Actor Chaske Spencer, who plays werewolf Sam Uley in the “Twilight” movies, is helping United Blood Services bring in new donors. (Casey Riffe/Billings Gazette)
But instead of simply hanging with friends and family, he worked on behalf of a blood drive in Billings. Jaci Webb of the Billings Gazette has the story here:
Last week, Spencer slipped into Billings for a midnight show of the new film.
“I had just flown in from Australia and I was mixed up on my days. I thought, I’ll go see a movie, so I went to ‘A-Team’ and then when I found out ‘Eclipse’ was showing at midnight, I stayed.’’
A few teenage girls undoubtedly spotted Spencer, but he had on a beanie and ducked out the back door before anyone had a chance to speak to him. Tuesday, he was back in town to see the film one more time with 80 blood donors who won a drawing to see one of the summer’s hottest movies with Spencer.
Among the winners was Ryan Meza, who has Type O Negative blood and so frequently donates. She won the grand prize, so she and her 9-year-old daughter Arciela will take a limo ride with Spencer to the screening.
The promotion brought 39 new donors and 264 blood donations between June 24 and July 3, Webb reports.
Lesli Asay, of United Blood Services, told Spencer that “your help here has saved 800 lives.”
For his part, says Chaske, who left Montana at age 14, “I think you’re obligated to help people out when you’re in a position like this. It’s important for me to do what I can with what I’ve been given.”
He says he works hard to avoid getting typecast in movies.
“We’re kind of like rock stars because we’re on a pedestal with this film,” Spencer tells Webb. “But as Native actors, we’re not stereotypical. Look, we have a president who is a minority. And I think the kids see us, not as Native, but just being people.”
Seems like this week the kids saw a role model, too.
Gwen Florio
Tags: "Twilight", Chaske Spencer, Native American actors, Oglala Lakota, Sam Uley, Twilight - Eclipse, Twilight Saga - Eclipse, United Blood Services, Wolf Pack
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[...] blogged a couple of days ago (here) about Chaske Spencer, the Oglala Lakota actor who recently used his prominence as one of the stars [...]