Chaves helped write the critically acclaimed stage drama Tracers. In the early 1980s, he began work as an actor taking on various soap opera roles until he gained a role in 1987 as Poncho in the science fiction film Predator. Soon afterward, his career received another boost with the role of Lt. Colonel Ironhorse in the television series War of the Worlds Chaves once calculated that the volume of fan mail he received outnumbered the rest of the cast members by a four or five to one ratio.\n', 'However, his career hit a bump when War of the Worlds was given new creative management for its second season. The new executives did not think that the Ironhorse character worked with the format they wanted for the show, so his character and that of Norton Drake were killed off.\n', 'Chaves was born in Jacksonville, Florida, the son of a United States Marine Corps officer/drug enforcement agent father. He graduated from Mission Viejo High School in Mission Viejo, California in 1969.\n', 'He is part Cherokee on his mother\'s side.[citation needed] Chaves joined the army in May 1970 and served 3 years. While in the army, he deployed to Vietnam during the Vietnam War and was a member part of the 196th Infantry Brigade.\n', '

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