Eric Schweig (born Ray Dean Thrasher; 19 June 1967[Mike Antonucci, "An actor's odyssey: Drinking, homelessness preceded movie success", San Jose Mercury News, 25 September 2002 [1]]) is a Canadian Inuvialuit actor best known for his role as Chingachgook's son Uncas in The Last of the Mohicans (1992).
Early life
Schweig was born in
Inuvik, Northwest Territories.
He is of mixed race (
Inuit, Portuguese,
Germans, and
Senegal).
He is the oldest of seven children, who were all adopted out as part of the
Sixties Scoop 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."
[, "Urban NDN" January 2009] His maternal uncle is musician
Willie Thrasher.
Schweig was adopted at six months of age by an English-speaking German-French family.
[ Inuvik Drum] He spent his
childhood in Inuvik until he was six, when his family moved to
Bermuda. They moved back to Canada after a year.
He described his adoptive parents as having discouraged him from connecting with his Inuit heritage.[ "Adoption Speech" 19 February 1999, Vancouver Inner City Foster Care Conference, (Retrieved 11 October 2009)]
After running away, he experienced homelessness and supported himself by framing houses.
Career
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 Outstanding Actor Award 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 nation 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).
Personal life
Schweig was interested in the arts in childhood, and has since become a master carver.
Under the tutelage of artist Vern Etzerza, he studied traditional Pacific Coast before directing his talent specifically towards custom and traditional Inuit Spirit Masks, in collaboration with master carver Art Thompson.
Schweig previously struggled with alcoholism, which he attributed to trauma from his abusive childhood.
In 2017, Eric adopted two foster siblings.
Awards
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2000 - Grand Jury Award L.A. Outfest, Outstanding Actor in a Feature Film for Big Eden
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2008 - Honorary Doctorate of Education from Nipissing University
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2011 - Nomination for a Leo Awards for Best Lead Performance by a Male in a Dramatic Series for his role as corrupt band Chief Andy Fraser in the TV series Blackstone.
Filmography
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| Episode: "Pilot" |
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| S3 E6: Terra Pericolosa |
| Season 13 Episode 6 |
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| Season 1, Episodes 7 & 8 |
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| TV series |
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External links
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http://www.mohicanpress.com/eric_schweig_gallery.html
