Eric Schweig

Born: June 19 1967
Where: Inuvik, Northwest Territory, Canada

The actor made his breakthrough peformance in 1992 as Uncas in Michael Mann's The Last of the Mohicans opposite Daniel Day-Lewis.

Of Inuit heritage, he was adopted by a German family when he was an infant and lived in the Western Arctic until he was six.

After leaving home when he was 16 he supported himself by framing houses in Canada before making his acting debut in 1987.

He landed the role of the Shaman in the Ontario stage production of Cradle Will Fall which led to his feature debut in The Shaman's Source and Last of the Mohicans.

Subsequent roles have included The Scarlet Letter, Peter Hewitt's Tom & Huck and his award-winning role as Pike Dexter in Big Eden.

In 2002, he starred in Chris Eyre's drama Skins and also played the evil slave trader Pesh-Chidin in Ron Howard's The Missing.