--- name: "Chaske Spencer" canonical: "https://film.one/person/chaske-spencer" fi1m_id: "chaske-spencer" imdb_id: "nm1119726" tmdb_id: 84219 wikidata_id: "Q553099" roles: ["Actor"] born: "9 March 1975" reviewed_on_fi1m: 1 average_as: "actor" average_over: 1 updated: "2026-09-30T22:52:43.377731+00:00" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Chaske Spencer ## Identity Chaske Spencer - **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/chaske-spencer - **Type:** Person - **Fi1m ID:** chaske-spencer - **IMDb ID:** nm1119726 - **TMDB ID:** 84219 - **Wikidata ID:** Q553099 - **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaske_Spencer, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q553099, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1119726/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/84219 Actor. Born 9 March 1975 in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, USA. ## Details - **Work:** Actor - **Born:** 9 March 1975, Tahlequah, Oklahoma, USA - **Active:** 2022–present - **Also known as:** 查斯克・史賓塞 - **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaske_Spencer, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q553099, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1119726/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/84219 ## Coming up - *Bass X Machina* (2026-11-03), as Lighthorse (voice) — [page](https://film.one/tv/bass-x-machina.md) - *Cold Country* (2027-01-03) ## Streaming the US now - **Amazon Prime Video:** [*The English*](https://film.one/tv/the-english.md) (70) For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country. ## Fi1m on Chaske Spencer > Chaske Spencer's best work is done sitting still. In *The English* he plays a man who has been judged before he speaks and answers by saying almost nothing, and the quiet is the performance. The question is whether anyone else gives him that much room. Watch what Chaske Spencer does when someone else is talking. In *The English* (2022), Emily Blunt's Cornelia sits by a wagon in the dark and talks, because talking is how she keeps her nerve, and Spencer's Eli Whipp lets her. He does not nod along and he does not wait for his turn. He listens like a man who has spent his life being looked at by people who made up their minds about him before he opened his mouth, and when he answers it is a sentence, not a speech. It is the best scene in the opening hour and nobody in it moves. That kind of quiet took him a long time to be allowed. He started in theatre in New York, made his feature debut in *Skins* (2002), and did early television in *Into the West* and *Dreamkeeper*. Then came the Twilight films, as pack leader Sam Uley from *New Moon* (2009) through *Breaking Dawn – Part 2* (2012), a part that asked for a body built for it and not a great deal else. The decade after was recurring television, *Banshee* (2014–2016), *Sneaky Pete* (2017–2018), *Blindspot* (2019–2020), and a run of independent films with more on their minds: *Winter in the Blood* (2013), *Woman Walks Ahead* (2017) with Michael Greyeyes, and Lyle Mitchell Corbine Jr.'s *Wild Indian* (2021), where he played Teddo, a man carrying guilt he cannot set down. We have not reviewed those and will not pretend to, but the line through them is clear: he was getting better at doing less. Hugo Blick's series is where the stillness finally had six hours to work in. Spencer has said he "wanted to play him as a vet... Eli, to me, is a Vietnam vet who rides around on a Harley-Davidson in the Southwest, listening to Creedence Clearwater Revival", which is an odd note for a Pawnee ex-scout and exactly right for the performance: a man who has served, has come home to nothing, and is not interested in explaining himself. He moved us more than we expected in a series we liked with reservations, and the reason is simple: he never once asks for it. Blunt does the work of feeling on screen; Spencer does the work of not showing it, and it is his face we remembered afterwards. The reservation is about the parts, not the actor. He is cast, over and over, as a Native American man in a Western or a period piece, and in the ensemble films that has sometimes meant standing at the edge of somebody else's story: in *Woman Walks Ahead* the Native characters, his among them, were given less to do than the white lead. Supporting parts in other people's dramas rarely give him the time for the quiet to register. *Echo* (2024), a Marvel series, has since put him in franchise television, which is not a form known for letting a man sit by a wagon and say nothing. Somebody should try it again anyway. ## Biography Chaske Spencer is an American