John Trudell

Known for ActingBorn 1946-02-15Died 2015-12-08Omaha, Nebraska, USA

John Trudell was an American Indian author, poet, actor, musician, and political activist. He was the spokesperson for the United Indians of All Tribes' takeover of Alcatraz beginning in 1969, broadcasting as Radio Free Alcatraz. During most of the 1970s, he served as the chairman of the American Indian Movement, based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. After his pregnant wife, three children and mother-in-law were killed in 1979 in a fire at the home of his parents-in-law on the Shoshone-Paiute Tribes Duck Valley Indian Reservation in Nevada, Trudell turned to writing, music and film as a second career. He acted in three films in the 1990s. The documentary Trudell (2005) was made about him and his life as an activist and artist.Read more

Movies & web series

Warrior: The Life of Leonard Peltier

A Thousand Roads

Vow of Silence: The Assassination of Annie Mae

The West

Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked the World

Reel Injun

Incident at Oglala

Making a Noise: A Native American Musical Journey with Robbie Robertson

The 11th Hour

Smoke Signals

Dreamkeeper

Powwow Highway

Lakota Nation vs. United States

Thunderheart

Dark Blood

Extreme Measures

Trudell

On Deadly Ground

Dreamkeeper

No More Smoke Signals

Taking Alcatraz

America's Lost Landscape: The Tallgrass Prairie