The mindset behind Graham Greene’s eclectic career: “I want to be diverse in roles”
The Hollywood sphere woke up to sad news on September 1st, 2025, when Graham Greene, the pioneering Oscar-nominated actor, died at 73.
A member of the Oneida people, a First Nations tribe with populations in the United States and Canada (where Greene was born), he is one of only two Indigenous people to have been nominated for ‘Best Supporting Actor’ at the Academy Awards. He also won a Grammy and a Canadian Screen Award in his long and successful career.
Greene is best known for ‘Kicking Bird’ (Ziŋtká Nagwáka) in Dances with Wolves. Directing debut of and starring Kevin Costner, who was among those paying tribute to the performer on his passing, the film won the coveted ‘Best Picture’ trophy, but was just the tip of the iceberg when it came to what Greene was capable of.
One of his earliest roles was in the historical drama Revolution, starring opposite Al Pacino and Donald Sutherland. Throughout the 1990s, he continued to appear in smaller dramas as well as massive blockbusters like Die Hard with a Vengeance and The Green Mile. Twilight fans will remember him as Harry Clearwater from the film adaptation of New Moon, and there are dozens of other movies of all shapes and sizes he can be seen rearing his head.
There are countless examples of actors of specific ethnicities being confined to the same old roles throughout their entire careers. Greene never wanted that to happen to him, even though playing a Native character was what brought him his greatest success. As the star explained to Salon, he had made a decision early on in his career that he wouldn’t be reduced to a stereotype.
“I sat my agents down and told them I don’t want to be dressed up in feathers and long hair and stand around and say nothing,” he said, “I want to be diverse in roles and do other things. I did that once, and it was fine. Let’s move on… It’s boring to do one thing all the time: work in an assembly line for eight hours a day, five days a week, 52 weeks of the year, with some time off for 40 years doing the same thing over and over. It’s mind-numbing.”
You can spot what Greene was talking about in the early characters he played. His first film, Running Brave, was about an Oglala Sioux athlete competing at the Olympics. Following Dances with Wolves, he continued to appear in similar roles, such as a violent Native activist in the horror film Clearcut, before appearing as a tribal police officer in the Neo-Western Thunderheart.
Native Americans have suffered a great deal at the hands of Hollywood; even Dances with Wolves has its issues. Greene ran all lengths to avoid a typecast career, and maybe compromising on his morals could have made him more money in bigger movies. But that’s not how he wanted to ply his business, and for that, he deserves nothing but respect.
