Raoul Trujillo

Raoul Max Trujillo (born May 8, 1955) is an American actor, dancer, choreographer and theatre director. A former soloist with the Nikolais Dance Theatre, he is the original choreographer and co-director for the American Indian Dance Theatre. His career spans more than 45 years in film, television and theatre. He has also hosted a series of dancing programs, and is a Critics' Choice Award nominee.

Trujillo is best known for playing Zero Wolf, a ruthless Mayan slave catcher and the main antagonist of Mel Gibson's Apocalypto (2006), and for playing the Iroquois chief Kiotsaeton in the film Black Robe. He has appeared in numerous high-profile and acclaimed films, including The New World, Cowboys and Aliens, Riddick, Blood Father, Sicario, and its sequel Sicario: Day of the Soldado. He also starred in dozens of television programs in both supporting and starring roles, including True Blood, Lost Girl, Da Vinci's Demons, Salem, The Blacklist, and Jamestown. He most recently starred on Mayans M.C. as Che "Taza" Romero.

Early life Raoul Trujillo was born on May 8, 1955 in New Mexico. He is a mixed blood descendant of Mexican, Tlaxcalan (Nahuatl), Ute, Apache, Comanche, Pueblo, French, and Spanish (including Sephardic Jew and Andalusian Moor).

Career He started work in the theatre as a scenic painter and landed his first job in 1977 as an actor/dancer in a production of Equus. He began dancing in Los Angeles in 1978 at the University of Southern California and saw his first modern dance and ballet productions; Pilobolus, Martha Graham and Rudolf Nureyev. The next two years, he trained extensively with the Toronto Dance Theatre and Nikolais/Louis Dance Lab in New York City on scholarships. He was asked to join Nikolais Dance Theatre under the direction of the master Alwin Nikolais, who became his mentor and he began touring the world. He also learned scenic, costume and lighting design during this time from 1980 to 1987. After leaving the company, he began his solo work as dancer and choreographer and commenced his journey into shamanic ceremonials and incorporating native myths and legends in his work.

After the first decade of performing as a dancer, Trujillo became the choreographer and co-director for the American Indian Dance Theatre, the first professional native dance company incorporating traditional dance with contemporary retelling of myths and legends. He choreographed "The Shaman's Journey" for the Asia Society in New York, which was adapted into a short film for PBS on Alive from Off Center. He went on to join creative partners Alejandro Roncerria and René Highway in Toronto. This work resulted in creating successful theatre pieces for Native Earth Performing Arts. His work with Roncerria continued and he helped establish the Aboriginal Dance Project at the Banff Centre to further train Indigenous dancers from all over the world. In 2002, he received the CANCOM Ross Charles award in Canada to attend the Banff Center's screenwriters workshop for aboriginal storytellers.

Trujillo began his screen acting career in 1988 in Canada, and currently holds over 107 film and television credits. He choreographed the dances, ceremonies and rituals for Terrence Malick's The New World, as well as acting in the role of Tomocomo.

Filmography Film YearTitleRoleDirectorNotes 1990 Divided Loyalties Cornplanter Mario Azzopardi 1991 Scanners II: The New Order Peter Drak Christian Duguay The Adjuster Matthew Keller Atom Egoyan Black Robe Kiotsaeton Bruce Beresford Clearcut Eugene Ryszard Bugajski White Light Hatchet Al Waxman 1992 Montréal Stories Passionate Man Denys Arcand L'automne sauvage Regis Santerre Gabriel Pelletier The Swordsman Jojo Michael Kennedy Shadow of the Wolf Big Tooth Jacques Dorfmann 1993 Paris, France Minter Jerry Ciccoritti 1994 REW FFWD Peter Denis Villeneuve Short film Highlander: The Final Dimension Senghi Kul Khan Andy Morahan 1997 Song of Hiawatha Pau-Puk-Keewis Jeffrey Shore 1998 Waking Up Horton Horton Harry Bromley Davenport August 32nd on Earth Thom Denis Villeneuve Uncredited 2004 The Blue Butterfly Alejo Léa Pool 2005 Blood Trail Bloody Hands Barry Tubb The New World Tomocomo Terrence Malick 2006 Apocalypto Zero Wolf Mel Gibson 2007 The Lives of Angels Castro Stephen Jules Rubin short film 2008 Ancestor Eyes Charlie Kalani Queypo short film Spinners Alfonso Joseph von Stern short film 2009 Doc West Medicine Man Terence HillGiulio Base 2010 Love Ranch Hernan Prado Taylor Hackford 2011 Cowboys & Aliens Black Knife Jon Favreau 2013 Blaze You Out Brujo Diego Joaquin LopezMateo Frazier Riddick Lockspur David Twohy 2014 Persecuted Mr. Gray Daniel Lusko 2015 Sicario Rafael Denis Villeneuve 2016 Blood Father The Cleaner Jean-François Richet 2017 Hochelaga, Land of Souls Le Prophète François Girard 2018 Octavio Is Dead! Octavio Tyler Sook-Yin Lee Sicario: Day of the Soldado Rafael Stefano Sollima 22 Chaser Wayne Rafal Sokolowski 2019 Cold Pursuit Thorpe Hans Petter Moland 2021 America: The Motion Picture Geronimo Matt Thompson 2023 Blue Beetle Ignacio Carapax / OMAC Ángel Manuel Soto 2023 Killing Faith William Shakespeare Ned Crowley

