Graham Greene

Graham Greene was born on June 22, 1952, in Ohsweken, Ontario, on the Six Nations of the Grand River First Nations reserve. He was Oneida, the son of John Greene, a paramedic and maintenance man, and Lillian Greene. He lived in Hamilton, Ontario, as a young man. The actor Gary Farmer was his second cousin once removed.

Before acting, Greene worked as a draftsman, a civil technologist, a steelworker and a rock band crew member. He was an audio technician for Toronto bands and worked in a recording studio in Ancaster, Ontario.

Accounts of his training differ. The New York Times obituary says he graduated from the Centre for Indigenous Theatre's Native Theatre School in Toronto in 1974, while a 2012 Playback profile by David Godkin says he helped run the program as executive director of a supporting arts organization rather than studying in it.

He credited musician Kelly Jay with repeatedly encouraging him to try out for a play. After seeing his first television role in The Great Detective (1979), which he called awful, he set out to learn acting as a profession. In June 2008 Wilfrid Laurier University's Brantford campus gave him an honorary doctor of laws.

Greene began in professional theatre in Toronto and England in the 1970s and took part in the 1976 University of Western Ontario touring workshop of James Reaney's Wacousta. He worked often with Native Earth Performing Arts, starring in Dry Lips Oughta Move to Kapuskasing, The Crackwalker and History of the Village of the Small Huts. At the 2007 Stratford Festival he played Shylock in The Merchant of Venice and Lennie in Of Mice and Men.

His film debut was Running Brave (1983), followed by Revolution (1985) and Powwow Highway (1989). His role as Kicking Bird in Dances With Wolves (1990) brought an Academy Award nomination. Key films after that include Thunderheart (1992), The Last of His Tribe (1992, as Ishi), Maverick (1994), Die Hard with a Vengeance (1995), The Green Mile (1999), Skins (2002), Coyote Waits (2003), A Thief of Time (2004), Transamerica (2005), The Twilight Saga: New Moon (2009), Casino Jack (2010), Winter's Tale (2014), The Shack (2017), Wind River (2017), Molly's Game (2017) and Seeds.

On television he appeared in Spirit Bay, Northern Exposure, The Red Green Show, The Adventures of Dudley the Dragon, North of 60, Wolf Lake, Numb3rs, Being Erica, Longmire, 1883, Reservation Dogs, The Last of Us, Tulsa King, Echo and The Lowdown. He hosted Exhibit A: Secrets of Forensic Science and presented the PBS documentary The War That Made America (2006). He narrated the outdoor drama Tecumseh! in Ohio and voiced Chief Rains Fall in Red Dead Redemption 2 (2018).

Greene married Hilary Blackmore in 1990, and they lived outside Toronto with what he called a small army of cats. He had one daughter, Lilly Lazare-Greene, with actress Carol Lazare, and a grandson, Tarlo. He enjoyed writing, building boats and golf, saying of golf, "It's a game where you get to play against yourself." He chose to stay in Canada rather than move to California for work.

Greene pushed back against the stoic, humourless image of Indigenous people common in older Hollywood scripts. Early in his career he went along with dialogue written the way producers thought Native people spoke, but he later said he did not know anybody who behaved like that. He told Kevin Costner during Dances With Wolves that fun and family were central to how the people in the film lived, and he often said, "My people are very funny." After his Oscar nomination he asked his agents to find him roles that were not written as Indigenous, to avoid being typecast.

Greene is widely remembered as a trailblazer who opened doors for Indigenous actors in film and television. Governor General Mary Simon said he broke barriers, challenged stereotypes and opened doors for future generations. TIFF remembered him as a groundbreaking Canadian actor and musician, and younger Indigenous filmmakers such as Darrell Dennis, who worked with him on his last films, spoke of his influence. His work spanned more than 50 years, and he kept working until the end of his life, with several projects still awaiting release when he died.

Dora Mavor Moore Award, Outstanding Performance by a Male in a Leading Role, Dry Lips Oughta Move to Kapuskasing (1989). Academy Award nomination, Best Supporting Actor, Dances With Wolves (1991). Gemini Award, Best Performance in a Children's or Youth Program, The Adventures of Dudley the Dragon (1994). National Aboriginal Achievement Award, now Indspire (1997). Grammy Award, Best Spoken Word Album for Children, Listen to the Storyteller (2000). Earle Grey Award for lifetime achievement, Gemini Awards (2004). Reelworld Film Festival Award of Excellence (2006). Honorary doctor of laws, Wilfrid Laurier University (2008). Member of the Order of Canada (2015). Star on Canada's Walk of Fame. Governor General's Performing Arts Award (2025). Canadian Screen Award, Best Supporting Performance in a Comedy Film, Seeds (2025).

Greene's most quoted screen moment is the "Tatanka" scene in Dances With Wolves, in which Kicking Bird and John Dunbar find a shared word for buffalo. Kevin Costner chose that scene for his tribute after Greene died. On The Red Green Show his character Edgar Montrose even joked about Dances With Wolves. He gave long interviews to TIFF in 2012 and to Canada's Theatre Museum, where he talked about stereotypes, breaking into the American industry and advice for young actors.

Graham Greene died on September 1, 2025, in hospital in Stratford, Ontario, after a long illness, at the age of 73. His manager confirmed the death to CBC News. The specific cause was not made public. His agent, Michael Greene (no relation), said he had tried in his final hours to reach Kevin Costner to thank him. He was survived by his wife of 35 years, Hilary Blackmore, his daughter Lilly Lazare-Greene and his grandson Tarlo.