Indian Actors Association Indian Actors Association. The Indian Actors Workshop was another group built on the foundation of the Indian Actors Association. Founded by Jay Silverheels, best known for playing Tonto on "The Lone Ranger", the Indian Actors Workshop trained Indians for roles in film and television. Similar groups continued to form well into the 1980s. The Indian Actors Association was able to function as a support group and provided subsistence funds for out of work Indians. They were able to raise these funds through membership dues, powwows, and performances for local clubs and organizations. Indian Actors Association The Indian Actors Association was
Jay Silverheels player. From the late 1940s, he played in major films, including "Captain from Castile" starring Tyrone Power, "I Am an American" (1944), "Key Largo" with Humphrey Bogart (1948), "Lust for Gold" with Glenn Ford (1949), "Broken Arrow" (1950) with James Stewart, "War Arrow" (1953) with Maureen O'Hara, Jeff Chandler and Noah Beery Jr., "The Black Dakotas" (1954) as Black Buffalo, "Drums Across the River" (1954), "Walk the Proud Land" (1956) with Audie Murphy and Anne Bancroft, "Alias Jesse James" (1959) with Bob Hope, and "Indian Paint" (1964) with Johnny Crawford. He made a brief appearance in "True Grit" (1969) as