His Academy Award nomination for the supporting role of Kicking Bird in Dances with Wolves (1990) has made Graham Greene one of the most recognized Native American actors. Greene, a full-blooded Oneida Sioux, was born on the Six Nations Reserve near Brantford, Ontario, and at age 16 left the Reserve to pursue a variety of careers, including welder, drafter, and roadie. He began acting in Toronto in 1974 and landed his first film roles in the early 1980s with roles in Running Brave (1983) and Revolution (1985). In 1989 he received the Dora Mavor Moore Award of Toronto for best actor for the play Dry Lips Oughta Move to Kapuskasing. After Dances with Wolves, he went on to appear in numerous films, including Clearcut (1992), Thunderheart (1992), and Die Hard with a Vengeance (1995). In addition to television appearances on Lonesome Dove: The Series (1992) and Northern Exposure (1990), he starred in the 1992 HBO film The Last of His Tribe.

Graham Greene in a scene from the film Dances with Wolfs.

Further Reading:

Johnson, Brian D. "Dances with Oscar: Canadian Actor Graham Greene Tastes Stardom." Maclean's. March 25, 1991, 60-61.

Malinowski, Sharon, editor. Notable Native Americans. Detroit, Gale Research, 1995.

Pollock, Sean R., editor. Newsmakers: The People Behind Today's Headlines. Detroit, Gale Research, 1998.