Lumbee high-school actor

Hanford High School student's star rising in the acting worldNoah has performed in the past 10 years with ACT, Richland Light Opera, Columbia Basin College and the 10th Avenue Singers, as well as in several high school productions.

But his latest gig--as Sir Harry, the dashing knight, in Hanford's Once Upon A Mattress--will be his high school swan song before he heads off to college, or perhaps even Hollywood later this year.

"I'm a little sad that this will be my last high school production," Noah said. "But I'm excited, too, about the direction I want to take into an acting career."

Noah has remained close to his birth parents, who live in North Carolina and are members of the Lumbee Indian Nation. He was adopted by the Schwebkes as an infant.And:He also likes to take on acting roles that encompass his heritage. His role in the Artists Repertory Theater's production of The Ghosts of Celilo earned him a best actor nod from The Oregonian newspaper.

The Ghosts of Celilo is a powerful musical stage show based on true stories of Indian life along the Columbia River. It follows the quest of three children who escape a boarding school and catch their first ceremonial salmon before their home is destroyed by the rising reservoir when The Dalles Dam was built in the 1950s.

The show's run meant Noah missed a few months of school, but he kept his grades up and will graduate in June with a 3.8 GPA, he said.

The film Shadow of the Salmon followed the Portland play. In the film, he played the lead role of a Lakota Sioux teenager on a summer journey to the Northwest to take part in traditional ceremonies of his mother's coastal tribe.Comment:  Hunt has auditioned for a role in New Moon, the Twilight sequel, and hopes for a future in Hollywood.

For more on the subject, see The Best Indian Movies.