Eric Schweig (born Ray Dean Thrasher; 19 June 1967) is an Indigenous Canadian actor best known for his role as Chingachgook's son

Uncas Uncas () was a '' sachem'' of the Mohegans who made the Mohegans the leading regional Indian tribe in lower Connecticut, through his alliance with the New England colonists against other Indian tribes. Early life and family Uncas was bor ...

in ''

The Last of the Mohicans ''The Last of the Mohicans: A Narrative of 1757'' is a historical romance 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 Pathfinde ...

'' (1992).

Early life

Schweig was born in

Inuvik Inuvik (''place of man'') 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 ce ...

Northwest Territories The Northwest Territories (abbreviated ''NT'' or ''NWT''; french: Territoires du Nord-Ouest, formerly ''North-Western Territory'' and ''North-West Territories'' and namely shortened as ''Northwest Territory'') is a federal territory of Canada. ...

. He is of mixed race ( Inuvialuk, Chippewa-

Dene The Dene people () are an indigenous group of First Nations who inhabit the northern boreal and Arctic regions of Canada. The Dene speak Northern Athabaskan languages. ''Dene'' is the common Athabaskan word for "people". The term "Dene" ha ...

and German)."I get the peace I didn’t have as a kid by providing it to these kids"
/ref> He is the oldest of seven children, who were all adopted out as part of the Canadian government's failed attempt at forcing

Inuit Inuit (; iu, ᐃᓄᐃᑦ 'the people', singular: Inuk, , dual: Inuuk, ) are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic and subarctic regions of Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwest Territorie ...

and

First Nations First Nations or first peoples may refer to: * Indigenous peoples, for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area. Indigenous groups *First Nations is commonly used to describe some Indigenous groups including: **First Natio ...

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 Schweig was adopted at six months of age by an English-speaking German-French family.Inuvik Drum
/ref> He spent his

childhood A child (plural, : children) is a human being between the stages of childbirth, birth and puberty, or between the Development of the human body, developmental period of infancy and puberty. The legal definition of ''child'' generally refers ...

in Inuvik until he was six, when his family moved to

Bermuda ) , anthem = "God Save the King" , song_type = National song , song = "Hail to Bermuda" , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , mapsize2 = , map_caption2 = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = , es ...

. 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.""Adoption Speech"
19 February 1999, Vancouver Inner City Foster Care Conference, (Retrieved 11 October 2009) Schweig ran away to

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

, 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 Benjamin Franklin Wedekind (July 24, 1864 – March 9, 1918) was a German playwright. His work, which often criticizes bourgeois attitudes (particularly towards sex), is considered to anticipate expressionism and was influential in the deve ...

'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 The film industry or motion picture industry comprises the technological and commercial institutions of filmmaking, i.e., film production companies, film studios, cinematography, animation, film production, screenwriting, pre-production, ...

Career

Schweig's numerous screen credits (over thirty) include his portrayal of

in the epic motion picture ''

'' (1992) and Pike Dexter in the movie ''

Big Eden ''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 grandfathe ...

'' (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 The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (french: Société Radio-Canada), branded as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian public broadcaster for both radio and television. It is a federal Crown corporation that receives funding from the governmen ...

mini-series '' By Way of the Stars''. Among his period film credits since ''The Last of the Mohicans'', Eric became the famous

Mohawk Mohawk may refer to: Related to Native Americans * Mohawk people, an indigenous people of North America (Canada and New York) *Mohawk language, the language spoken by the Mohawk people * Mohawk hairstyle, from a hairstyle once thought to have been ...

leader

Joseph Brant Thayendanegea or Joseph Brant (March 1743 – November 24, 1807) was a Mohawk military and political leader, based in present-day New York, who was closely associated with Great Britain during and after the American Revolution. Perhaps ...

/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 North Carolina () is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 28th largest and List of states and territories of the United ...

. He starred in

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

's ''The Scarlet Letter'' and '' Tom and Huck'' with Amy Wright in 1995. In 1996 he appeared as a

Comanche The Comanche or Nʉmʉnʉʉ ( com, Nʉmʉnʉʉ, "the people") are a Native American tribe from the Southern Plains of the present-day United States. Comanche people today belong to the federally recognized Comanche Nation, headquartered in ...

protagonist, Buffalo Hump, in the

Larry McMurtry Larry Jeff McMurtry (June 3, 1936March 25, 2021) was an American novelist, essayist, bookseller and screenwriter whose work was predominantly set in either the Old West or contemporary Texas.

miniseries

Dead Man's Walk ''Dead Man's Walk'' is a 1995 novel by American writer Larry McMurtry. It is the third book published in the ''Lonesome Dove'' series but the first installment in terms of chronology. McMurtry wrote a fourth segment to the ''Lonesome Dove'' chr ...

. 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

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 A kayak is a small, narrow watercraft which is typically propelled by means of a double-bladed paddle. The word kayak originates from the Greenlandic word '' qajaq'' (). The traditional kayak has a covered deck and one or more cockpits, each s ...

, etc.). Under the tutelage of artist Vern Etzerza, he studied traditional Pacific Coast

carving Carving is the act of using tools to shape something from a material by scraping away portions of that material. The technique can be applied to any material that is solid enough to hold a form even when pieces have been removed from it, and ...

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 Psychological resilience is the ability to cope mentally or emotionally with a crisis or to return to pre-crisis status quickly. The term was coined in the 1970s by a psychologist named Emmy E. Werner as she conducted a forty year long study o ...

facing a traumatized childhood. As a disastrous consequence of this uprooting and abuse, Schweig struggled for many years with

alcohol abuse Alcohol abuse encompasses a spectrum of unhealthy alcohol drinking behaviors, ranging from binge drinking to alcohol dependence, in extreme cases resulting in health problems for individuals and large scale social problems such as alcohol-rela ...

. 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 The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territo ...

. 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.

Awards

*2000 - Grand Jury Award L.A. Outfest, Outstanding Actor in a Feature Film for ''Big Eden'' *2008 - Honorary Doctorate of Education from Nipissing University *2011 - Nomination for a

Leo Award The Leo Awards are the awards program for the British Columbia film and television industry. Held each May or June in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, the Leo Awards were founded by the Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Foundation of British C ...

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''.

Others

In 1993, he came in 5th on ''People'' magazine's 50 Most Beautiful People list.

Filmography

References

External links

* * http://www.mohicanpress.com/eric_schweig_gallery.html {{DEFAULTSORT:Schweig, Eric 1967 births Canadian adoptees Canadian male film actors Canadian male television actors Canadian male voice actors Canadian people of German descent Canadian people of Inuit descent People from Renfrew County People from Inuvik Living people Inuit male actors Male actors from the Northwest Territories Inuvialuit people Inuit from the Northwest Territories