August Werner Schellenberg (July 25, 1936 – August 15, 2013) was a Canadian actor.[1] He played Randolph in the first three installments of the Free Willy film series (1993–1997) as well as characters in Black Robe (1991), The New World (2005), and dozens of other films and television shows.
Schellenberg was born and lived in
Montreal,
Quebec, until he moved to
Toronto,
Ontario, in 1967.[2] He was of
English,
Mohawk and
Swiss-German descent.[3] He also spoke French. He was based in Toronto until 1995. He lived in
Dallas,
Texas, with his wife, actress Joan Karasevich. He was the father of three daughters, two with Karasevich. He was trained at the
National Theatre School of Canada from 1963 to 1966.
His initial work was in the Don Shebib-directed coming-of-age film Rip-Off, in 1971. In 1981, he did voices for the
animated filmHeavy Metal. During the 1990s he had major roles in Black Robe (as Chomina), Free Willy and its sequels (as Randolph Johnson), Iron Will (Ned Dodd), True Heart (Khonanesta), and TV film Crazy Horse (
Sitting Bull). He went on to star as
Chief Powhatan in
Terrence Malick's 2005 film The New World. He also had roles in Disney's Eight Below and the doco within a film The Green Chain (2007). In 2011, he appeared in two episodes of the television series Stargate Universe as Yaozu. His favorite role was that of
Sitting Bull in the film Crazy Horse, a character he reprised in the film version of the
Dee Brown bestseller Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, for which he received an
Emmy nomination.[4] He also starred in Dreamkeeper (2003) as Pete Chasing Horse.
Schellenberg was nominated for three
Genie Awards and won one (for Black Robe). He was also nominated for two
Gemini Awards, and won one (for the television movie The Prodigal).[5]
During his lifetime, Schellenberg taught acting seminars at Toronto's
Centre for Indigenous Theatre and
York University. He conducted motivational workshops in schools and for cultural and community organizations across North America.[2] Schellenberg's younger brother played Dior in Grey's Anatomy, season 5. Shortly after that, August died of lung cancer.
^"August Schellenberg was trailblazer in Canadian theatre". The Globe and Mail. October 11, 2013. Retrieved August 29, 2021. August Werner Schellenberg was born July 25, 1936, in Montreal, the only child of an English-Mohawk mother and a Swiss father.
Canadian Film Awards 1968-1978,
Genie Awards 1980-2011,
Canadian Screen Awards 2012-present. Separate awards were presented by gender prior to 2022; a single unified category for best performance regardless of gender has been presented since.