Regina says ‘as long as you’re breathing, school is in session,’ and encourages others to keep learning and growing in their humanity.
Wikipedia Biography / Profile Background
Introduction :
- Regina Simons is a Native American actress & model who is passionate about being an advocate and a mother.
- Regina was raised in a conservative Mormon home, consequently, she enjoys living within her Native community. She is part Navajo and part Sioux.
The Steven Seagal Incident :
- In the mid-1990s, Simons was a shy eighteen-year-old girl who had never been on camera when she found out about a casting call for Native Americans.
- Along with her brother, Regina went to the call with hundreds of other hopefuls because the previous year, Steven Seagal’s movie, Under Siege, had grossed more than $150 million, and they were excited about the opportunity.
- She was excited to be an extra on the 1994 set of , On Deadly Ground.
- Simons remembers how Seagal stopped and introduced himself, then invited Regina and her brother to join him on set. Simon’s brother, Ben, and Seagal did most of the talking, and when the conversation moved into his private trailer, she followed her brother.
- When she finished her scene, she anticipated not hearing from the production company again.
- Regina remembers the surprise she felt when she received a phone call from Seagal after the filming, inviting her to a cast party.
- She was invited to Steven Seagal’s home for a wrap party but when she arrived, she was the only person there. She was confused and not yet sexually active & Seagal took advantage of her, he was three times her size.
- Freezing up, she was unable to repel the advances of the martial arts professional, she filed a report with the Los Angeles Police Department.
Career and Life After Incident :
- The trauma soured Regina on pursuing acting further, and she moved to Utah and received many years of counseling for post-traumatic stress disorder.
- She does have some acting credits to her name – as a child in Christmas Lilies of the Field in 1979 and The Great American West in 1995, in which she played Sacagawea.
- She also did some modeling for a few years.
- Nevertheless, Regina continues her love of meeting people and inspires others to keep moving forward in their healing and pursuit of truth.
- Many years later she became an advocate for Native-American families, and now lives back in the Los Angeles area with her two sons.