Raoul Trujillo

Raoul Trujillo
Trujillo in Los Angeles California on July 3, 2019
Born	Raoul Maximiano Trujillo de Chauvelon (1955-05-08) May 8, 1955 Santa Fe, New Mexico, U.S.
Nationality	American
Other names	Raoul Max Trujilo
Occupation(s)	Actor, dancer, choreographer, theatre director
Years active	1977–present
Website	www.raoultrujilloinfo.com

Raoul Maximiano Trujillo de Chauvelon (born May 8, 1955) is an American actor, dancer, choreographer, and theatre director. A former soloist with the Nikolais Dance Theatre, he is the original choreographer and co-director for the American Indian Dance Theatre. Trujillo's career spans more than 30 years in film, television, and theatre, as well as hosting a series of dancing programs. He 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 Kiotseaton 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 currently stars on Mayans M.C. as Che "Taza" Romero.

Early life

Trujillo was born in Santa Fe, New Mexico. He is of Tlaxcaltec, Apache, Comanche, Pueblo, Ute, Métis, Sephardi Jewish, and Moorish descent. After high school, he spent three years serving in the United States Army in Germany. After his discharge, he worked as an alpine ski instructor in Taos, New Mexico. He left the world of professional skiing after traveling extensively through Mexico, Central and South America on his way to teach in Bariloche, Argentina.

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
1991	Scanners II: The New Order	Peter Drak	Christian Duguay
	The Adjuster	Matthew Keller	Atom Egoyan
	Black Robe	Kiotseaton	Bruce Beresford
	Clearcut	Eugene	Ryszard Bugajski
	White Light	Hatchet	Al Waxman
1992	Montréal Stories	Passionate Man	Denys Arcand	Segment: "Vue d'ailleurs"
	L'automne sauvage	Regis Santerre	Gabriel Pelletier
	The Swordman	Jojo	Michael Kennedy
	Shadow of the Wolf	Big Tooth	Jacques Dorfmann
1993	Paris, France	Minter	Jerry Ciccoritti
1994	REW FFWD	Peter	Denis Villeneuve	Short film
	Highlander III: The Sorcerer	Senghi Kul Khan	Andy Morahan
1997	Song of Hiawatha	Pau-Puk-Keewis	Jeffrey Shore
1998	Waking Up Horton	Horton	Harry Bromley Davenport
	August 32nd on Earth	Thom	Denis Villeneuve	Uncredited
2004	The Blue Butterfly	Alejo	Léa Pool
2005	Blood Trail	Bloody Hands	Barry Tubb
	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
	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
	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
	Sicario: Day of the Soldado	Rafael	Stefano Sollima
	22 Chaser	Wayne	Rafal Sokolowski
2019	Cold Pursuit	Thorpe	Hans Petter Moland

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1990	Counterstrike	Rojo	Episode: "Dead in the Air"
	The Hitchhiker	James	Episode: "Tough Guys Don't Whine"
	Street Legal	Raoul Hidalgo	Episode: "Double Agenda"
	E.N.G.	Lucas Green	Episode: "A Long Way from Hopeful"
1992	The Broken Cord	Emil Bearheart	Television film
1993	Gross Misconduct	Andy Greenberg
	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
	The Invaders	Carlos Suarez
1996	JAG	Arturo	Episode: "Sightings"
	Lonesome Dove: The Series	Gabe LaRoche	Episode: "Bounty"
	Renegade	Ricardo Pena	Episode: "Hog Calls"
	The Sentinel	Spirit Guide	Episode: "Flight"
1997	Sisters and Other Strangers	Jimmy Coyote	Television film
	Silk Stalkings	Ernesto	Episode: "Silent Witness"
	House of Frankenstein	Woody	Miniseries
1998	Witness to Yesterday	Tecumseh	Episode: "Tecumseh"
	The Adventures of Sinbad	Korla	Episode: "The Guardians"
1999	La Femme Nikita	Chris Ferriera	Episode: "Looking for Michael"
	War of 1812	Tecumseh	Miniseries
2000	The Avengers: United They Stand	Namor (voice)	Episode: "To Rule Atlantis"
	Canada: A People's History	Iroquois Warrior	Episode: "When the World Began"
	The Secret Adventures of Jules Verne	The Inquisitor	Episode: "The Inquisitor"
2001	Largo Winch	Jacob Santos	Episode: "Just Cause"
	MythQuest	Tezcatlipoca	Episode: "Quetzalcoatl"
2003	Adventure Inc.	Agent Harami	Episode: "Secret of the Sands"
	Betrayed	Bill Lebret	Television film
	Veritas: The Quest	Ramiro	Episode: "Mummy Virus"
	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"
	In Plain Sight	Felix Calderon	Episode: "Jailbait"
2010	Triassic Attack	Dakota	Television film
2011	Moby Dick	Queequeg	Miniseries
	Neverland	Holy Man
2011–12	Heartland	Renard	Guest role; 2 episodes
	Lost Girl	The Garuda	Guest role; 3 episodes
2013	Longmire	Grady Littlefoot	Episode: "Tuscan Red"
	Strike Back	Miguel Gomez	Guest role; 2 episodes
	Republic of Doyle	Eli Kane	Episode: "Bon Cop, Bueno Cop"
2014	Da Vinci's Demons	Topa Inca Yupanqui	Supporting role; Season 2
	Manhattan	Javier	Episode: "Spooky Action At a Distance"
	The Wrong Mans	Carlos Espinoza	Supporting role; Series 2
2015	Major Crimes	Javier Mendoza	Episode: "Internal Affairs"
	Banshee	Sani Crow	Episode: "All the Wisdom I Got Left"
	Saints & Strangers	Massasoit	Miniseries Nominated- Critics Choice Television Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Movie/Miniseries
	Salem	The Shaman	Recurring role; 4 episodes
2016	The Blacklist	Mato	Recurring role; 3 episodes
	MacGyver	Joaquin "El Noche" Sancola	Episode: "Can Opener"
	Frontier	Machk	Guest role; 3 episodes
2017	Get Shorty	Josias	Guest role; 2 episodes
2017–18	Jamestown	Opchanacanough	Main role; Seasons 1-2
2018–present	Mayans M.C.	Che "Taza" Romero	Main role; Seasons 1-2
2019	Hawaii Five-0	Alejandro Vega	Episode: "Ho'opio 'ia e ka noho ali'i a ka ua"

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)

External links

• Official site
• Raoul Trujillo at IMDb