Wes Studi: Vietnam Veteran

Aside from Will Rogers, Wes Studi may well be the most famous Cherokee actor of all time. He also happens to number among my favourite actors. In addition to being a talented actor and an advocate for Native Americans, he also served in the Vietnam War.

Wes Studi was born on December 17 1947 in Nofire Hollow, Oklahoma. He attended Chilocco Indian Agricultural School, from which he graduated in 1964. He was 17 years old when he enlisted in the Oklahoma National Guard. He received basic combat training and advanced individual training at Fort Polk in Louisiana. He had one year remaining with the National Guard when he volunteered for active duty in the United States Army.

He was sent with A Company, 3rd Battalion, 39th Infantry Regiment, 9th Infantry Division to Vietnam, where he served for twelve months. He arrived in Vietnam not long before the beginning of e “Mini-Tet” Offensive, when the Northern Vietnamese Army and the Viet Cong attacked Saigon. According to Wes Studi, he did not take part in any of the fighting that took place in and around Saigon. His unit was stationed at a place called the French Fort on one of the rivers of the Mekong delta. He took part in Navy riverside operations and in the Cholon quarter of Saigon.

After his service had ended, Wes Studi began his career as both an actor and an activist. His television debut was in the TV movie The Trial of Standing Bear in 1988. He made his film debut in Powow Highway (1988) the same year. Since then he has become one of the most respected actors in the world, appearing in movies such as Dances with Wolves (1990), Geronimo: An American Legend (1993), and Hostiles (2017) and TV series such as Skinwalkers: The Navajo Mysteries and Reservation Dogs. In 2017 he received an Excellence in the Arts Award from the Vietnam Veterans of America and in 2019 became the first Native American to receive an Oscar when he was given n Academy Honorary Award.