Graham Greene, Oscar-Nominated First Nations Actor, Dies at 73
Graham Greene, the prolific Canadian First Nations actor whose Oscar-nominated role in Dances with Wolves made him an international star and a trailblazer for Indigenous representation in Hollywood, has died at the age of 73. He passed away in a Stratford, Ontario, hospital after a long illness, his agent Michael Greene confirmed.
“He was a great man of morals, ethics and character and will be eternally missed. You are finally free,” his agent said in a statement.
Born in 1952 in Ohsweken, on the Six Nations Reserve in Ontario, Greene’s path to acting began almost by chance. Originally a recording engineer, he was persuaded by a friend to read for a script. That decision led him to the stage, where he performed in Canadian and British productions in the 1970s, before making his screen debut in 1979 in the Canadian drama The Great Detective. His first film role came in 1983 with the biopic Running Brave.
Greene’s breakthrough arrived in 1990 when Kevin Costner cast him as Kicking Bird, a Lakota Sioux medicine man, in the Academy Award-winning epic Dances with Wolves. His sensitive, nuanced performance earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor and propelled him into a successful Hollywood career.
Over the next three decades, Greene appeared in numerous films and television shows, including Thunderheart (1992), Maverick (1994), Die Hard with a Vengeance (1995), The Green Mile (1999), and The Twilight Saga: New Moon (2009). In recent years, he took on prominent roles in Taika Waititi’s acclaimed FX series Reservation Dogs, HBO’s The Last of Us, and Taylor Sheridan’s 1883 and Tulsa King.
Greene continued to work right up until his death, with several projects still awaiting release. Throughout his career, he received a Grammy Award, a Gemini Award, and a Canadian Screen Award, and in June 2025, he was honored with the Governor General’s Performing Arts Award for lifetime achievement. He also earned a star on Canada’s Walk of Fame.
Reflecting on his early struggles in the industry, Greene admitted that Indigenous actors were often typecast in outdated and stereotypical roles. “When I first started out in the business, it was a very strange thing where they’d hand you the script where you had to speak the way they thought native people spoke. And in order to get my foot in the door a little further, I did it. I went along with it for a while,” he recalled in a 2024 interview with Canada’s Theatre Museum.
He added that he always fought for more authentic portrayals of Native communities. “You gotta look stoic. Don’t smile … you gotta grunt a lot. I don’t know anybody who behaves like that. Native people have an incredible sense of humour. And that’s what I said to Kevin [Costner]. The people in this film [Dances with Wolves], in this village, they have an incredible family, incredible relationships — and fun has always been part of that. Fun is 50% of how they live and enjoy things. Family is family, no matter what.”
Greene is survived by his wife of 35 years, Hilary Blackmore, their daughter, Lilly Lazare-Greene, and grandson, Tarlo.