GRAHAM GREENE
Date of Birth: June 22, 1952
Born on a reserve in Brantford, Ontario, this Oneida Indian never thought
about the acting profession during his youth. While working as a audio
technician for a Canadian rock band, one of his co-workers encouraged him to
try out the art. Greene was indifferent to the idea, until losing a game of
cards to which he put his future career on the line.
He attended The Centre for Indigenous Theatre's Native Theatre School
program to try out his acting chops. After graduating in 1974, he started
landing small roles in television, film and radio. He then crossed the pond
to work on the London stage for a few years.
Greene returned to Canada in the mid-1980s where he picked up his first
major feature film credit, the historical epic, Revolution, opposite
Al Pacino. Five years later, he landed the role of Kicking Bird in Kevin
Costner's Dances with Wolves (1990). The part not only provided him
with major exposure around the world, it garnered him an Academy Award
nomination for Best Supporting Actor.
With the door to the acting world wide open, Greene took advantage taking
major roles in films like Thunderheart (1992), Maverick (1994),
Die Hard: With a Vengeance (1995), Camille (1995), and The
Green Mile (1999).
Greene has also made a significant contribution to the small screen with regular gigs on the series The Red Green Show, Northern Exposure, Lonesome Dove: The Series, The Adventures of Dudley the Dragon, Wolf Lake and narrating the Discovery Channel's Exhibit A series. He also appeared as the sole survivor of a pre-WW1 Indian tribe in
the telefilm, The Last of His Tribe in 1992.
In 1992, he was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Southwest Museum in Los Angeles, one of the nation's pre-eminent museums dedicated to the culture of Native Americans. In 2002, he won the Best Actor Award for his role in Skins at the Tokyo International Film Festival. In his native Canada, he has been nominated three times for Gemini awards and in 2004 he was honored with the Gemini's Earle Grey Award.
He continues to work in high profile projects such as The Twilight Saga: New Moon (2009) and Gunless (2010), with Paul Gross.