Television

YearTitleRoleNotes 1990 Counterstrike Rojo Episode: "Dead in the Air" The Hitchhiker James Episode: "Tough Guys Don't Whine" Street Legal Raoul Hidalgo Episode: "Double Agenda" E.N.G. Lucas Green Episode: "A Long Way from Hopeful" 1992 The Broken Cord Emil Bearheart Television film 1993 Gross Misconduct Andy Greenberg Television film Medicine River Floyd Television film 1993–95 Destiny Ridge Sam Whitehorse Main role; Seasons 1-2 1994 Trial at Fortitude Bay Simon Amituq Television film 1995 Black Fox Running Dog TV miniseries The Invaders Carlos Suarez TV miniseries 1996 JAG Arturo Episode: "Sightings" Lonesome Dove: The Series Gabe LaRoche Episode: "Bounty" Renegade Ricardo Pena Episode: "Hog Calls" The Sentinel Spirit Guide Episode: "Flight" 1997 Sisters and Other Strangers Jimmy Coyote Television film Silk Stalkings Ernesto Episode: "Silent Witness" House of Frankenstein Woody TV miniseries 1998 Witness to Yesterday Tecumseh Episode: "Tecumseh" The Adventures of Sinbad Korla Episode: "The Guardians" 1999 La Femme Nikita Chris Ferriera Episode: "Looking for Michael" War of 1812 Tecumseh TV miniseries 2000The Avengers: United They StandNamor (voice)Episode: "To Rule Atlantis" 2000 Canada: A People's History Iroquois Warrior Episode: "When the World Began" The Secret Adventures of Jules Verne The Inquisitor Episode: "The Inquisitor" 2001 Largo Winch Jacob Santos Episode: "Just Cause" MythQuest Tezcatlipoca Episode: "Quetzalcoatl" 2003 Adventure Inc. Agent Harami Episode: "Secret of the Sands" Betrayed Bill Lebret Television film Veritas: The Quest Ramiro Episode: "Mummy Virus" Freedom: A History of Us Matthew Lyon (voice) Episode: "Revolution" 2004 Frankenfish Ricardo Alma Television film 2005 Into the West Red Cloud TV miniseries 2007 Tin Man Raw TV miniseries 2008 True Blood Longshadow Recurring role; 4 episodes 2009 The Unit Father Sebastian Episode: "The Spear of Destiny" In Plain Sight Felix Calderon Episode: "Jailbait" Triassic Attack Dakota Television film 2011 Moby Dick Queequeg TV miniseries Neverland Holy Man TV miniseries 2011–12 Heartland Renard Guest role; 2 episodes Lost Girl The Garuda Guest role; 3 episodes 2013 Longmire Grady Littlefoot Episode: "Tuscan Red" Strike Back Miguel Gomez Guest role; 2 episodes Republic of Doyle Eli Kane Episode: "Bon Cop, Bueno Cop" 2014 Da Vinci's Demons Topa Inca Yupanqui Supporting role; Season 2 Manhattan Javier Episode: "Spooky Action At a Distance" The Wrong Mans Carlos Espinoza Supporting role; Series 2 2015 Major Crimes Javier MendozaEpisode: "Internal Affairs" Banshee Sani Crow Episode: "All the Wisdom I Got Left" Saints & Strangers Massasoit TV miniseriesNominated - Critics Choice Television Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Movie/Miniseries Salem The Shaman Recurring role; 4 episodes 2016 The Blacklist Mato Recurring role; 3 episodes MacGyver Joaquin "El Noche" Sancola Episode: "Can Opener" Frontier Machk Guest role; 3 episodes 2017 Get Shorty Josias Guest role; 2 episodes 2017–19 Jamestown Opchanacanough Main role 2018–2022 Mayans M.C. Che "Taza" Romero Main role; 40 episodes 2019 Hawaii Five-0 Alejandro Vega Episode: "Ho'opio 'ia e ka noho ali'i a ka ua" 2025 Dark Winds Budge Baca Season 3 recurring Untamed Jay Stewart Recurring role 2026 Dutton Ranch Mariano Reyes Recurring role

As himself YearTitleNotesRole 2002 Chiefs TV mini-series documentary 2006 Making 'The New World'''

Wild Horses and Renegades'' documentary Narrator