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Raoul Trujillo
Raoul Max Trujillo 2019 by Glenn Francis.jpg
Trujillo in Los Angeles California on July 3, 2019
Born (1955-05-08) May 8, 1955 (age 69)
Occupation Actor, dancer, choreographer, theatre director
Years active 1977–present

Raoul Trujillo (born May 8, 1955) is an American actor, dancer, choreographer and theater director. A former soloist with the Nikolais Dance Theatre, he is the original choreographer and co-director for the American Indian Dance Theatre. His career spans more than 45 years in film, television and theatre. He has also hosted a series of dancing programs, and is a Critics' Choice Award nominee.

Trujillo is best known for playing Zero Wolf, a ruthless Mayan slave catcher and the main antagonist of Mel Gibson's Apocalypto (2006), and for playing the Iroquois chief Kiotsaeton in the film Black Robe. He has appeared in numerous high-profile and acclaimed films, including The New World, Cowboys and Aliens, Riddick, Blood Father, Sicario, and its sequel Sicario: Day of the Soldado. He also starred in dozens of television programs in both supporting and starring roles, including True Blood, Lost Girl, Da Vinci's Demons, Salem, The Blacklist, and Jamestown. He most recently starred on Mayans M.C. as Che "Taza" Romero.

Career

He started work in the theatre as a scenic painter and landed his first job in 1977 as an actor/dancer in a production of Equus. He began dancing in Los Angeles in 1978 at the University of Southern California and saw his first modern dance and ballet productions; Pilobolus, Martha Graham and Rudolf Nureyev. The next two years, he trained extensively with the Toronto Dance Theatre and Nikolais/Louis Dance Lab in New York City on scholarships. He was asked to join Nikolais Dance Theatre under the direction of the master Alwin Nikolais, who became his mentor and he began touring the world. He also learned scenic, costume and lighting design during this time from 1980 to 1987. After leaving the company, he began his solo work as dancer and choreographer and commenced his journey into shamanic ceremonials and incorporating native myths and legends in his work.

After the first decade of performing as a dancer, he became the choreographer and co-director for the American Indian Dance Theatre, the first professional native dance company incorporating traditional dance with contemporary retelling of myths and legends. He choreographed, "The Shaman's Journey", for the Asia Society in New York and later was adapted into a short film for PBS on Alive from Off Center. He went on to join creative partners Alejandro Roncerria and René Highway in Toronto. This work resulted in creating successful theatre pieces for Native Earth Performing Arts. His work with Alejandro continued and he helped establish the Aboriginal Dance Project at the Banff Centre to further train Indigenous dancers from all over the world. In 2002, he received the CANCOM Ross Charles award in Canada to attend the Banff Center's screenwriters workshop for aboriginal storytellers.

Trujilo began his screen acting career in 1988 in Canada, and currently holds over 107 film and television credits. He choreographed the dances, ceremonies and rituals for Terrence Malick's The New World, as well as acting in the role of Tomocomo.

Filmography

Film

Year Title Role Director Notes
1990 Divided Loyalties Cornplanter Mario Azzopardi
1991 Scanners II: The New Order Peter Drak Christian Duguay
1991 The Adjuster Matthew Keller Atom Egoyan
1991 Black Robe Kiotsaeton Bruce Beresford
1991 Clearcut Eugene Ryszard Bugajski
1991 White Light Hatchet Al Waxman
1992 Montréal Stories Passionate Man Denys Arcand Segment: "Vue d'ailleurs"
1992 L'automne sauvage Regis Santerre Gabriel Pelletier
1992 The Swordman Jojo Michael Kennedy
1992 Shadow of the Wolf Big Tooth Jacques Dorfmann
1993 Paris, France Minter Jerry Ciccoritti
1994 REW FFWD Peter Denis Villeneuve Short film
1994 Highlander: The Final Dimension Senghi Kul Khan Andy Morahan
1997 Song of Hiawatha Pau-Puk-Keewis Jeffrey Shore
1998 Waking Up Horton Horton Harry Bromley Davenport
1998 August 32nd on Earth Thom Denis Villeneuve Uncredited
2004 The Blue Butterfly Alejo Léa Pool
2005 Blood Trail Bloody Hands Barry Tubb
2005 The New World Tomocomo Terrence Malick
2006 Apocalypto Zero Wolf Mel Gibson
2007 The Lives of Angels Castro Stephen Jules Rubin Short film
2008 Ancestor Eyes Charlie Kalani Queypo
2008 Spinners Alfonso Joseph von Stern
2009 Doc West Medicine Man Terence Hill
Giulio Base
2010 Love Ranch Hernan Prado Taylor Hackford
2011 Cowboys & Aliens Black Knife Jon Favreau
2013 Blaze You Out Brujo Diego Joaquin Lopez
Mateo Frazier
2013 Riddick Lockspur David Twohy
2014 Persecuted Mr. Gray Daniel Lusko
2015 Sicario Rafael Denis Villeneuve
2016 Blood Father The Cleaner Jean-François Richet
2017 Hochelaga, Land of Souls Le Prophète François Girard
2018 Octavio Is Dead! Octavio Tyler Sook-Yin Lee
2018 Sicario: Day of the Soldado Rafael Stefano Sollima
2018 22 Chaser Wayne Rafal Sokolowski
2019 Cold Pursuit Thorpe Hans Petter Moland
2021 America: The Motion Picture Geronimo Matt Thompson
2023 Blue Beetle Ignacio Carapax Angel Manuel Soto

