Actor Adam Beach to visit Heritage University

Toppenish, Wash. – Actor, advocate and motivational speaker Adam Beach will share stories of growing up on the Dog Creek First Nations Reserve in Manitoba, Canada as part of his presentation on Friday, November 22, 2024, in Smith Family Hall at Heritage University. Beach is a member of the Saulteaux (Plains Ojibwe) nation and was raised near Ashern, Manitoba. He grew up with his parents Sally and Dennis Beach, and his two brothers. His childhood was marked by tragedy. His mother was killed by a drunk driver, and his father, who was an alcoholic, drowned weeks later. Adam and his brothers then lived with their grandmother and later with an aunt and uncle in Winnipeg.

Beach began his career at 16 when he attended the Manitoba Theatre for Young People in Winnipeg. Since then, Beach has appeared in over 60 films and television programs. He’s won Best Actor awards for Dance Me Outside (1995) at the American Indian Film Festival; My Indian Summer (1995) at the First American in the Arts Awards; and Smoke Signals (1998) at the San Diego World Film Festival. His performance in the Academy Award-nominated Clint Eastwood-directed Flags of Our Fathers (2006) earned him two Best Supporting Actor Award nominations (Broadcast Film Critics Association and Satellite Awards). Beach has been further nominated for three awards for his role in Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee (2007), including a Golden Globe.

Other performances include Joe Dirt (2001), and the John Woo World War II war epic Windtalkers (2002) in which he co-starred with Nicolas Cage. He headlined the cast in the Walt Disney production Squanto: A Warrior’s Tale (1994); featured in John Singleton’s Four Brothers (2005); and starred with Harrison Ford and Daniel Craig in the science fiction-western smash hit Cowboys & Aliens (2011). He had a recurring starring role in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999) and Big Love (2006). In 2016, he played Christopher Weiss/Slipknot in the supervillain film Suicide Squad (2016).

Beach’s presentation will take place at Heritage University’s from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. This event is open to the public. For more information and help with interviews, please contact Davidson Mance at (509) 969-6084 or Mance_D@heritage.edu.

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