Adam Beach is set to portray Manitoba-born war hero Tommy Prince in an upcoming film. (Stuart Ramson/Associated Press)Actor Adam Beach will star in a new movie about Canadian aboriginal war hero Tommy Prince.

Beach, a Manitoba-born aboriginal film and TV star, will be in Winnipeg on Thursday to make the formal announcement, alongside Prince's relatives and Manitoba native leaders.

Prince, from Manitoba's Brokenhead Ojibway Nation, was a hero of both the Second World War and the Korean War.

According to Bay Film Studios, the movie will be a "true account of Canada's most highly decorated First Nations soldier."

During the Second World War, daring actions by Prince's unit behind enemy lines prompted German soldiers to call it "the Devil's Brigade."

Prince was decorated by King George VI at Buckingham Palace with both the Military Medal and, on behalf of President Roosevelt, and the Silver Star with ribbon.

He died in 1977 at age 62 and is interred in the Field of Honour at Winnipeg's Brookside Cemetery.

Tommy Prince, right, with a fellow soldier at Buckingham Palace, where he was awarded two medals. (Veterans Affairs Canada)Beach, 37, said he is honoured to portray Prince, calling him a positive role model for all First Nations.

Born in Ashern, Beach grew up on the Dog Creek First Nations Reserve as well as in Winnipeg.

He attended a drama class at Gordon Bell High School in Winnipeg and eventually dropped out of school to take a lead role at the Manitoba Theatre for Young People.

He has starred in Hollywood films Dance Me Outside, Smoke Signals and Flags of Our Fathers, among others. He has also been in the crime drama TV series Law & Order: SVU.

With files from The Canadian Press