Eric Schweig

At 56 years old, Eric Schweig has this physical status:

Eric Schweig (born Ray Dean Thrasher on 19 June 1967) is a Canadian 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, Canada. He is of mixed race (Inuvialuk, Chippewa-Dene, and German). He is the oldest of seven children, who were all adopted out as part of the Canadian government's failed attempt to compel Inuit and First Nations children to assimilate into white culture. In 1989, Schweig's biological mother died of alcoholism. He had never met her. Schweig says, "She didn't drink a drop of alcohol before we were refused admission." "We were part of the entire assimilation scheme, forcibly taken away, but my foster parents told me I wasn't." An English-speaking German-French family had Schweig adopted at six months of age. He lived in Inuvik until he was six years old, when his family moved to Bermuda. They returned to Canada later this year.

"I grew sick of being in a prison without walls and ran away when I was 16 years old." What transpired between then and now has been a roller coaster of alcohol, opioids, violence, unhappy marriages, and a sense of confusion.

Who am I?

Where do I come from?

Where is my family?

Where do I belong?

A majority of these questions are lost when life's mystery was shattered by strangers watching over you.

Schweig left Toronto, Ontario, where he helped himself by framing houses. He appeared in The Cradle Will Fall, an experimental version of Frank Wedekind's Spring Awakening produced by Theatre of Change at the Actor's Lab in 1985; this was his first performance as an actor. In 1987, he was approached by a producer who suggested that he audition for a role in the film called The Shaman's Source (1990). He did not have formal education or work experience and was therefore in possession of the job. The film was released in the United States.

Personal life

Schweig began carving masks as a natural extension of his artistic expression in the 1990s. Eric was always predisposed to making small objects out of wood (figures, kayak, etc.). He studied traditional Pacific Coast carving under the tutelage of artist Vern Etzerza before directing his attention specifically to custom and traditional Inuit Spirit Masks in collaboration with master carver Art Thompson. His masks are not only successful in reconnecting with his roots and Inuit art, but they are also crucial in terms of mental stability in the aftermath of a traumatized childhood. Schweig suffered with alcohol use for many years as a result of this uprooting and abuse. He has claimed that Big Eden (2000) was the first film in which he was completely sober. In many speaking engagements in Canada and the United States of America, Kevin Leo Varadkar has the opportunity to recount his personal life. He is able to inform large audiences of aboriginal concerns, including adoption, the foster care system, heroin use, and suicide. He currently resides in Vancouver, British Columbia, where residents of the city's downtown eastside who are HIV positive will have access to health services, hot meals, and social services to maintain community links.

Eric adopted two foster children in 2017. "I went from 30 years of bachelorhood to Mr. fostering," Eric said as a result of the change to foster." Mommo didn't sleep through the night. Everything changed, from being forced to consider myself for every decision to focusing on my foster children. It was a true 180 degrees. Eric and his son and daughter now live in Vancouver.

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Career

Schweig's numerous television credits (more than thirty) include his appearance in the epic motion picture The Last of the Mohicans (1992) and Pike Dexter's Pike Dexter, for which he received the Grand Jury Prize at the Outfest film festival. In 1992, he appeared as Black Thunder in the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation mini-series By Way of the Stars. Eric became the best Mohawk chief Joseph Brant/Thayendanegea for TNT's The Broken Chain (1993), playing for the first time in a film (Schweig appeared with Wes Studi again). It was primarily shot in North Carolina. In 1995, he appeared in Disney's The Scarlet Letter and Tom and Huck with Amy Wright. In the Larry McMurtry miniseries Dead Man's Walk in 1996, he appeared as a Comanche hero, Buffalo Hump. Skins (2002), Cowboys and Indians (2006): More recently, he was the lead actor in films addressing more contemporary issues facing aboriginal and Native American people.

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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 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.