Adam Beach (born November 11, 1972) is an Aboriginal Canadian actor. He is best known for his roles as Victor in Smoke Signals, Frank Fencepost in Dance Me Outside, Tommy in Walker, Texas Ranger, Kickin' Wing in Joe Dirt, U.S. Marine Corporal Ira Hayes in Flags of Our Fathers, Private Ben Yahzee in Windtalkers, Dr. Charles Eastman (Ohiyesa) in Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, NYPD Detective Chester Lake in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, and Officer Jim Chee in the film adaptations of Skinwalkers, Coyote Waits, and A Thief of Time. He starred in the Canadian 2012-2014 series Arctic Air, and played Slipknot in the 2016 film Suicide Squad. He also played Squanto in Disney's Squanto: A Warrior's Tale. Most recently he has starred in Hostiles (2017) as Black Hawk, and the Netflix original film, Juanita (2019) as Jess Gardiner.
Adam Beach was born in Ashern, Manitoba. He is Anishinaabe (Ojibwa) and has some Icelandic roots through his great-grandmother. Beach spent his early years with his parents and two brothers on the Lake Manitoba/Dog Creek First Nation Reserve at Lake Manitoba. When Beach was eight years old, his mother, Sally Beach, eight months pregnant with a baby girl, was killed by a drunk driver. Eight weeks after his mother's death, the family discovered their father Dennis Beach drowned near the community. It is unclear whether his death was an accident or suicide.