He has five brothers (one of whom, Michael Spears is also an actor) and one sister.
Spears has been in the spotlight since age 10, starting with his first role in TNT's production of Geronimo, shot in Arizona.
According to him, his most rewarding role to date was Shane Chasing Horse in Dreamkeeper.
When he was cast for the lead in Black Cloud, directed by Rick Schroder, Spears trained for three months with legendary boxing trainer Jimmy Gambia to perfect his boxing skills before filming started. The story is about a Navajo boxer training for the Golden Gloves with the promise of a spot at the Olympics while struggling with the secrets of his family's heritage. One of the scenes was filmed in Las Vegas during the 2003 Golden Gloves National Championship.
He attended and was a mentor at the 2nd annual 'Hatch' audiovisual festival in Bozeman, Montana in October 2005. 'Hatch' is a film and arts festival whose mission is to provide mentorship, education, inspiration, and recognition to the next generation of creative innovators.
He can speak Lakota, but has admitted that he is not fluent. He is an avid outdoorsman with hunting, fishing, archery and rodeo experience. Eddie can dance both the traditional and grass ceremonies of the Lakota. He also travels nationally as a keynote speaker.
Filmography associated with Eddie Spears:
- Guns, Girls and Gambling (2012)
- Hell on Wheels (2011-2012)
- Comanche Moon (2008)
- Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee (2007)
- Into the West (2005)
- Black Cloud (2004)
- Edge of America (2003)
- Dreamkeeper (2003)
- The Slaughter Rule (2002)
- Geronimo (1993)
Tropes associated with Eddie Spears:
- Dawson Casting: Played Chaske Spencer's older brother in Into the West. Sam Uley, Chaske's actor, is actually eight years older than Spears.
- Dyeing for Your Art: Cut his hair for the role in Hell on Wheels. Prior to that he had never cut his hair.
- Fake Nationality: May be due in part to the overwhelming underrepresentation of Native Actors in contemporary media. He has portrayed the epynomous Black Cloud who is from the Navajo Nation, Quannah Parker in Comanche Moon who is Commanche, and a young Apache in the tv film Geronimo. He also currently portrays Joseph Blackmoon who is Cheyenne in Hell on Wheels. Eddie Spears, however, is Lakota.
- Green Aesop: Was in a video promoting Native Wind which was formed to protect the environment and promote the welfare of Native Americans by facilitating the development of wind power and other renewable energy resources on tribal lands.
- Hunk: Complete with a cleft chin.
- Important Haircut: His character Joseph Blackmoon does this. In real life he did this as well which was meaninful in that he has never cut his hair prior to that.
- Manly Men Can Hunt: Apparently loves hunting and fishing.
- Playing Against Type: His role as Joseph Blackmoon in Hell on Wheels. He even lampshades this:"You know, mostly it seems like I'm always playing a pissed off Indian, but Joseph has a lot of character and a lot of places to go. Indians normally play the victims — but Joseph gets everybody to root for him, and I like that about it."
- Real-Life Relative: In Into the West he plays Red Lance, the grandson of Dog Star who prior to being aged was played by his brother, Michael Spears.
- Shirtless Scene: Has had a few in the course of his career. Quite a few...
- Shown Their Work: For his role of Quanah Parker in Comanche Moon he did A LOT of research despite the role being so small.
- Star-Making Role: His role as Shane Chasing Horse in Dreamkeeper
- Tall, Dark, and Handsome: Stands a 6' 1".
- Those Two Actors: Overlaps a few movies with his older brother.
- Those Two Guys: Though they have not shared too many films together when a film stars them it will be advertised as "Starring the Spears Brothers."
- Any Blog that dedicates a post to one inevitably does the same for the other.
- Training from Hell: Perhaps not from hell but he did spend several months training with Jimmy Gambia for his starring role in Black Cloud. Eddie actually lived with him during that time and in addition to his training learned about proper eating habits. It could not have been that easy.
- True Companions: Has stated that he feels this way about the cast members of Hell on Wheels
- Typecasting: Many of the characters he has portrayed are rebellious, angry, and aggressive. Hell on Wheels was a welcome change for him as he was able to actually break out of that kind of role.
- Unskilled, but Strong: In the director's commentary of Black Cloud Ricky Schroder pointed out in the first fight scene that Eddie was strong enough to lift him off the ground and fling him around as though he weighed nothing. This was prior to Eddie's training with Jimmy Gambia.
