Dead Indian (TV) | Sam George | |
| Indian Summer: The Oka Crisis (TV) | Terry Doxtator | ||
| Not Like Everyone Else | Tim Blackbear | ||
| Mr. Soul | Steve Lonethunder | ||
| 2007 | Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee | Gall | |
| 2009-2014 | Cashing In (TV series) | Matthew Tommy | |
| Kissed by Lightning | Solomon 'Bug' King | ||
| 2009-2015 | Blackstone | Chief Andy Fraser | |
| 2010 | A Flesh Offering | Mishomis | |
| Casino Jack | Chief Poncho | ||
| 2013 | Maïna | Quujuuq | |
| Longmire | Dolan Lone Elk | ||
| 2014 | Elementary | Leon Moody | S3 E6: Terra Pericolosa |
| 2017 | Supernatural | Sergeant Joe Philips | Season 13 Episode 6 |
| 2018 | The Grizzlies | Harry Aviak | |
| 2020 | Barkskins | Chief Tehonikonhraken | Season 1, Episodes 7 & 8 |
| Brother, I Cry | Dean | ||
| 2023 | Little Bird | Asin | TV series |
The Last of the Mohicans is a 1920 American silent adventure drama film written by Robert A. Dillon, adapted from James Fenimore Cooper's 1826 novel of the same name. Clarence Brown and Maurice Tourneur co-directed the film. It is a story of two English sisters meeting danger on the frontier of the American colonies, in and around the fort commanded by their father. The adventure film stars Wallace Beery, Barbara Bedford, Lillian Hall, Alan Roscoe and Boris Karloff in one of his earliest silent film roles. Barbara Bedford later married her co-star in the film, Alan Roscoe in real life. The production was shot near Big Bear Lake and in Yosemite Valley.
Inuvik is the only town in the Inuvik Region, and the third largest community in Canada's Northwest Territories. Located in what is sometimes called the Beaufort Delta Region, it serves as its administrative and service centre and is home to federal, territorial, and Indigenous government offices, along with the regional hospital and airport.
The Last of the Mohicans: A Narrative of 1757 is a historical romance novel written by James Fenimore Cooper in 1826. It is the second book of the Leatherstocking Tales pentalogy and the best known to contemporary audiences. The Pathfinder, published 14 years later in 1840, is its sequel; its prequel, The Deerslayer, was published a year after The Pathfinder. The Last of the Mohicans is set in 1757, during the French and Indian War, when France and Great Britain battled for control of North America. During this war, both the French and the British used Native American allies, but the French were particularly dependent, as they were outnumbered in the Northeast frontier areas by the British. Specifically, the events of the novel are set immediately before, during, and after the Siege of Fort William Henry.
The Last of the Mohicans is a 1992 American historical action film directed by Michael Mann, who co-wrote the screenplay with Christopher Crowe, based on the 1826 novel of the same name by James Fenimore Cooper. The film is set in 1757 during the French and Indian War. It stars Daniel Day-Lewis, Madeleine Stowe, and Jodhi May.
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Big Eden is a 2000 romantic comedy-drama film written and directed by Thomas Bezucha. Arye Gross stars as Henry Hart, a successful gay artist from New York City who returns to his rural hometown in Montana to care for his ailing grandfather. Henry is welcomed back by the townsfolk, all of whom are aware of his sexuality and are highly accepting and even supportive towards him. During the months he stays in the town, Henry is forced to confront his unresolved feelings for his high school friend Dean Stewart, while simultaneously being oblivious to the feelings of Pike Dexter, the shy Native American owner of the town's general store.
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The Sixties Scoop, also known as The Scoop, was a period in which a series of policies were enacted in Canada that enabled child welfare authorities to take, or "scoop up," Indigenous children from their families and communities for placement in foster homes, from which they would be adopted by white families. Despite its name referencing the 1960s, the Sixties Scoop began in the mid-to-late 1950s and persisted into the 1980s.
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