actor. He is known for portraying Sam Uley in the *Twilight* film series (2009–2012) and for his lead role as Eli Whipp in the series *The English* (2022). He has appeared in recurring roles in series including *Banshee* (2013–2016) as Billy Raven, *Blindspot* (2015–2020) as Dominic Masters, *Sneaky Pete* (2015–2019) as Chayton Dockery, and *Jessica Jones* (2015) as Jace Montero. He is also known for film roles in *Woman Walks Ahead* (2017) and *Wild Indian* (2021). Spencer was born in Tahlequah, Oklahoma. He has Lakota Sioux heritage and is enrolled with the Fort Peck Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes. His other television credits include *Longmire* (2012) and *Echo* (2024). He is set to voice Lighthorse in the upcoming series *Bass X Machina* (2026). Spencer received a British Academy Television Award nomination for his performance in *The English* and an Independent Spirit Award nomination for *Wild Indian*. *Sources: en.wikipedia.org, nytimes.com, tvmaze.com.* ## On Fi1m (1) - *The English* (2022), Fi1m 70, as Eli Whipp — [page](https://film.one/tv/the-english.md) ## Complete filmography (34) Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page. - *Cold Country* (2027), series, Actor - *Bass X Machina* (2026), series, as Lighthorse (voice) — coming soon, [page](https://film.one/tv/bass-x-machina.md) - *The American Revolution* (2025), series, as Tsiyu Gansini / Shingas (voice) - *Park Avenue* (2025), as Anders - *Teacup* (2024), series, as Ruben Shanley - *Echo* (2024), series, as Henry 'Black Crow' Lopez - *The American Buffalo* (2023), series, as (voice) - *The English* (2022), series, as Eli Whipp — Fi1m 70, [page](https://film.one/tv/the-english.md) - *Dark Winds* (2022), series, as Sonny Bear Heart — Fi1m 79, [page](https://film.one/tv/dark-winds.md) - *Wild Indian* (2021), as Teddo - *Woman Walks Ahead* (2018), as Chaska - *Scalped* (2017), as Sheriff Falls Down - *Touched with Fire* (2016), as Marco's Construction Boss - *Marvel's Jessica Jones* (2015), series, as Jace Montero - *Blindspot* (2015), series, as Dominic Masters - *Sneaky Pete* (2015), series, as Chayton Dockery - *Addiction: A 60's Love Story* (2015), as Rick Barone - *War for Guam* (2015), as Narrator - *Winter in the Blood* (2014), as Virgil First Raise - *Desert Cathedral* (2014), as Duran Palouse - *The Hero Pose* (2014), as Joe - *Banshee* (2013), series, as Billy Raven, Deputy Billy Raven — Fi1m 72, [page](https://film.one/tv/banshee.md) - *The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2* (2012), as Sam Uley - *Longmire* (2012), series, as Micah Dawson — Fi1m 68, [page](https://film.one/tv/longmire.md) - *The Frontier* (2012), as Eli - *The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1* (2011), as Sam Uley - *Shouting Secrets* (2011), as Wesley - *The Twilight Saga: Eclipse* (2010), as Sam Uley - *The Twilight Saga: New Moon* (2009), as Sam Uley - *Dreamkeeper* (2003), as Eagle Boy - *Dreamkeeper* (2003), series, as Eagle Boy - *Skins* (2002), as Teen Rudy - *Wind River: Rising*, Actor - *I Am a Man*, as Standing Bear ## Gallery - ![Chaske Spencer during a discussion following the U.S. premiere of Woman Walks Ahead at the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival.](https://film.one/media/person/96396/gallery-e1f07fe1763b.jpg) Chaske Spencer during a discussion following the U.S. premiere of Woman Walks Ahead at the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival. — Rhododendrites, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/ce/Chaske_Spencer_%2851533%29.jpg/1280px-Chaske_Spencer_%2851533%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail) - ![Chaske Spencer](https://film.one/media/person/96396/gallery-a9e0dc1d8288.jpg) Chaske Spencer — Posted by Brandi Sweet, Bureau of Indian Education, Department of the Interior on June 01, 2011, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/dd/Chaske_Spencer_with_Lets_Move_%28cropped%29.JPG?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled) - ![Chaske Spencer is a member of the Fort Peck Tribe of Montana and a role model for Native youth. As a child, the actor reported that he personally struggled to f (2011)](https://film.one/media/person/96396/gallery-b3a269a64e41.jpg) Chaske Spencer is a member of the Fort Peck Tribe of Montana and a role model for Native youth. As a child, the actor reported that he personally struggled to f (2011) — Posted by Brandi Sweet, Bureau of Indian Education, Department of the Interior on June 01, 2011, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/66/Chaske_Spencer_with_Lets_Move.JPG?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/chaske-spencer