Mala
Biography
Ray Mala was a prominent Alaska Native actor born to a Russian Jewish immigrant father and an Iñupiaq mother in Candle, Alaska, in 1906. He gained recognition for his lead role in Republic Pictures' 14-part serial Robinson Crusoe of Clipper Island (1936) and featured in MGM's Eskimo (1930), directed by Woody Van Dyke. A celebrated figure among Native Americans, Mala was named a "Top Ten Alaskan" by TIME Magazine in 2009. He passed away in 1952.