Television

Year Title Role Notes
1990 Counterstrike Rojo Episode: "Dead in the Air"
1990 The Hitchhiker James Episode: "Tough Guys Don't Whine"
1990 Street Legal Raoul Hidalgo Episode: "Double Agenda"
1990 E.N.G. Lucas Green Episode: "A Long Way from Hopeful"
1992 The Broken Cord Emil Bearheart Television film
1993 Gross Misconduct Andy Greenberg
1993 Medicine River Floyd
1993–95 Destiny Ridge Sam Whitehorse Main role; Seasons 1-2
1994 Trial at Fortitude Bay Simon Amituq Television film
1995 Black Fox Running Dog Miniseries
1995 The Invaders Carlos Suarez
1996 JAG Arturo Episode: "Sightings"
1996 Lonesome Dove: The Series Gabe LaRoche Episode: "Bounty"
1996 Renegade Ricardo Pena Episode: "Hog Calls"
1996 The Sentinel Spirit Guide Episode: "Flight"
1997 Sisters and Other Strangers Jimmy Coyote Television film
1997 Silk Stalkings Ernesto Episode: "Silent Witness"
1997 House of Frankenstein Woody Miniseries
1998 Witness to Yesterday Tecumseh Episode: "Tecumseh"
1998 The Adventures of Sinbad Korla Episode: "The Guardians"
1999 La Femme Nikita Chris Ferriera Episode: "Looking for Michael"
1999 War of 1812 Tecumseh Miniseries
2000 The Avengers: United They Stand Namor (voice) Episode: "To Rule Atlantis"
2000 Canada: A People's History Iroquois Warrior Episode: "When the World Began"
2000 The Secret Adventures of Jules Verne The Inquisitor Episode: "The Inquisitor"
2001 Largo Winch Jacob Santos Episode: "Just Cause"
2001 MythQuest Tezcatlipoca Episode: "Quetzalcoatl"
2003 Adventure Inc. Agent Harami Episode: "Secret of the Sands"
2003 Betrayed Bill Lebret Television film
2003 Veritas: The Quest Ramiro Episode: "Mummy Virus"
2003 Freedom: A History of Us Matthew Lyon (voice) Episode: "Revolution"
2004 Frankenfish Ricardo Alma Television film
2005 Into the West Red Cloud Miniseries
2007 Tin Man Raw Miniseries
2008 True Blood Longshadow Recurring role; 4 episodes
2009 The Unit Father Sebastian Episode: "The Spear of Destiny"
2009 In Plain Sight Felix Calderon 1 episode
2010 Triassic Attack Dakota Television film
2011 Moby Dick Queequeg Miniseries
2011 Neverland Holy Man
2011–12 Heartland Renard Guest role; 2 episodes
2011–12 Lost Girl The Garuda Guest role; 3 episodes
2013 Longmire Grady Littlefoot Episode: "Tuscan Red"
2013 Strike Back Miguel Gomez Guest role; 2 episodes
2013 Republic of Doyle Eli Kane Episode: "Bon Cop, Bueno Cop"
2014 Da Vinci's Demons Topa Inca Yupanqui Supporting role; Season 2
2014 Manhattan Javier Episode: "Spooky Action At a Distance"
2014 The Wrong Mans Carlos Espinoza Supporting role; Series 2
2015 Major Crimes Javier Mendoza Episode: "Internal Affairs"
2015 Banshee Sani Crow Episode: "All the Wisdom I Got Left"
2015 Saints & Strangers Massasoit Miniseries
Nominated- Critics Choice Television Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Movie/Miniseries
2015 Salem The Shaman Recurring role; 4 episodes
2016 The Blacklist Mato Recurring role; 3 episodes
2016 MacGyver Joaquin "El Noche" Sancola Episode: "Can Opener"
2016 Frontier Machk Guest role; 3 episodes
2017 Get Shorty Josias Guest role; 2 episodes
2017–19 Jamestown Opchanacanough Main role
2018–2022 Mayans M.C. Che "Taza" Romero Main role; 40 episodes
2019 Hawaii Five-0 Alejandro Vega 1 episode

As himself

  • Chiefs (TV mini-series documentary) (2002)
  • Making 'The New World' (video documentary) - Himself (2006)
  • Becoming Mayan: Creating Apocalypto (video documentary short) - Himself (2006)
  • Beyond the Yellow Brick Road: The Making of Tin Man (TV documentary) - Himself (2007)
  • Wild Horses and Renegades (documentary) - as Speaker (2007)

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Raoul Trujillo para niños

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