DECEMBER 28, 1967

LAKOTA ACTOR MICHAEL SPEARS BORN

Michael, born on the Lower Brule Reservation, South Dakota, a member of the Sicangu Lakota, debuted as “Otter,” in Dances with Wolves (1990). Among his several TV & movie roles, he played “Dog Star” in TNT’s Into the West (2005), “Tenkill” in Angels in Stardust (2014), and had roles in 1883, 1923, and Reservation Dogs. Spears also wasin Colonial Williamsburg’s production of The Beloved Women of Chota: War Women of the Cherokee (2014-15). A hand drum player & singer, he opened for Rita Coolidge and Friends in a 2005 concert and, in 2021, joined other Indigenous performers in the Billings Symphony Orchestra’s production, Buffalo Crossing, mixing Plains tribes’ traditional music & dance with orchestral music. Michael received an American Photographic Artists Award and co-hosted the 2013 American Indian Film Institute Awards. His activism focuses upon sustainable energy, environment, Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, and misappropriation of Native culture in sports.

Sources:
“Michael Spears,” Tumblr.  Retrieved 12/5/2024, https://inlovewithmichaelspears.tumblr.com/
“Michael Spears,” IMDb.  Retrieved 12/5/2024, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0817375/
Wikipedia
Photo:  Quillwork7, 1/16/2022. Permissive Use.