Graham Greene (actor) facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Graham Greene CM
Greene in 1998
Born	(1952-06-22) June 22, 1952 (age 72) Six Nations Reserve, Ohsweken, Ontario, Canada
Nationality	Oneida First Nation Canadian
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1976–present
Spouse(s)	Hilary Blackmore ​ (m. 1990)​

Graham Greene (born June 22, 1952) is a famous First Nations actor from the Oneida community. He has acted in many plays, movies, and TV shows in Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

He became very well-known for his role in the 1990 movie Dances with Wolves. For this movie, he was even nominated for an Academy Award, which is a very big honor in the film world. Some of his other popular movies include Maverick (1994), Die Hard with a Vengeance (1995), and The Green Mile (1999).

Early Life and Acting Start

Graham Greene was born in Ohsweken, a town on the Six Nations Reserve in Ontario, Canada. His parents were Lillian and John Greene. His father worked as a paramedic and also did maintenance.

Before he became an actor, Graham Greene had many different jobs. He worked as a draftsman, which is someone who draws plans for buildings or machines. He was also a steelworker and a welder.

He first got involved in entertainment by working as an audio technician for rock bands. He even used the nickname "Mabes" back then! A musician named Kelly Jay kept telling him to try acting in a play.

Graham Greene started performing in plays in Toronto and England in the 1970s. His first time on TV was in an episode of The Great Detective in 1979. He said his first TV role was "awful," and that made him want to learn how to act better.

Acting Career Highlights

Graham Greene has had a long and successful career in theatre, television, and movies.

Theatre Performances

He has performed in several plays, including The Crackwalker and History of the Village of the Small Huts. In 2007, he played the character of Shylock in a play called The Merchant of Venice at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival.

Television Roles

In 1984, Graham Greene appeared in a CBC TV series called Spirit Bay. This show was important because it was one of the first to show what life was like for Indigenous people. It also explored how Indigenous and non-Indigenous cultures interacted.

In the early 1990s, he had guest roles in several TV shows. On Northern Exposure, he played Leonard Quinhagak, a shaman who helped the people in the town. His character's traditional healing ways sometimes clashed with the show's doctor, who was trained in modern medicine.

He also played Edgar "K.B." Montrose, a character who loved explosives, on The Red Green Show. In one episode, his character even joked about Dances with Wolves, saying the "native guy (himself as 'Kicking Bird') was OK." He played this funny character for many years.

In 1994, he started appearing as Mr. Crabby Tree in the children's TV series The Adventures of Dudley the Dragon. He also hosted a reality show about forensic science called Exhibit A: Secrets of Forensic Science from 1997 to 2001.

More recently, he was a regular guest star on the TV series Longmire from 2012 to 2017. He played a villain named Malachi Strand. Graham Greene said he enjoyed playing bad guys because "Being nice all the time; it's boring."

In 2023, he appeared in episodes of Reservation Dogs and The Last of Us. In 2024, he guest-starred in the series Tulsa King as a medicine man named "Old Smoke."

Movie Roles

Dances with Wolves

Graham Greene's role as Kicking Bird in the 1990 film Dances with Wolves made him famous around the world. He was even nominated for an Academy Award for this role. He once shared a funny story about being thrown off a horse while filming. When the director, Kevin Costner, asked if he wanted a break, Graham Greene said he was more interested in finding the horse to get back at it!

He also found it hard to learn the Lakota language for the film. He said he didn't grow up speaking a native language, and the structure of Lakota was very different from English or French.

He quickly agreed to be in the 1992 movie Thunderheart, where he played Walter Crow Horse, a smart local police officer on an Indigenous reservation. He said, "I love the Badlands. My agent said, 'I got a film for you. It's in South Dakota. And you have to ride a motorcycle.' I said, 'I'm in.' 'Want to read it?' 'Don't have to.'"

In the 1994 movie Maverick, Graham Greene played a sidekick to actor Mel Gibson. People really enjoyed his performance. He was praised for being a "thoroughly modern Native American" who made people laugh.

He also acted alongside Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson in the 1995 action film Die Hard with a Vengeance, playing Detective Joe Lambert.

The Green Mile

In the 1999 Oscar-nominated film The Green Mile, Graham Greene played Arlen Bitterbuck. His character was an elder from the Washita Tribe and was known as "The Chief." His character's execution is the first one shown in the movie.

Graham Greene in CTM interview 2022

In 2005, he played a character named Calvin Many Goats in the movie Transamerica. His performance was praised for its "charming earthiness."

Graham Greene worked with writer and director Aaron Sorkin on the 2017 movie Molly's Game. He played a judge in the film. He joked that he had "never seen the bench from this side before," meaning he was used to being on the other side of the courtroom.

In 2022, Graham Greene was cast in the Marvel Cinematic Universe miniseries Echo.

Other Projects

Graham Greene has also done voice work. He provided the narration for Tecumseh!, an outdoor show about the life of the famous Shawnee chief Tecumseh. He also played Sitting Bull in a short historical video.

In 2018, he lent his voice and movements to the video game Red Dead Redemption 2. He played the character Chief Rains Fall, an elder from an Indigenous community.

Personal Life

Graham Greene and his wife, Hilary Blackmore, were married in 1990. They live outside of Toronto, Canada, with their four children and many cats.

He enjoys writing, building boats, and playing golf. He says about golf, "I just want to go and play, I don't care who's looking. It's a game where you get to play against yourself." He prefers to live in Canada and doesn't feel the need to move to California for acting roles.

Graham Greene has shared that he would like to see more funny portrayals of Indigenous people in movies and TV. He said, "My people are very funny."

In 2008, he received an honorary doctor of law degree from Wilfrid Laurier University. In 2015, he was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada, which is one of the highest honors a Canadian citizen can receive.

Filmography

Film

Graham Greene at TIFF 2015

Television

Video games

Awards and Nominations

See also

• Notable Indigenous people of Canada