Rudy Youngblood

Rudy Youngblood (born September 21, 1982), born Rudy Gonzalez, is a Native American actor, musician, dancer, and artist. He was born in Belton, Texas. Youngblood is of Comanche, Cree, and Yaqui ancestry.

Born in a small town in Texas, Rudy Youngblood grew up with two younger sisters; they were supported by their mother as their father was not around. At the age of ten, he started working at construction jobs and learned skills and stories from the men. He has learned carpentry, brick laying, and other skills. He went to local schools and was competitive in boxing and track in high school. He frequently went to movies and became a fan of film. Upon graduation, he was offered Fulbright scholarships to major colleges in both art and track and field, but he chose Native dance instead. He has performed with the American Indian Dance Theatre.

Following success in his role in Apocalypto the Los Angeles Times reported that his Native American ancestry has been questioned, Rudy has dismissed these claims.

Going to a general casting call, Youngblood was selected by the director Mel Gibson to play the leading role of Jaguar Paw in the epic film Apocalypto (2006), about the ending times of Mayan culture. He learned the Yucatec Maya language in order to appear as a tribesman in the film, in which all dialogues were in Mayan.

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