Wes Studi (born ca. 1944) got a relatively late start as a film star--he was about 44 when he landed his first movie--but prior to that career move the Native American performer had compiled a list of real-life credits that included soldier, reporter and activist.

Born Wesley Studie--a full-blooded Cherokee--in rural Oklahoma, the eldest son of a ranch hand and a housekeeper, he was educated at an American Indian boarding school and got an early taste of how Native Americans were often treated off the reservation. As a boy, Studi and his friends would venture to nearby towns, where "all the shopkeepers got very careful when we walked in," as he recalled to Mark Goodman in a People interview.

Served in Vietnam

Undaunted, Studi became a soldier in 1967, and eventually served in Vietnam. "At one point," Goodman wrote, "his company was pinned down in the Mekong Delta--and nearly killed--by friendly...