Courtesy of Racebending.com

The actor is currently starring as a Native werewolf in the vampire love story series, “Twilight,” which is hyped and popular. The role is “huge” he admits. His plate is full too in the upcoming months: He’s going to do “Winter in the Blood,” the Montana author James Welch novel, among other movie projects.

With the foundation of the success coming after an all-too-familiar notorious ride to Hollywood – he’s says it was and is his traditional beliefs that need to be the constant.

Because “Hollywood has a very short memory,” he says, and predicts that as a Native American, securing roles will continue to be a struggle. His conversation with Racebending.com contributor Gabriel Canada focuses on how his career path is never too far from his roots.

He also with Racebender addresses poverty, his astonishment at being “here” coming from a reservation and his production company, Urban Dream.

RACEBENDING.COM: In previous interviews you’ve talked about the fact that statistically, you shouldn’t be “here.” Can you elaborate for those unfamiliar with life on a reservations what those statistics are, and what you meant by that?

CHASKE SPENCER: Coming from a reservation, the chances of people getting out and becoming successful are pretty rare. The people who do, it’s almost like jumping off a waterfall: you just jump and see if you land, and we will see if you’re okay, but at least you made the jump.

When I talk about giving back to the community, I think it’s a responsibility for myself to do that. I’ve experienced a lot, living on reservation. There is poverty and abuse–physical, domestic and sexual. A lot of people don’t know that.

It’s not just to raise an awareness, but also I can’t do it alone–some actor getting on a stage as a PSA. The people in the family structure, in their own homes, have to take up for themselves, take responsibility. I could just be a broken record playing over and over again.

I had people like that come to my school when I was growing up, and it did have an influence on me, but it’s really up to the people themselves to do something about it. There is only so much someone can do to raise awareness, but if I can inspire someone to do that–to maybe make a change in their life–then I think I’ve done my job. But it’s not easy.

Being in the spotlight as a Native American actor, you’re already being put on a pedestal as being a role model, which I don’t think anyone really ever wants. You’re thrust on there anyway, so you might as well make do with it what you can. But I’m not a perfect angel.

Tags: "Twilight", "Winter in the Blood", Chaske Spencer, hollywood, James Welch, Lakota Sioux, native american actor, raceben, Racebending, racebending.com, urban dream

We blogged a couple of days ago (here) about Chaske Spencer, the Oglala Lakota actor who recently used his prominence as one of the stars in the “Twilight” series to help raise money for a blood drive.

Now, Spencer expands more on his impetus to give back, in this MTV interview.

The story that accompanies the interview is also interesting. It highlights Spencer’s charity, Shift the Power to the People, that is supported by his fellow Native American cast members in the “Twilight” films, according to the story.

And, it links to this essay about the ongoing issue of so-called “racebending,” highlighted by recent films that hired white actors to play characters of other ethnicities.

Check it out.

Gwen Florio

Tags: "Twilight", buffalo post, Chaske Spencer, Gwen Florio, Native American actors, Native American news, Oglala Lakota, Racebending, Shift the Power to the People, Stephenie Meyer, Twilight Saga - Eclipse

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

Reuters’ Alex Dobuzinski expands upon a theme we’ve been posting about a lot concerning the “Twilight” teen vampire books and movies. They’re much in the news again these days because of the release of the most recent film, “The Twilight Saga: Eclipse.” Here’s how Dobuzinski puts it:

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – It took “Twilight” to do what Hollywood’s major studios have struggled with for over a century — treat Native American teenagers like normal kids.

No leather loincloths, no hair feathers, no dancing around campfires, no tales of woe on reservations.

Sure, “The Twilight Saga: Eclipse,” which opens in theaters on Wednesday, is pure fantasy with its tale of romance among vampires and the werewolves who sometimes stalk them, but for the actors of the “Wolf Pack” their roles seem very real.

When they aren’t battling vampires with their razor-like claws and sharp teeth, the werewolves take the human form of Native Americans from the Quileute tribe.

Chaske Spencer, who plays the leader of the pack, told Reuters that working in the “Twilight” movies has been exciting because it portrays Native Americans in a new and positive light and is aimed at a young audience.

Members of the Wolf Pack dress like modern kids at the mall in denim jeans and shirts — when they are wearing shirts because the pack is famously bare-chested in much of the movies — and they posses a quick wits and generous spirits.

“There’s a lot of stereotypes that have been squashed,” Spencer tells Reuters. “We’re part of this pop culture phenomenon, and we’re put in a different light. And the kids see that, and they’re digging on it. They love that vibe.”

Gwen Florio

Tags: buffalo post, Chaske Spencer, Gwen Florio, Native American news, Quileute Nation, Twilight Saga - Eclipse, vampires, Wolf Pack

Chaske Spencer

But in Montana, folks remember him for his roots on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation. Spencer lived on the reservation town of Poplar from from 1987 to 1991, Elizabeth Harrison of the Great Falls Tribune reports here.

There, his mom Jan Spencer tells Harrison, he sang in a Christmas play with his school and went to a theater arts program in Helena during the summer of 1987.

“He wanted to audition and had a real interest in acting, movies, arts, music — down that line,” she says.

A significant part of the “Twilight” series centers on the Quileute Nation on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula and the movies feature many Native actors.

Spencer is an enrolled member of the Assiniboine Sioux tribe on his mother’s side and the Nez Perce tribe on his father’s side – yet says “I’ve lost roles because I wasn’t Indian enough. I can’t figure it out, and I don’t want to waste time trying to figure it out.”

After a stint at Lewis-Clark State College in Idaho, Spender took off for New York with $100 in his pocket and a one-way ticket, Harrison reports.

He looks back on the move as “Pure stupidity. I don’t think I actually thought about it. So, would I do it again? I probably would. I always liked taking risks like that. I don’t recommend it to everybody.”

Clearly, the risk was worth it!

Gwen Florio

Tags: "New Moon", "Twilight", Assiniboine, buffalo post, Chaske Spencer, Fort Peck Reservation, Native American news, Nez Perce, Quileute Nation, Sam Uley