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.
^"Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee | Television Academy". emmys.com. Retrieved 2018-08-20.
^"Canadian actor August Schellenberg dies at 77". Globalnews.ca. Retrieved 2018-08-20.
^"Aboriginal cast in staging of King Lear"[permanent dead link]. Ottawa Citizen, May 12, 2012.
^"August Schellenberg Dead -- 'Free Willy' Star Dies at 77". TMZ.com. EHM Productions, Inc. 16 August 2013. Retrieved 20 August 2018.
^"Mohawk actor August Schellenberg dies at 77". CBC/Radio-Canada. 16 August 2013. Retrieved 16 August 2013.
^Simnacher, Joe (17 August 2013). "Actor in 'Free Willy' movies". The Dallas Morning News. Archived from the original on 29 January 2019. Retrieved 15 April 2019 – via PressReader.